Feb. 6, 1922 
468 Hope Street, 
Providence, R*I. 
Dear PernsId:- 
Since seeing you last Friday I have leatrned certain 
facte which throw an interesting side light on the ways and means 
of the recently published list of the Providence Franklin Society 
on R.I.plants. I have long suspected some of thee facte, but 
when I saw you Friday I war not reaeoably rare regarding them 
so I did not feel warranted in raying anything to you about them, 
particularly as the main points involved were not brought up in 
our conversation. 
Based partly upon facts that I have recently learned and 
partly upon facts that I have known for some time „the following 
brief narrative ap^ars to be not far from the truth, 
Home two or more years ago Mqss Marie E. Gaudette (then 
assistant curator and now acting curator of the Roger 'Gilliams 
Park Museum) begun work on a list of Rhode Island plants for 
their own use at the museum-not for publication. She quite 
naturally started making a list of the plants recorded in 
Bennett’s catalogue of 1888 as a basis for checking up changes in 
names and for recording specimens that came to their own small 
herbarium of P. I. plants at the museum. Before much (or 
perhaps anything) had been done to revise the names Miss Round 
was asked to look over the list and make annotations. She 
apparently used the list in its crude form (or else Bennett's 
catalogue) as a basis for recording the new names of R. I. 
plants as given in the 7th ed. of Gray's Manual. These names 
to her meant nothing else than new p lants . She loaned the list 
(apparently wi permission) to Mr. noble of the franklin 
Society, who copied it and, later, be gun to revise names, eto.-, 
as test he could with his limited knowledge of botanical usage- 
a limit which Mr. TIoble himself recognized. Upon the death 
of Hr. noble Mr. Madison (then curator of the museum) tried to 
get the partially revised list from Mr. Noble's daughter, but 
some member of the Franklin Society "teat him out". Mr. Madison 
cautioned the Society that the list was not sufficiently accurate 
and complete to warrant publishing it, hut his caution was dis¬ 
regarded. . a 
As I have already told you Mr. # Tripp called on me (on Dec. 
20) and showed me your letter to him in which you asked about 
certain specimens recorded in the printed list. He tried to ret 
me to assume the responsibility of answering the letter-which 
1 declined diplomatically. I finally suggested that Miss Round 
might have some of the specimens. Obviously he promptly turned 
the letter over to Mies Round the next day (they both teach in 
the same high school) and the same day (Dec. 21) Miss Round wrote 
Miss Gaudette asking if she had any of the specimens mentioned 
in your list. 1$ inclose a carbon copy of Miss Gaudette's reply 
which she has kinoSly loaned me with permission to show it to you. 
It is self explanatory. Please return the carbon copy and I will 
turn it back to Miss Gaudette for her files. 
I thought you perhaps might be interested in the above infor¬ 
mation; that is my reason for transmittin it to you. 
Sincerely, 
c) .her 
