Details - George Thurber and William Munro Gramineae papers

George Thurber and William Munro Gramineae papers

Title

George Thurber and William Munro Gramineae papers

Related Titles

Series: Biodiversity Heritage Library Field Notes Project

External Resources

Collection guide: George Thurber and William Munro Gramineae papers, c.1850-1892. Harvard University Botany Libraries

By

Thurber, George, 1821-1890 , author

Munro, William, 1818-1880 , author

Type

Book

Material

Archival material

Publication info

Notes

This collection consists of a bound volume of manuscript material by George Thurber and William Munro with annotations by Sereno Watson. Two letters from Munro to Thurber, dated 1858 and 1859, are taped in at the front of the volume; the Munro manuscript contains notes on Thurber's grasses (leaves 1-11), the Thurber manuscript contains notes on Gramineae of the U.S.-Mexican boundary survey (leaves 12-136). The collection also contains a bound copy of the contents of this volume with an added index, all in Sereno Watson’s handwriting, and a folder of loose sketches of grasses.

George Thurber: George Thurber was born on September 2, 1821, in Providence, Rhode Island to Jacob and Alice (Martin) Thurber. He was apprenticed to a pharmacist and eventually owned his own pharmacy in partnership with Joshua Chapin. He became interested in botany through its application to medicine and in 1850 was appointed botanist to the United States Boundary Commission, established to survey the border between the United States and Mexico. Thurber spent almost four years with the survey and returned to Providence in 1853 when the commission was disbanded. Thurber was awarded an M.A. in chemistry from Brown University and moved to New York to work in the United States Assay Office. He left in 1856 and over the next few years held several lecturer appointments at Cooper Union, the New York City College of Pharmacy, and the Michigan Agricultural College. In 1863 he became editor of “American Agriculturist” and settled near Passaic, New Jersey. He held this position for 22 years until failing health forced him to retire. Thurber was a member of several scientific societies and served as president of the Torrey Botanical Club from 1873-1880. He corresponded with many prominent botanists and horticulturists, including John Torrey, Asa Gray, George Engelmann, and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. He never married. Thurber died on April 2, 1890, of complications from rheumatism contracted during his time with the Boundary Survey.

William Munro made his career in the British army, entering in 1834 and advancing to the rank of general in 1878. He served in India, the Crimea and the West Indies. In his spare time he studied botany, collecting plants in India in the 1840's and in Barbados, 1870-1875. He become an authority on grasses and was planning to contribute a monograph on bamboo to DeCandolle's Prodromus at the time of his death.