Browse Items (196 total)

Palmyra Call Sign:
Operator Call Sign: W7FNK
Operator Name: Jack Wheeler

As part of the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, Research Curator Max Thompson spent 3 days on Palmyra in March of 1967, cataloguing birds with other project members.

This excerpt from his field journals described the activities and various…

These photos were taken by Corporal Roland Champlagne while he was stationed on Palmyra, during World War 2. They have been wonderfully preserved by his son, Carl, who generously shared them with us.

Our favorite is of the group playing…

This rare document was donated by the son of Corporal Roland Champagne, who was stationed on Palmyra from 1942 to 1943. He served as a clerk, but also received his drivers permit while on the atoll, so he could make deliveries around the…

Marine Corporal Champagne lived and worked on Palmyra from October of 1942 to October of 1943, during World War 2, serving primarily as a typist and clerk, though he performed other duties, as described in this excerpt from his unpublished memoirs. …

This excerpt comes from the field notes of researcher Robert Standen, who was part of the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, created by the Smithsonian. For several days during September of 1964, Standen worked on Palmyra to catalogue bird…

This brief account details plans for a resort to be built on Palmyra. This is not the first account of someone trying to establish such an enterprise on Palmyra, but it is the first serious and documented effort since the Naval occupation.

The article is essentially a review of Eben Low's visit to Palmyra 2 years prior. He was interviewed as part of a larger story on the atoll's possible use as a Naval base. There are some interesting anecdotes, the most noteworthy being that no one…

We came across this document while looking through memos and letter related to the formation of Executive Order 8682, establishing Palmyra as a Naval base of operations during WW2.

This 1938 letter comes from then Secretary of the Interior Harold…

During the late 1940's and early 1950's, reports of fish poisoning from around the line islands and central Pacific became rampant. Scores of previously edible fish were now causing severe illness, and in some cases death. The Navy, acknowledging…