Records of the American Fern Society (RA)

The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. © 2005

This finding aid was produced in English.

Finding aid produced using NoteTab Pro

Background of the American Fern Society

The American Fern Society was organized in 1893 as the Linnaean Fern Chapter of the Agassiz Association. The group published the journal Linnaean Fern Bulletin, which contained original research, field notes, various discoveries, and Society news. Most members were not professional botanists, but rather amateurs with mutual interests. By mid-1905 the Society voted to create an independent group and became the American Fern Society, which received incorporation in 1936.

By 1910, the AFS established The American Fern Journal and ceased publication of the Linnaean Fern Bulletin in 1912. In time, because The American Fern Journal published more scientific papers the Society began to release a newsletter called Fiddlehead Forum to inform members of general Society news, field trip reports, and horticultural issues. In 1979, the Society began to publish an occasional monograph series called Pteridologia that contained even more scientific information due to the increase in membership by professional botanists.

In addition to the availability of professional and amateur papers, the Society provides an exchange program of fern spores that are provided to both botanical scholars and horticulturists.

Scope and Content

Records consist of constitutions, annual reports, minutes, incoming and outgoing correspondence of officers, general correspondence, membership lists, and financial records. Specific items include Treasurer's reports for numerous years, budget details, administrative decisions made on Council Orders, Curator's reports, lists of library reference questions, and billing and production issues concerning the American Fern Journal.

Restrictions

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.

Copyright

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.

Related Material

Hunt institute for Botanical Documentation

Collection #147-- American Fern Society, Records 1918-[1933-1958]

Smithsonian Institution Archives

U.S. National Museum, Division of Plants, Records 1899-1947, Record Unit 223-- American Fern Society

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

American Fern Society (RA), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden.

Acquisition Information

The records of the American Fern Society were accessioned on 25 September 1980 [Accession # 239] by Scott Mori, and on 20 June 1989 [Accession # 89-12], by John Mickel. One volume, Progress in Pteridologia was received in 1993 [Accession # 93-2].

Processing Information

Processed July 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.

Container List