Jesse D. Figgins papers 1904-1969.

ArchivalResource

Figgins, J. D. (Jesse Dade), 1867-1944. Jesse D. Figgins papers 1904-1969.

Jesse D. Figgins papers 1904-1969.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69257282

The Jesse D. Figgins Collection presents archival evidence of the evolution of a major natural history museum from its beginnings. Jesse D. Figgins was the first paid professional Director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History, later the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, from 1910 until 1935. This large collection contains correspondence and telegrams between Figgins and Museum Trustees, donors, other museums, and people involved in such projects as excavation of the Folsom Site in New Mexico. Figgins's correspondence includes letters to collectors of artifacts, staff directives, memos regarding exhibits, and letters concerning field work, such as the excavation of diplodocus bones and anthropological sites. The collection also contains museum incorporation documents, as well as other documents pertaining to running the evolving museum. Much of the early correspondence is regarding natural history specimens, but also pertains to the acquisition of early Egyptian material and North American anthropological material, such as stone points and pottery. Also found in the collection are letters to and from Alfred M. Bailey regarding Bailey's extensive field work in Alaska and much correspondence with Barnum Brown at the American Museum of Natural History regarding collections and field work.Figgins's letters were on paper, at first handwritten in ink and pencil and later typewritten with carbon copies, and fill twenty three 5 x 15.5 x 10-inch boxes, six 2.5 x 15.5 x 10-inch boxes and sixty folders. The collection also contains a pencil on paper drawing executed by Figgins and labeled "Homo Novus Mundus." Digital images of correspondence about the Folsom site and the Folsom point discovery can be found at http://www.cdpheritage.org.

12 boxes

Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Alfred M. Bailey Library