National Geographic Society's Expeditions to Northern Brazil and Southern Venezuela (active 1929-1931)

The National Geographic Society’s expedition to Northern Brazil and Southern Venezuela collected birds, plants, and other specimens from 1929-1931. The expedition was granted permission to join the Venezuelan-Brazilian Boundary Commission that had been established to properly map the shared border between the two countries. Two separate trips were made during the years 1929-1931. Both focused largely on the collecting of birds from the Amazonian region. The first trip lasted around three months and began on November 25th, 1929 from Ciudad Bolivar in Venezula. The second trip lasted around 9 months, with the route being reversed and the expedition leaving Sao Joaquim, Brazil. The participants in the expeditions included Ernest G. Holt and his assistants Charles Agostini of the Pittsburgh Museum, and a graduate student from the University of Pittsburgh, Emmet R. Blake. The group traveled a number of the major South American rivers including the Amazon, Orinoco, and Negro. In total, the three men collected over 3,000 specimens during the expedition.