Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). A collection of artifacts from the expedition also went to the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. These joined artifacts from American history as the first artifacts in the Smithsonian collection. Published works For a short time Wilkes was attached to the Office of Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861 he was chiefly engaged in preparing the expedition report. Twenty-eight volumes were planned, but only nineteen were published. Of these, Wilkes wrote the multi-volume Narrative of the United States exploring expedition, during 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Hydrography, and Meteorology. The Narrative concerns the customs, political and economic conditions of many places then little-known. Other contributions were three reports by James Dwight Dana on Zoophytes, Geology, and Crustacea. In addition to shorter articles and reports, Wilkes published Western America, including California and Oregon, and Theory of the Winds. The Smithsonian Institution digitized the five volume narrative and the accompanying scientific volumes. The mismanagement that plagued the expedition prior to its departure continued after its completion. By June 1848, many of the specimens had been lost or damaged and many remained unidentified. In 1848 Asa Gray was hired to work on the botanical specimens, and published the first volume of the report on botany in 1854, but Wilkes was unable to secure the funding for the second volume. Notes References Bibliography External links Alfred Agate Collection at Naval History and Heritage Command US Exploring Expedition – at Smithsonian Institution Libraries Digital Collections Video of Dr. Adrienne Kaeppler discussing the Smithsonian Institution Anthropology collections from the expedition Charles L. Erskine's Panorama Lecture at Dartmouth College Library 1838 in the United States 1839 in Antarctica Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution Circumnavigations Exploration of North America Explorers of the United States Global expeditions History of science and technology in the United States Military expeditions of the United States Oceanography Pacific expeditions Pacific Ocean United States Navy in the 19th century