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Ames, Oakes, 1874-1950. Papers, 1897-1932.

Title: Papers, 1897-1932.

This collection is representative of Ames' career as a Harvard botanist and of his lifelong interest in the discovery and classification of orchids. The materials are in two series: correspondence, spanning the years 1897-1932; and professional papers, 1898-1930. The two series are closely related, however, since the bulk of the letters are to and from colleagues in the field. Correspondence (incoming, and copies and originals of letters sent) is with botanists connected with Harvard research projects in this country and in the tropics, and with noted specialists associated with other institutions. Such figures as Robert Cameron, George Lincoln Goodale, William S. Lyon and Gertrude Norton are well represented. The collection also contains an interesting letter from 1923 by Herbert J. Spinden describing his travels in Guatemala. Much of the correspondence deals with the subject of plant taxonomy; some concerns Ames' efforts to build a library of orchid literature for the Harvard Botanical Museum. Other correspondence is with Daniel Berkeley Updike of the Merrymount Press and relates to the publication of Ames' Orchidaceae. Some letters are of a personal nature, especially a group of letters to his wife, Blanche Ames, 1897-1910, and son, Amyas, 1924. The professional papers contain student work and university lectures, and research into the orchids of Cuba and the Philippines and Asia, some based on his own travels. A group of drawings by Blanche Ames was used to illustrate Orchidaceae. These researches are extremely detailed, and contain some printed and manuscript information gathered by others.

ArchivalResource: 1 box.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14398326 View