Digital Collections

The United States Exploring Expedition was the first government authorized naval expedition for scientific observation and an important step in the growth of science in the United States. Six ships sailed from Virginia under the command U.S. Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes (1798–1877) to explore and survey the southern seas including the Polar Regions. The expedition is also referred to as the “U.S. Ex. Ex.” or the “Wilkes Expedition.”

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The Botany Libraries U.S. Exploring Expedition material was scanned as part of the Harvard University Open Collections Project. The project, called Expeditions & Discoveries, was made possible with the generous support of the Arcadia Fund.

FINDING UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION MATERIALS

• Archival Finding Aid: United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.
• Harvard Open Collections (includes content from other Harvard Libraries): United States South Seas Exploring Expedition (aka the Wilkes Expedition),1838–1842.
• HOLLIS: Records of the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 (inclusive).
• Smithsonian Libraries: United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.

Edward Palmer (1829–1911) made botanical, zoological, and archaeological collections in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Palmer collected over 100,000 specimens and discovered approximately 1,000 new species. He also visited local markets to procure plants and study their uses in local cultures, and his documentation of plant uses helped found modern ethnobotany. Palmer joined C. C. Parry’s 1878 expedition to Mexico, where he explored burial mounds and collected plants. He returned repeatedly to Mexico, making botanical and ethnological collections in Durango, San Luis Potosi, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas.

While Palmer sent his specimens to major research institutions for analysis, many of his specimens lacked appropriate data about location and time of collection. Important information has survived in his field notes.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The Botany Libraries' Edward Palmer material was scanned as part of the Harvard University Open Collections Project. The project, called Expeditions & Discoveries, was made possible with the generous support of the Arcadia Fund.

FINDING EDWARD PALMER MATERIALS

•  Archival Finding Aid, Field Notes and Papers : Edward Palmer Plant Lists, 1874-1897
• Harvard Open Collections: Edward Palmer Collecting Trips to Mexico and the Southern United States, 1853–1910
• HOLLIS: Edward Palmer Plant Lists, 1879-1908

 Dr. Asa Gray began this collection of autographs during his first visit to Europe in 1839. He received many as gifts from Adrien de Jussieu, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and other friends. He made large additions on his later visits to Europe, especially in 1869 through the generosity of Vincenzo de Cesati of Naples. Many were added from his personal correspondents.

 In 1890 Isabella Batchelder James gave her valuable collection that included autographs of early American botanists and their correspondents to be incorporated with Dr. Gray's collection.  Mrs. James’s collection was rich in portraits and complimented the many engravings that Dr. Gray obtained during his visits to Europe. Mrs. Gray later added a large collection of photographs of botanists. Mrs. Gray arranged and mounted the autographs, adding birth and death dates, the position, the distinguishing work, and the plant names for each. She also noted the record number of those books found in Pritzel's Thesaurus, the locations of collections,  and whether the botanist had contributed to Torrey and Gray's in the Flora of North America.

She restricted the collection to those made by Dr. Gray and Mrs. James. But where Dr. Gray had portraits and no autographs she tried to supply the autographs. She also added a few of the early collectors in America and those connected with the Herbarium since Dr. Gray's death.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

There are 877 individuals represented from the mid-1600’s through the early 20th century. Highlights include letters penned by Erasmus (1731-1802), Charles (1809-1882), and Francis (1848-1925) Darwin. In addition to notable naturalists, the collection includes letters by Benjamin Franklin (London, 26 June 1774) and Thomas Jefferson (Washington, 1808). Funds to digitize the collection were generously provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences through the Harvard College Library in 2013.  

FINDING JANE GRAY MATERIALS

• Archival Finding Aid. Jane Gray Autograph Collection
• HOLLIS:Collection of botanists' autographs and biographies

In the late 19th century, it was fashionable to press and mount seaweed.  The book Sea Mosses: A Collector's Guide (1881) by A. B. Hervey outlined how to properly press and mount various types of algae.

Place the seaweed in a bowl of salt water to free it from excessive sand and shells. Then the mounting paper is brought underneath the specimen so the specimen is resting on top. The drying and pressing process consists of layering the mounting papers with various types of blotting cloth and additional paper topped with weights. Most seaweed in this case will adhere to the mounting board via gelatinous materials emitted from the plant itself. In the case that the plant does not contain enough material, different types of gummed paper and adhesives are used.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

It is unknown where Mary Robinson collected her seaweeds but it was likely in the waters near Cottage City (currently Oak Bluffs) on the northeastern coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Robinson lived in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is not coastal, so the collecting was not done there. She later lived in Providence, Rhode Island, which is on the coast, so she may have collected there.

Mrs. Constance Neelon of Southern Pines, North Carolina donated the scrapbook to the Farlow Herbarium Archives in August of 2002. Mrs. Neelon's family summered on Martha's Vineyard beginning in 1932 and her husband found the scrapbook around 1950.

FINDING MARY A. ROBINSON SEAWEED ALBUM

• Archival Finding Aid: Mary A. Robinson seaweed album
• HOLLIS: Seaweed album
• Historical Web Exhibit: About the Prints

Henry David Thoreau was a naturalist who collected specimens that included hundreds of New England plants that formed his personal herbarium. Thoreau first encountered botany as student under the tutelage of Phineas Allen at Concord Academy. He continued his studies in natural history at Harvard from 1833-1837 and referred to standard references of the day like Jacob Bigelow’s Florula bostoniensi.

Thoreau first began using Latin names for plants in his Journal  in 1842. The arrival of naturalist Louis Agassiz at Harvard in 1846 and the publication of Asa Gray's Manual of Botany in 1848 influenced Thoreau's interest in botany. He apparently began collecting herbarium specimens in 1850 and continued to read, increase his field observations, and collect until his herbarium grew to about 900 specimens.

Thoreau created his herbarium primarily as a reference collection to identify plants found in the vicinity of Concord and other locations in New England. He identified most of his specimens with Latin names in pencil, but noted the collecting site on only about half of them.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Henry David Thoreau bequeathed his herbarium to the Boston Society of Natural History in 1862. The Society donated the collection to the Concord Free Public Library in 1880. It was given by the Library Trustees to the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University in 1959. 646 oversized specimens currently reside in the Archives. Funds to digitize these materials were generously provided the Mellon Foundation as part of the Global Plants Initiative in 2014.

FINDING THOREAU'S SPECIMENS

• Finding Aid - Herbarium of Henry David Thoreau
• The Botanical Index to the Journal of Henry David Thoreau
• Spreadsheet of Henry D. Thoreau Herbarium Specimens
• The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau
• HOLLIS: Herbarium of Henry David Thoreau