The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. © 2005
This finding aid was produced in English.
Finding aid produced using NoteTab Pro
|
|
||
| Collectors: | Mitten, William, 1819-1906. | |
| Title: | William Mitten Papers (PP) | |
| Dates: | 1846-1910 | |
| Quantity: | 4 linear inches; 1 box | |
| Call Phrase: | Mitten (PP) | |
William Mitten (1819-1906) was the premier bryologist of the second half of the nineteenth century. A pharmaceutical chemist by trade and never a professional botanist, he classified and named thousands of bryophyte specimens which came into Kew Gardens from around the vast British Empire.
Successor to Thomas Taylor, the premier bryologist of the first half of the nineteenth century, William Mitten left his native England only once in his lifetime. He was one of the first to realize that the same taxa occur throughout broad geographical ranges. This is contrary to the prevailing opinion of his day which held that different geographic areas had entirely different flora. As he was able to see examples of all the major families of bryophytes, he developed a phylogeny reflecting these relationships. His concepts deeply influenced generations of British bryologists.
He was a member of the Botanical Society of London and maintained an active correspondence with Sir William Hooker. He published his first paper in 1846 at the age of 26.
By the time of his death, he had amassed the largest and most important collection of bryophytes in private hands. This collection of some fifty thousand specimens was purchased by the NYBG.
The contents of this collection came to the NYBG along with the herbarium of Mr. Mitten. Included are correspondence, photographs, research notes, illustrations and a priced sale catalogue of Mr. Mitten’s library which was offered for sale. The Field Collectors' Notebook Series have two volumes of Mr. Mitten's field notebooks. Volume numbers 231, 232 and 233 contain his notes on collections processed from 1874 to 1894. The locations covered are Singapore, Sibu, Aejung River and Solomon Islands. These notebooks came to the NYBG in conjunction with the aforementioned purchase of bryophyte specimens.
This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.
Indexing Terms |
||
| The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. | ||
| Subjects | ||
| Britton, Elizabeth G. (Elizabeth Gertrude), 1858-1934. | ||
| Bryology -- Classification. | ||
| Bryology -- Nomenclature. | ||
| Gardens -- England -- Hurstpierpont -- Photographs. | ||
| Hepaticae. | ||
| Macromitrium -- Pictorial works. | ||
| Mitten, William, 1819-1906 -- Archives. | ||
| Mitten, William, 1819-1906 -- Library. | ||
| Musci -- Asia. | ||
| Musci -- South America. | ||
| New York Botanical Garden Archives. | ||
| New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. | ||
| Plants -- Malaysia. | ||
| Plants -- Singapore. | ||
| Plants -- Solomon Islands. | ||
New York Botanical Garden
CFN--Collectors' Field Notebooks
William Mitten Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden.
This collection was transferred to the New York Botanical Garden Archives
Originally processed by Stephen Sinon, Assistant Archivist, March 1999. Converted to EAD in August 2006 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH-PA 50678-04).