Asa Gray correspondence files of the Gray Herbarium

Title Variants

Alternative: Asa Gray correspondence files

Alternative: Historic letters, 1838-1892

External Resources

Collection guide: Asa Gray correspondence files of the Gray Herbarium, 1820-1931. Harvard University Botany Libraries

By

Harvard University. Gray Herbarium.

Type

Collection

Material

Archival material

Publication info

Notes

This collection is also known as the Historic Letters collection.

This collection, ca. 1820-1904, includes the personal correspondence of Asa Gray and Sereno Watson, official correspondence of other Herbarium staff, and a small amount of correspondence of noted botanists who were not affiliated with Harvard. Gray correspondence contains letters from several of the most distinguished European and American scientists of the 19th century, including George Bentham, Charles Darwin, Joseph Henry, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Jackson Hooker, and John Torrey. Letters include important biographical information and also document the early history of botany in the United States. The Darwin correspondence contains a letter to Gray establishing Darwin's precedence in developing a theory of natural selection.

The Gray Herbarium originated with the gift of Asa Gray's herbarium and library to Harvard in 1864. Early curators and directors were Sereno Watson (1874-1892); Benjamin Lincoln Robinson (1892-1935); and Merritt Lyndon Fernald (1935-1947).

Subjects

Agassiz, Alexander, 1835-1910 , Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot Cary, 1822-1907 , Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873 , Arnold Arboretum , Backhouse, James , Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887 , Ball, John , Bebb, Michael Schuck, 1833-1895 , Beck, Theodric Romeyn, 1791-1855 , Bentham, George, 1800-1884 , Boissier, Edmond, 1810-1885 , Boott, Francis, 1792-1863 , Boston Society of Natural History , Botany--Research , Botany--Societies, etc , Botany--Study and teaching (Higher) , Botany--United States--History--19th century , Buckley, S. B.(Samuel Botsford),1809-1884 , Bussey Institution , Canby, William Marriott, 1831-1904 , Candolle, Alphonse de, 1806-1893 , Carnegie Institution of Washington , Cosson, E.(Ernest), 1819-1889 , Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872 , Dana, James Dwight, 1813-1895 , Darlington, William, 1782-1863 , Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 , Decaisne, Joseph, 1807-1882 , Durand, Elie Magloire, 1794-1873 , Eaton, Daniel Cady, 1834-1895 , Eichler, August Wilhelm, 1839-1887 , Engelmann, George, 1809-1884 , Farlow Reference Library and Herbarium , Farlow, W. G. (William Gilson), 1844-1919 , Fendler, Augustus, 1813-1883 , Fernald, Merritt Lyndon, 1873-1950 , Fries, Elias, 1794-1878 , Gray, Asa, 1810-1888 , Greene, Edward Lee, 1843-1915 , Gregory, Emily L. (Emily Lovira), 1841-1897 , Hance, Henry Fletcher , Harvard University Faculty , Harvard University. Gray Herbarium , Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology , Harvard University. Natural History Society , Harvard University--Administration , Harvey, William H. (William Henry), 1811-1866 , Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878 , Herbaria , Hitchcock, Edward, 1793-1864 , Hooker, Joseph Dalton, Sir, 1817-1911 , Hooker, William Jackson, Sir, 1785-1865 , LeConte, John L. (John Lawrence), 1825-1883 , Lehmann, Johann George Christian, 1792-1860 , Lesquereux, Leo, 1806-1889 , Lowell, John Amory, 1798-1881 , Mann, Horace, 1844-1868 , Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von, 1794-1868 , Mueller, Ferdinand von, 1825-1896 , Muir, John, 1838-1914 , Munro, William, 1818-1880 , Natural selection , Nuttall, Thomas, 1786-1859 , Oliver, Daniel, 1830-1916 , Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903 , Olney, Stephen Thayer, 1812-1878 , Palmer, Edward, 1829-1911 , Parry, C. C. (Charles Christopher), 1823-1890 , Peters, Thomas Minott , Plants--Nomenclature , Prestele, Josep, 1796-1867 , Pringle, Cyrus G. (Cyrus Guernsey), 1838-1911 , Putnam, George Palmer, 1814-1872 , Quincy, Josiah, 1772-1864 , Redfield, John Howard, 1815-1895 , Robinson, Benjamin Lincoln, 1864-1935 , Rock, Joseph F. (Joseph Francis), 1884-1962 , Short, Charles Wilkins, 1794-1863 , Silliman, Benjamin, 1816-1885 , Smithsonian Institution , Steetz, Joachim, 1804-1862 , Sullivant, William Starling, 1803-1873 , Thiselton-Dyer, William T. (William Turner), 1843- , Thompson, William, 1823-1903 , Thurber, George, 1821-1890 , Torrey, John, 1796-1873 , Tuckerman, Edward, 1817-1886 , Ward, N. B. (Nathaniel Bagshaw), 1791-1868 , Watson, Sereno, 1826-1892 , Wilkes, Charles, 1798-1877 , Women in science , Wright, Charles, 1811-1885 , Wyman, Jeffries, 1814-1874 , Youmans, Edward Livingston, 1821-1887

BHL Collections

Women in Natural History

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.128030
OCLC: 878725232
Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q51404274