The Hymenoptera collection and staff are located on the fifth floor, East Court, of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, except for R. W. Carlson (Leader, Communications & Taxonomic Services Unit) whose office is in Building 005, BARC-West, Beltsville, MD, and the collections of Ichneumonidae and several Aculeate families which are housed at the Museum Support Center, Suitland, MD. The associated library includes 200 volumes and 400+ linear feet of reprints. The Hymenoptera collection consists of about 3 million pinned specimens, stored in more than 7,000 drawers, approximately 10,000 vials of larvae and adults in alcohol, and more than 15,000 holotypes. The SEL staff consists of Robert W. Carlson, Michael W. Gates, E. Eric Grissell, and David R. Smith (retired, resident Research Associate). The Smithsonian staff includes Theodore R. Schultz.
The nucleus of the Hymenoptera collection was formed by such early workers as C. V. Riley, T. Pergande, E. A. Schwarz, and L. O. Howard, but the Hymenoptera holdings first acquired the status of a major collection with the acquisition of the W. H. Ashmead Collection in 1898. Ashmead was appointed in 1887 by the USDA to work on insect pests and their parasites. From 1897 to 1908 he was employed by the Smithsonian Institution as Assistant Curator and thus was the first Smithsonian hymenopterist. J. C. Crawford succeeded Ashmead as assistant curator in 1908 and centered his research on the Chalcidoidea. During Crawford’s tenure, several USDA scientists were assigned to the museum to work principally on parasitic wasps and sawflies. These individuals were R. A. Cushman, A. B. Gahan, A. A. Girault, S. A. Rohwer, and H. L. Viereck. Other USDA hymenopterists associated with the collection have been B. D. Burks, G. Gordh, K. V. Krombein (subsequently Smithsonian), W. M. Mann, C. L. Marlatt, P. M. Marsh, A. S. Menke, C. F. W. Muesebeck, G. A. Sandhouse, M. E. Schauff, D. R. Smith, M. R. Smith, H. K. Townes, L. M. Walkley, and L. H. Weld.
Areas of the collection especially well represented include Aculeata, Chalcidoidea, Cynipoidea, Evanioidea, Formicidae, Ichneumonoidea, Proctotrupoidea, and Symphyta. Major collections are those of W.H. Ashmead, C.F. Baker, R. E. Bugbee, K. W. Cooper, P. D. Hurd, Jr., K. V. Krombein, W. M. Mann, H. Priesner, D. R. Smith, A. W. Stelfox, and K. Tsuneki.
Current and future major areas of SEL research include an identification manual to world seed-feeding Chalcidoidea; revisions of several North American chalcidoid genera; chalcidoid parasites of bees; chaldidoid parasites of Lepidoptera larvae; revisions of genera of Symphyta; the family Tenthredinidae south of the United States; a handbook of the Symphyta for eastern United States; and the Aulacidae of the Western Hemisphere.
Collection databases have been developed for Eulophidae, Aphelinidae, Tanaostigmatidae, and Symphyta. Literature databases have been developed for Symphyta and Torymidae.