Correspondence, 1870-1893 Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives Washington, D.C. Contact us at [email protected] Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 1 Descriptive Entry.............................................................................................................. 2 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 2 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 4 Series 1: INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1870-1893. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY............. 4 Series 2: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, BOUND, 1886-1893. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY AND INDEXED.................................................................. 27 Series 3: ASSISTANT BOTANISTS' OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, BOUND, 1891-1893. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY AND INDEXED.......................... 28 Correspondence http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216786 Collection Overview Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C., [email protected] Title: Correspondence Identifier: Record Unit 220 Date: 1870-1893 Extent: 11 cu. ft. (21 document boxes) (25 microfilm reels) Creator:: United States National Museum. Division of Plants Language: Language of Materials: English Administrative Information Prefered Citation Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 220, United States National Museum. Division of Plants, Correspondence Historical Note The foundations of the present Department of Botany of the National Museum of Natural History are the extensive collections of plants gathered by the government exploring expeditions of the 1800s and those assembled by the United States Department of Agriculture in connection with its investigations. The Smithsonian had original control of the specimens collected by the expeditions, and these were forwarded to John Torrey at Columbia College in New York, who had offered to house and prepare the collection without remuneration. When Torrey returned the specimens in 1868, lack of facilities and manpower led Joseph Henry to arrange for the Department of Agriculture to act as repository for the collection. There it was merged with the existing collection of the Department. Charles Christopher Parry was named botanist of the Department of Agriculture in 1868 to care for the collection and served until 1871. George Vasey was appointed botanist and curator of the National Herbarium in 1872. Lester Frank Ward, who had been appointed honorary curator of fossil plants in the United States National Museum in 1881, put together another collection of plants for comparison with his fossil specimens. This collection grew to the point where Ward was also named honorary curator of the Department of Recent Plants in 1885. In 1889, Vasey was given charge of the collection and appointed honorary curator of the Department of Botany. He retained this title until his death in 1893. In 1894, arrangements were made by Frederick Vernon Coville, Vasey's successor, to have the collections housed at the Department of Agriculture moved to the museum. There they were merged with Ward's collection, although transfer of appropriations and personnel did not occur until 1896. Since that time, administration of the United States National Herbarium has come from the United States National Museum's Division of Plants and its successors. Page 1 of 28 Correspondence http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216786 Descriptive Entry Most of these records are the official files of George Vasey as botanist of the United States Department of Agriculture and curator of the United States National Herbarium from 1872 to 1893. They include incoming and occasional outgoing correspondence, mostly to Vasey, but sometimes to Jeremiah M. Rusk, secretary of Agriculture; Edwin Willits, assistant secretary of Agriculture; Frederick Watts and George B. Loring, commissioners of the Department of Agriculture; and C. A. Cammon, assistant commissioner of the Department. All correspondence was referred to Vasey for response; and he either answered it himself or referred it to one of the assistant botanists, Joseph Nelson Rose, Frederick Vernon Coville, or Lyster Hoxie Dewey. Correspondents include leading United States and foreign botanists; colleagues; directors and curators of United States and foreign herbaria; custodians of botanical nurseries; naturalists; plant collectors; dealers in patent medicines; feed companies; seed growers; ranchers; farmers; geological surveys of the United States and Canada; Department of Agriculture staff members and administrative officers; Smithsonian Institution administrators; newspaper publishers and editors; scientific societies; the United States Experimental Grass and Forage Station at Garden City, Kansas; and in particular, botanists from the agricultural and mining colleges and their agricultural experiment stations. Records concern requests for botanical specimens and seeds; determination, identification, and description of plants, grasses, and seeds; requests for plants to protect embankments; purchase of specimens; transfer of specimens to the National Herbarium; exchange of plant collections; lists of specimens in herbaria; information on plant collection methods; collecting in the field; botanical experiments; publishing taxonomies and other articles on botanical collections; requests for Department of Agriculture publications on American grasses; requests for Smithsonian publications; requests by Vasey for botanical publications; Smithsonian requests for material regarding the National Herbarium for its annual report; requests for jobs with the Department of Agriculture; staff salary increases and transfers of staff members; activities of colleagues and their collections; personal matters; and drafts of manuscripts. Also included are outgoing letterpress correspondence from Vasey, administrative officers of the Department of Agriculture, and assistant botanists regarding the above subjects. Names and Subject Terms This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Smithsonian Institution under the following terms: Subjects: Botanists Botany Types of Materials: Letterpress copybooks Manuscripts Names: Cammon, C. A. Columbia College (New York, N.Y.) Coville, Frederick V. (Frederick Vernon), 1867-1937 Dewey, Lyster H. (Lyster Hoxie), 1865-1944 Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878 Loring, George Bailey, 1817-1891 Page 2 of 28 Correspondence http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216786 Parry, Charles Christopher, 1823-1890 Rose, J. N. (Joseph Nelson), 1862-1928 Rusk, Jeremiah McLain, 1830-1893 Torrey, John, 1796-1873 United States Experimental Grass and Forage Station (Garden City, Kansas) United States National Herbarium United States. Department of Agriculture Vasey, George Ward, Lester Frank, 1841-1913 Watts, Frederick Willits, Mr. (Edwin), 1830-1896 Page 3 of 28 Series 1: INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING Correspondence CORRESPONDENCE, 1870-1893. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216786 AND CHRONOLOGICALLY. Container Listing Series 1: INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1870-1893. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY. Box 1 Box 1 of 21 Folder 1 Ab - An Box 1 of 21 Folder 2 Abell, A. S. and Company Box 1 of 21 Folder 3 Allen, John A. Box 1 of 21 Folder 4 Allen, Timothy Field, 1881-1892 Box 1 of 21 Folder 5 Allen, William T., 1885-1891 Box 1 of 21 Folder 6 Alwood, William B., 1886-1892 Box 1 of 21 Folder 7 Alworth, Albert E., 1889-1892 Box 1 of 21 Folder 8 Anderson, C. L. Box 1 of 21 Folder 9 Anderson, F. W. Box 1 of 21 Folder 10 Anislie, George, 1873-1876 Box 1 of 21 Folder 11 Ao - Ay. Includes correspondence from Wilbur Olin Atwater and under Coe Finch Austin, a Joseph Henry letter, January 6, 1876, regarding transmission of Austin's collections "Musci Appalachian: or specimens of mosses collected mostly in the eastern part of North America." Box 1 of 21 Folder 12 Armstrong, C. W., 1891-1892 Box 1 of 21 Folder 13 Arthur, Joseph Charles, 1886-1893. Contains a letter, June 1, 1892, concerning botanists in the Washington, D.C., area, and his views regarding the consideration of an international congress to discuss the problems and progress of botany. Box 1 of 21 Folder 14 Atkins, George T. Box 1 of 21 Folder 15 Atkinson, George Francis, 1888-1891 Box 1 of 21 Folder 16 Autran, Eugene, 1889-1892 Box 1 of 21 Folder 17 Averill, Horace, 1874-1878 Box 1 of 21 Folder 18 Ba Box 1 of 21 Folder 19 Babcock, Henry H. Page 4 of 28 Series 1: INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING Correspondence CORRESPONDENCE, 1870-1893. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_216786 AND CHRONOLOGICALLY. Box 1 of 21 Folder 20 Bailey, Liberty Hyde, 1885-1893 Box 1 of 21 Folder 21 Bailey, Prentice Box 1 of 21 Folder 22 Bailey, William Whitman Box 1 of 21 Folder 23 Bain, S. M. Box 1 of 21 Folder 24 Baird, Spencer F., 1873-1886. Correspondence regarding identification and examination of specimens, exchange of plants with foreign herbariums, and a question on plants to use