Arrangement

Indexing Terms

Series 1. Biography.

Scope and Content:

The series, arranged alphabetically, covers the personal life of Bassett Maguire, including certificates, family correspondence and photographs. Items of interest are European travel postcards from the 1920's and his personal address file. For additional biographical material, consult the library's vertical file and the Festschrift in Series 11 with additional copies available through the Mertz Library catalog.

Series 2. Intermountain Region.

Scope and Content:

In 1931, Bassett Maguire began his professional botanical career at the Utah State University in Logan where he developed the Intermountain Herbarium, a collection that began with local plants but developed as a regional research collection. After joining NYBG in 1943, he continued for several years to lead botanical expeditions to the Intermountain region of the western United States. The series, arranged in one alphabetical listing, includes Maguire's doctoral dissertation from Cornell University in 1938, his field work, correspondence and early scholarship prior to his professional appointment at the Garden.

Series 3. Correspondence NYBG.

Scope and Content:

During his long association with NYBG (1943-1991), Dr. Maguire held many positions, led expeditions, developed botanical collections, mentored students and was internationally recognized and acclaimed for his prodigious scholarly output. He maintained a robust correspondence that was organized by Celia K. Maguire, his wife, secretary and assistant. The Garden's correspondence series is alphabetically arranged with one exception: the collection of National Science Foundation grant proposals, reports and correspondence is arranged chronologically from 1952-1983. The series also includes material regarding the Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum. Dr. Maguire, as a member of the Advisory Committee, was part of a team that helped to develop and enhance the Arboretum, now known as the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Series 4. Correspondence United States and Canada.

Scope and Content:

Correspondence from the United States and Canada is arranged alphabetically. The numerous entries reflect the varied aspects of Maguire's interests, the depth of his professional involvement and the extent to which scholars, scientists as well as pharmaceutical and metallurgical companies consulted with him. For additional information, refer to Series 3.

Series 5. Correspondence Caribbean and Central America.

Scope and Content:

Arranged alphabetically by country and then by entry, this small series details an important chapter of Maguire's life. The focus of the series is the Dominican Republic. In 1972 Dr. Maguire was appointed by President Balaguer of the Dominican Republic to assist with the development of a botanical garden in Santo Domingo. As chief advisor, Bassett Maguire hired professional botanists and set up many departments of the Jardín Botánico Nacional including the Library and Herbarium which was later named in his honor. Bassett and Celia Maguire eventually built a house on the south coast of the Dominican Republic in Najayo.

Series 6. Correspondence South America.

Scope and Content:

The botany of South America dominated Bassett Maguire's professional work. His lifelong investigation of neotropical flora brought him into contact and correspondence with many like-minded scientists and collaborators. His South American contacts were further extended by his deep concern for the protection of tropical ecosystems and the promotion of responsible management of natural resources. Maguire founded and held leadership positions in the Association for Tropical Biology and the Organization for Tropical Studies. In 1964, he became a founder and executive director of the Organization for Flora Neotropica, an organization with the mission of publishing a plant inventory of the New World tropics. The series is arranged alphabetically by country.

Series 7. Old World Correspondence.

Scope and Content:

Dr. Maguire's wide range of professional activities brought him into contact with scientists and scholars throughout the world. The series is organized alphabetically by country and then by entry. Prominent correspondents include Frans Stafleu, the celebrated Dutch systematic taxonomist, and Audrey Butt Colson, a social anthropologist who worked with the Akawaio people in Guayana during the 1950's. With her assistance, Bassett Maguire filmed the Akawaio Indians in 1952. (Series 18).

Series 8. National Bulk Carriers Inc.

Scope and Content:

From 1953-1972, Dr. Maguire was a consultant and advisor to the major shipping company National Bulk Carriers Inc. and to D. K. Ludwig, the company's president. Ludwig was interested in developing fast-growing tropical trees for commercial purposes. Dr. Maguire supervised several forest surveys by NYBG. Fees received for his consulting work were used for Maguire's Guayana projects. The series, arranged alphabetically, details the administration and activities of Maguire's consultation work and includes studies, reports, forest surveys and timber estimates from various tropical locations in Central and South America, Asia and Africa.

Series 9. Expeditions and Research Trips.

Scope and Content:

The focus of Maguire's botanical career was the tropical flora of the Guayana Highland, an area he returned to many times. He was known to be a focused and meticulous field botanist who amassed a large and excellent collection numbering over 65, 000 specimens. At the time of his death in 1991, The Botany of the Guayana Highland was a series of thirteen volumes ranging in date from 1953-1989. Spear-headed by Maguire and published with many celebrated collaborators, the Guayana Highland series remains one of Maguire's greatest contributions. The series contains notes, field correspondence, maps and reports of major expeditions and research trips. A highlight of the series is Dr. Maguire's original field correspondence to his wife Celia starting in 1948 and ending in 1974. Expeditions and research trips are arranged by year and then by alphabetical entry, with the exception of the Neblina expeditions that spanned twelve years (1953-1965). Neblina material is arranged separately. Not all expeditions are covered with the same degree of detail. Additional research material resides in Maguire's Field Notebooks.

Series 10. Field Journals.

Scope and Content:

Field journals are a daily recording of investigations and observations. As a young man in his late teens, Bassett Maguire kept field journals during his travels to Europe during the summers of 1921-1923 when he worked as a sailor in the merchant marine. In 1925, an uncle provided a gift that allowed him to join a University of Pittsburgh field program in Kartabo, British Guiana where he also kept a detailed record of his observations. The Kartabo paper that Maguire prepared for the class is available in Series 11. Other field journals in this series cover several South American expeditions from 1948-1960.

Series 11. Research.

Scope and Content:

Bassett Maguire's many expeditions yielded substantial field collections that fueled his taxonomic research. His extensive interest and investigation in New World tropics emphasized Clusia, the Compositae, Gentianaceae and Rapataceae, among others.

Series 12. Photographs.

Scope and Content:

Arranged alphabetically, the series contains black and white, color and Polaroid photographs. Negatives, proofs and contact sheets are kept, if unique. One box contains only negatives and proofs of a 1944 trip to Surinam. It is arranged geographically and can be useful since some photographs of this region are not identified. With the exception of some early photographs of Bassett Maguire's first trip to British Guiana in 1925, the series captures much of his expeditionary life spanning the 1940's through Maguire's death in 1991. Included in the series are additional post-1991 photos of the home he and his wife Celia shared in the Dominican Republic. Portraits and early photographs of Basset Maguire and those with Celia Maguire are located in Series 1. Some Maguire photographs are not located within this series but filed with associated documentation in other series.

Series 13. Awards and Certificates.

Scope and Content:

Bassett Maguire received several prestigious awards, most notably The American Geographical Society's David Livingstone Centenary Medal for Scientific Achievement in Geography of the Southern Hemisphere. Presented to him in 1965, the award was a crowning achievement acknowledging his contributions in both botanical and geographical investigation. The series, arranged alphabetically, contains documentation as well as certificates, awards and plaques from a variety of sources.

Series 14. Celia K. Maguire.

Scope and Content:

It is only fitting that a series is dedicated to Mrs. Maguire as she contributed so much to her husband's personal and professional life. She accompanied him on expeditions through inaccessible tropical forests and served as his secretary and assistant in the laboratory and in the field. She was determined to organize, explain, preserve and protect his scientific legacy.

The series covers Mrs.Maguire's documents, correspondence with friends, family, the many personal connections she made through her husband's career and their home in Najayo, Dominican Republic. Of special interest are two scrapbooks of clippings about herself and her husband. Field letters from her husband are located in Series 9. Photographs of Celia Maguire are included in Series 1. Images of the Maguires on expeditions and research trips are located in Series 12, 17 and 18.

Series 15. Robert H. Schomburgk.

Scope and Content:

The series is based on a visit by Bassett Maguire to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1956. There he photographed material that concerned the flora of British Guiana, including the letters and notes of Robert H. Schomburgk (1804-1865), copies of which are included in this series.

Robert Schomburgk was a renown explorer and naturalist who surveyed the boundary of British Guiana that came to be known as the "Schomburgk Line" (1841-1895). After Dr. Maguire's death, Mrs. Maguire donated, in her and her husband's name, a very rare edition of Schomburgk's Twelve Views in the Interior of Guiana.

Series 16. Related Collections Documentation.

Scope and Content:

This series contains documentation for related collections that includes botanical art and illustration, expedition Field Notebooks and over 170 artifacts and personal items used in expeditions. In addition, a collection of Maguire reprints is held in the Mertz Library stacks. These are arranged by number and can be located with an associated card index. Also included herein is the original Finding Guide for the collection prepared by Mrs. Maguire.

Series 17. Slides.

Scope and Content:

Housed in the Photo Vault, the series contains Kodachome and Ektachrome slides that visually document Maguire's expeditions and research trips that took him from Utah to British Guiana, and as far as Africa and Asia. Over two dozen expeditions and research trips are covered. For the most part, Dr. Maguire arranged his slide collection in containers chronologically by expedition utilizing Roman numerals ranging from one to twenty-two. Some containers include slides for more than one expedition. Every effort was made to keep Dr. Maguire's original order and therefore this series is arranged by his Roman numeral organization. There are also miscellaneous slides that were outside of Maguire's numbering system. An inventory list for most expeditions is included in each carton. For additional visual material, see Series 12 and 18.

Series 18. Audio-Visual.

Scope and Content:

Located in the Photo Vault, the Audio-Visual Series contains original 16 mm silent film, film spools, film strips, film to tape transfers, VHS, CD's and two audio tapes. The material covers a number of Maguire's expeditions, including a composite film of the Guayana Highland, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Guyana marking fifteen years of exploration. Several films depict Indian tribal life: the Guaica (Cerro Yutaje) and the Akaiwaio (Kataima). The latter is a film by Maguire produced with the assistance of Audrey Butt Colson, a well known social anthropologist. The series is held in the Photo Vault drawers D4 through D8. See Series 16 for a fuller description of audio-visual material.