Charles Arthur Hollick Records (RG4)
Archives, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden
200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard
Bronx, New York 10458-5126
Phone: 718-817-8604
URL: http://library.nybg.org/
The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. © 2005-2018
This finding aid was produced in English.
Finding aid produced using NoteTab Pro
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Collectors: |
Hollick, Charles Arthur, 1857-1933. |
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Title: |
Charles Arthur Hollick Records (RG4) |
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Dates: |
1873-1979 |
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Dates: |
bulk, 1879-1933 |
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Quantity: |
7.5 linear feet; 10 boxes
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Call Phrase: |
Hollick (RG4) |
(Charles) Arthur Hollick (1857-1933) was a Paleobotanist. He served the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) as Assistant Curator
of the Garden (1901-1913), Honorary Curator of Fossil Plants (1913-1921), Paleobotanist (1921-1932) and Research Associate
in Paleobotany (1932-1933). Between 1913 and 1919 he served as Director of the Public Museum of the Staten Island Association
of Arts and Sciences (now the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences), an organization he was instrumental in founding
in 1881. He graduated from Columbia College School of Mines in 1879 and received his Ph.D. from George Washington University
in 1897. He made the first paleobotanical survey of Alaska (1903). His findings are published by the U. S. Geological Survey
as Professional Papers 159 and 182. He collected for the Maryland Geological Survey in 1901. This work is published in
the Pliocene and Pleistocene volume of the Maryland Geological Survey (1906). He collected in New England and New Jersey with
E. C. Jeffrey, of Harvard University, another life long friend. He published on the Cretaceous floras of New England for the
U. S. G. S. (Monograph 50, 1906). For the general public he produced articles on Palaeobotany for the New International Encyclopaedia
(1903) and the Encylopaedia Americana (1904). An expert draughtsman , he created most of the illustrations for his own and
J. S. Newberry's publications. N. L. Britton credits Hollick with producing or supervising the drawings for the first “Illustrated
Flora of the Northern States and Canada”
Apart from his scientific activities Dr. Hollick participated in New York City politics and government. From 1886 to 1892
he was a member of the Board of Health of New Brighton, Staten Island where he established a sewerage system and abated the
smoke nuisance caused by factories in Bayonne, N.J. He was on the Board of Park Commissioners for Richmond County from 1897-1904.
He helped to organize the Richmond Borough branch of the Citizens Union and worked for the election of Seth Low, President
of Columbia University , to mayor in 1901. He was a member of the New York City Board of Education from 1906 to 1910.
Hollick was born in New Brighton, Staten Island on February 6, 1857. Except for periods with the U. S. G. S. in Washington,
D. C. and his field trips, he lived in Port Richmond all of his life. A lifelong friend of Nathaniel Lord and Elizabeth Britton,
he and Nathaniel met in 1875 when both entered the School of Mines of Columbia College. Influenced by Professor John S. Newberry
and his friend John J. Crooke, they joined the Torrey Botanical Club together in 1877. Hollick was Recording Secretary of
the Club from 1883 to 1888 and an Associated Editor for many years. Hollick and Britton published A Catalogue of the Plants of Richmond County in 1879, the year both graduated from the School of Mines.
In 1881 Britton and Hollick and their colleague William T. Davis became original member of the Natural Science Association
of Staten Island. The specimens they collected and those of Hollick's father Dr. Frederick Hollick, an amateur geologist,
formed the basis of the natural history collections of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences.
After graduation, Hollick travelled to California to be Superintendent of the Mexican Mine in Mariposa County, California.
In February, 1881 he was appointed Assistant Sanitary Engineer of the Board of Health of the City of New York. He was there
for 10 years, during one of the periods of greatest growth and expansion of the City. At one time as many as one thousand
unfinished buildings were on his inspection list. Some of the projects he oversaw were the original Madison Square Garden,
the Mills Building and the Navarro Flats.
In 1882 he, N. L. Britton and W. T. Davis had collected fossil plants in Wyoming and Colorado for Professor J. S. Newberry
of Columbia College. He continued his association with Newberry, serving as a private assistant and producing the drawings
of fossil plants and fishes for many of Newberry’s publications. In 1890 Newberry became ill and Hollick was appointed to
fulfill Newberry’s lecture schedule. This was the beginning of his active scientific career. In 1892 he was appointed Assistant
in Geology. That year, at the Lake Superior mines, he conducted the first practical field geology course in the history of
the School of Mines. In 1893 his title was changed to Tutor in Geology. He gave instructions in drawing to students in courses
in geology and paleontology. In 1895 he produced, posthumously, Newberry's Flora of the Amboy Clays which he edited from
notes and added illustrations.
When the paleobotanical collections of Columbia University were transferred to the New York Botanical Garden in 1901, Hollick
was placed in charge of them as Assistant Curator.
He spent four months in Alaska under the auspices of the U.S. Geological Survey--Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources, Reclamation
Service in 1903—the first Paleobotanist to do so. With Sidney Paige, he travelled 1000 miles down the Yukon River from Dawson
to Anvik collecting materials which were to occupy him for the rest of his career. He wrote two reports on this material,
The Upper Cretaceous flora of Alaska, 1930 (Professional Paper 159) and The Tertiary flora of Alaska, 1936 (Professional Paper 182). He did most of his own illustrations for both works.
Hollick and the Brittons collected in Jamaica 1908. Between 1913 and 1919, Hollick served as Director of the Staten Island
Institute of Arts and Sciences; although he was associated with the New York Botanical Garden as Honorary Curator of Fossil
Plants.
In 1921 he rejoined the New York Botanical Garden as Paleobotanist and in 1932 his title was changed to Research Associate
in Paleontology. In 1926 he was part of the expedition to Porto Rico sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences and the
Government of Porto Rico. His descriptions and illustrations are published in the 7th volume of the Scientific Survey of
Porto Rico.
His last expedition was to Cuba, December, 1932-Jan., 1933 where, at the age of 76, in the company of Brother Leon, he collected
in every province, travelling over 1000 miles by foot, horseback and primitive conveyances. Three months later, following
a brief illness, he died on March 1, 1933. His work was taken up by E. W. Berry of Johns Hopkins University.
The bulk of this collection is visual materials. These are in the forms of photographs, clippings of photographic plates
and lithographic prints of figures from published works, and mono prints taken from leaves of contemporary trees and grasses.
Other materials are correspondence, reprints, manuscripts, and index cards. The bulk of the materials concerns Dr. Hollick’s
paleobotanic investigations and documentation of new species. Material in the Staten Island series relates to Dr. Hollick’s
study of the flora of Staten Island with N. L. Britton , his work with the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences and
reports pertaining to his work as member of the Board of Health of Staten Island (1886-1892). The collection is arranged
into twelve series.
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.
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The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
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Subjects |
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Alaska -- Discovery and exploration -- Photographs. |
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Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859-1934. Flora of Staten Island. 1879. |
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Hollick, Charles Arthur, 1857-1933 -- Archives. |
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Liriodendron. |
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Lyriodendropsis. |
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Nature prints. |
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New York Botanical Garden Archives. |
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Newberry, J. S. (John Strong), 1822-1892. Flora of the Amboy Clays -- Illustrations. |
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Paige, Sidney b. 1880 -- Photograph collections. |
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Paleobotany -- Alaska. |
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Paleobotany -- Bibliography. |
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Plants -- New York (N.Y.) -- Staten Island. |
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Plants, Fossil -- Cuba. |
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San Juancito (Honduras) -- Maps, Manuscript. |
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Torrey Botanical Club -- History -- Sources. |
New York Botanical Garden
RG4--The Herman F. Becker Records
United States Geological Survey
Mineral Resources Survey, Alaska Section, Anchorage, Ak.
Field Records Library, Denver, Co.
Photo Library, Denver, Co.
Reclamation Service, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History
The New York Botanical Garden Collection (Paleobotany collection)
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Lester Frank Ward Papers
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences
Charles Arthur Hollick Papers
The following have been relocated to Collectors' Field Notes (CFN):
Field Notebook #623, Staten Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Elizabeth Island, Chesapeake Bay, Cape Cod, 1896-1901
Field Notebook #621, Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1896-1898
Field Notebook #622, USGS, Barren Island, Long Island and Queens, Fox Island, 1903-
1922
Charles Arthur Hollick Records (RG4), Archives, The New York
Botanical Garden.
This collection was transferred to the New York Botanical Garden Archives.
Originally processed by Laura Zelasnic, Project Archivist, April,1999, with grant funding from The National Endowment for
the Humanities. (NEH-PA 23141-98). Converted to EAD in AUgust 2006 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH-PA 50678-04).
Series 1. Biographical Materials.
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Scope and Content:
Contains a memoir of Hollick’s experiences in the Torrey Botanical Club, a
newspaper interview on prehistoric fossils of Manhattan, a program for a talk he gave in Pittsburgh and N.L. Britton's memoir
of Hollick. Portrait photographs of Dr. Hollick are contained in Series 10 : Photographs.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
1.1 |
Biographical |
1901-1933 |
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Series 2. Staten Island.
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Scope and Content:
This series contains correspondence from the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences transmitting a container list of
materials held by them pertaining to the “Flora of Staten Island “ by Hollick and Britton and material pertinent to the flora
of Staten Island by other NYBG faculty members. Also in this series are Arbor Day addresses delivered by Hollick in Staten
Island, and material written while he was Curator-in-Chief at the Staten Island Museum. Reports by him on oil refineries near
Kill Von Kull and the sewage system invented by George E. Waring and installed on Staten Island are reminders of his 10 years
with the Sanitation Department of New York City. A photograph of N.L. Britton and Hollick “Botanizing on Staten Island”
is located in Series 10: Photographs. Hollick’s field notes dating from 1896 have been removed and are located in the Field
Notebook Collection.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
1.2 |
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences |
1883-1979 |
1.3 |
Sanitation Reports |
ca. 1883 |
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Series 3. Correspondence.
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Scope and Content:
This series contains letters transmitting determinations, loans and receipts for Paleobotanic materials sent to the NYBG
during Dr. Hollick’s tenure. Other correspondence relates to Dr. Hollick's research. Particularly notable in this series
is Hollick’s 25 year correspondence with E.C. Jeffrey of the Phanerogamic Botany Laboratory at Harvard. Together they investigated
the Cretaceous flora of Staten Island, New Jersey and Martha’s Vineyard. Hollick’s field notes for these studies are located
in the Field Notebook Collection. Correspondence from the U.S. Geologic Survey contains the records of Dr. Hollick’s appointments.
Other correspondence with the U. S. G. S. is filed alphabetically under the individual correspondent. See especially K,
for Hollick’s correspondence with Knowleton. Correspondence with the Merriam Co. in the M folder contains his revisions
on paleobotanical terms for Webster’s Dictionary, 1927. Correspondence with Charlotte H. Schmidt transmits the “List of Fossil
Plant Genera and Living Plants Found Fossil” compiled by her and reviewed by Hollick in 1919. The list itself is located
in Series 8: Manuscripts. Correspondence in Series 8: Manuscripts is found in the scrapbook dedicated to Hollick's article
in on Paleobotany in The New International Encyclopedia. Correspondence related to Hollicks Alaska Expedition is located
in Series 9: Alaska Expedition. One manuscript found in Series 3: Correspondence is “Glacial Reliefs South of and In the
Last Moraine” located in the Botanical Society of America folder. Correspondence related to Dr. Hollick's field work in Alaska
is found in Series 9: Alaska Expedition.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
1.4 |
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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1898-1899 |
1.5 |
Botanical Society of America |
1930 |
1.6 |
A-C |
1896-1931 |
1.7 |
D-G |
1901-1928 |
1.8 |
H-J |
1899-1927 |
1.9 |
Jeffrey, E.C. |
1905-1930 |
1.10 |
Joseph Leidy Commemorative Meeting |
1923 |
1.11 |
K |
1898-1931 |
1.12 |
L |
1912-1928 |
1.13 |
Leon, Brother Hermano |
1928-1933 |
1.14 |
M |
1903-1932 |
1.15 |
N-O |
1915-1930 |
1.16 |
P |
1889-1933 |
1.17 |
R |
1923-1930 |
1.18 |
Save the Redwoods League |
1912-1932 |
1.19 |
S |
1895-1932 |
1.20 |
Schmidt, Charlotte |
1904-1919 |
1.21 |
T |
1903-1932 |
1.22 |
Thom, Emma |
1929-1932 |
1.23 |
U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) |
1882-1928 |
1.24 |
V |
1903 |
1.25 |
W |
1913-1932 |
1.26 |
Y-Z |
1900-1923 |
1.27 |
Miscellaneous
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1875-1922
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1.28 |
Miscellaneous
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1923-1926
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1.29 |
Miscellaneous
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1927-1928
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1.30 |
Miscellaneous |
1929 |
1.31 |
Miscellaneous
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1930-1933
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Series 4. Nature Prints.
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Scope and Content:
This series consists of mono prints in ink of leaves of contemporary trees and grasses which have been cut out and pasted
on cardboard with their species name handwritten in ink to form a reference file.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
1.32 |
Nature Prints |
n.d. |
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Series 5. Illustrations.
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Scope and Content:
This series consists of lithographs, line drawings and photographs. All are illustrations which accompany published contributions
although the exact titles are not always specified. Among the more interesting are what appear to be the original plates
from Leo Lesquereux’s work on Fossil Flora of the Western Territories for the U. S. G. S. (1878) & (1883). It is possible
that Hollick did the drawings. Other illustrations are an extensive group of line drawings illustrating Liriodendra. Photographs
from his work and that of others, esp. “Upper Cretaceous Flora of Alaska” are here--cut up, pasted onto cards and organized
into a reference file. Oversized illustrations are located in Box 5.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
2.1 |
Upper Cretaceous Flora of Alaska |
1930 |
2.2 |
Upper Cretaceous Flora of Alaska |
1930 |
2.3 |
Upper Cretaceous Flora of Alaska |
1930 |
2.4 |
Andromeda, Arabia |
1898 |
2.5 |
Annulariae |
1913 |
2.6 |
Asterophyllites, Bignonia |
ca. 1913 |
2.7 |
Calamites |
1913 |
2.8 |
Calamostachys |
1913 |
2.9 |
Cardius, Casuarina, Coinopteris |
n.d.-1914 |
2.10 |
Elatides to Equisetum |
1913-1914 |
2.11 |
Ficus, Fieldenia, Hedera and Ginko |
1898-1914 |
2.12 |
Lirodendron |
1894-1896 |
2.13 |
Lirodendron Alatum Newb |
1894 |
2.14 |
Lonchocarpus to Myrsine |
1896-1913 |
2.15 |
Otozamites, Pinnularia, Pongamia |
1896-1914 |
2.16 |
Paleostachya and Phoenicopsis |
1876-1913 |
2.17 |
Populus, Proteas Phyllum Protorhipsis |
1895 |
2.18 |
Pterospermites, Rhyzomorphs |
1898 |
2.19 |
Salix, Serenopsis |
1893-1898 |
2.20 |
Zamia, Zamites |
ca. 1913 |
2.21 |
Unidentified |
n.d. |
2.22 |
Schematic Drawings (Plates V-Z) |
n.d. |
5.1 |
Ancestors of the…Middle Cretaceous,
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n.d. |
5.2 |
Eastern, U.S. ( Liriodendra)
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n.d. |
5.3 |
Young and Mature Leaves of Liriodendron Tulipifera |
n.d. |
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Series 6. Topographic Maps.
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Scope and Content:
This series contains a group of index maps published by the U. S. G. S. extending across the U.S. From these indexes, one
would select details by number and order them. In this series is an original ink on linen topographic map of San Juancito,
Honduras by E. C. Fialos, C. E.. Hollick never worked in Honduras. Included also in this series is a list of maps of specific
areas in the United States requested by Hollick and purchased in 1911.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
2.23 |
List of Maps wanted by the New York Botanical Garden |
1911 |
2.24 |
USGS Index Maps |
1900-1911 |
2.25 |
San Juancito, Honduras by E. C. Fialos, C.E. |
n.d. |
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Series 7. Annual Reports of the Paleobotanist.
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Scope and Content:
Typewritten reports, handwritten notes and index cards recording the activities of the Paleobotanist annually from 1921-1933.
An index card file, documenting the year 1930 in terms of library and museum acquisitions, Garden Publications, Lectures and
Conferences, and Personal and Professional Activities on individual cards is found in Box 10.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
2.26 |
Reports |
1921-1933 |
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Series 8. Manuscripts.
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Scope and Content:
This series contains manuscripts written by Hollick or sent to him. Here is located the original manuscript for Flora of
Staten Island (1879) by Britton and Hollick. The folder for Newberry’s “ Flora of the Amboy Clays” contains page proofs
and a list of the locations of the specimens illustrated in it. Also in this series is a scrapbook containing correspondence
and proofs for his article for the New International Encyclopedia (1903) and a list of Fossil Plant Genera and Living Plants
found in Fossil prepared for him by Charlotte H. Schmidt of the U. S. G. S. in 1919. Another scrapbook dedicated to the Story
of the Bartram Oak, published in 1919 in Scientific American is in box 5. The Bibliography folder contains citations in his
own handwriting for articles written by Hollick.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
3.1 |
Flora of Richmond County |
1879 |
3.2 |
[Notes on Liriodendron] |
1894-1907 |
3.3 |
“The Flora of the Amboy Clays” by John Strong Newberry, ed. by Arthur Hollick |
1895 |
3.4 |
The Genus Liriodendropsis Newberry |
1895 |
3.5 |
"Palaeobotany" in The New International Encyclopaedia |
1903 |
3.6 |
List of Fossil Plant Genera and Living Plants Found in Fossil
by Charlotte H. Schmidt, USGS |
1909 |
3.7 |
Memoranda to Carnegie Institute |
1920 |
3.8 |
Bibliography |
1905-1922 |
3.9 |
[Notes on Fossil Plants of the Arctic Zone] |
1926 |
3.10 |
A Comparison between Contemporaneous Floras of Tropical
And Boreal Regions |
1927 |
3.11 |
[Translations from the German for Biological Abstracts] |
1929-1930 |
3.12 |
Insect Borings in Cretaceous Lignite |
ca. 1931 |
3.13 |
The Geographic Background of Taxonomy |
n.d. |
3.14 |
List of Plants of Paleozoic Times |
n.d. |
5.4 |
The Story of the Bartram Oak |
1919 |
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Series 9. Alaska Expedition.
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Scope and Content:
Hollick’s field trip to Alaska yielded material that was to occupy him for the rest of his life. Primarily, this series contains
correspondence between him and the U. S. G. S. concerning progress on the publication of his findings. The list of specimens
he collected is here. Hollick's Field Collection Notebooks for this expedition is located with the USGS Mineral Resources
Surveys, Alaska Section, Anchorage, AK. Photographs by Sidney Paige, documenting this remarkable expedition are found in
Series 10: Photographs.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
4.1 |
Field Trip Correspondence |
1903-1904 |
4.2 |
Field Trip Correspondence |
1910-1932 |
4.3 |
Field Trip Financial Disbursements |
1903 |
4.4 |
List of Specimens Collected |
1903 |
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Series 10. Photographs.
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Scope and Content:
Sidney Paige, a U. S. G. S. colleague photographed the expedition. He did so in chronological order, preparing a numerical
list of 102 subjects from the boat from Seattle through the return trip, one month later. That list is included in this series.
Of high informational value, featured here are gold miners, Indian life, scenic views of Nome and other places in Alaska,
as well as geological and paleobotanical features. Also in this series are portrait photographs of Hollick and specimen
photographs include Glyphomitrium Cockerlleae, discovered by Elizabeth Britton and himself.
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Folder |
Title |
Date |
4.5 |
Photo Log by Sidney Paige |
1904 |
4.6 |
Alaska, Nos. 1-102 |
1903 |
4.7 |
Alaska, Nos. 1-25 |
1903 |
4.8 |
Alaska, Nos. 26-50 |
1903 |
4.9 |
Alaska, Nos. 51-74 |
1903 |
4.10 |
Alaska, Nos. 75-102 |
1903 |
4.11 |
Insect Borings in Cretaceous Lignite |
1914-1931
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4.12 |
Specimens |
1910-1923 |
4.13 |
Personal |
1879-1931
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Series 11. Literature File.
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Scope and Content:
Consists of a bibliography on paleobotanical topics on index cards. The authors and the material represented here precedes
professional literature indexes.
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Box |
Title |
Date |
6 |
Series 11: Literature File |
1870 --1932
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7 |
Series 11: Literature File |
1870 --1932
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8 |
Series 11: Literature File |
1870 --1932
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9 |
Series 11: Literature File |
1870 --1932
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Series 12. Type and figured Specimen Files.
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Scope and Content:
Two distinct files. One is organized by type specimen described by Hollick. The other is an index of illustrations of specimens.
Almost all of the types are named for figures prominent in the early history of the New York Botanical Garden. The type specimens
file is alphabetized by blue index cards. The figured specimens file is, alphabetized by orange index cards.
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Subseries A: Type Files
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Box |
Title |
Date |
10 |
Subseries A: Type Files |
1893-1906 |
Subseries B: Figured Files
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10 |
Subseries B: Figured Files |
1853-1905 |
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