Archives and Manuscript Collections
Personal Papers
THE WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY PAPERS (1867-1904)
4 linear inches (2 boxes)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
William
Whitman Bailey (1843-1914) was born in West Point, NewYork on February
22, 1843, the youngest child of Professor Jacob Whitman Bailey and Maria
Slaughter. In 1852, at the age of 9 young Bailey embarked with his father,
mother and only sister, on board the Henry Clay from, West Point New York.
Fire broke out on the steamer and amidst the chaos, his mother and sister
were drowned. He suffered greatly from the shock which weakened his constitution
consequently affecting his health for the rest of his life.
He left West Point in 1857, a few days before his father's death, and
went to Providence where he entered the University Grammar School. In 1860
he entered Brown University. During his college career, in 1862, during
the Civil War, he enlisted as a provate in the Tenth Regimen in Rhode Island
Volunteers for 3 months. His health broke down and he returned to Providence.
He graduated in 1864 and served in the Chemical Laboratory until 1866 when
he became Assistant Chemist at Manchester Print Works, N.H. and later became
Assistant in the Chemical laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 1867 he heard of the United States Geological Exploration of the
40th Parallel. He sought and acquired the position of Botanist
although in 1868 his health broke down and Sereno Watson took his place.
He was engaged in various occupations for several years, including teaching
summer school at Harvard but his botanical career was said to have begun
in 1877 when he started a private class of Botany at Brown. This was the
beginning of a long course of botanical instruction covering nearly 30
years. He became Professor of Botany in 1881 and devoted himself to teaching
systematic botany and vegetable morphology until his failing health compelled
his resignation in 1906.
He died on February 20, 1914. His wife, Eliza Randall Simmons of Providence,
R.I. and two children, Whitman and Margaret Emerson survived him.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Collection of correspondence covering the period 1876- 1904, when Bailey
was teaching botany at Brown University. A bound notebook, titled A
Diary of a Journey in California and Nevada covering the period
1867-1868 when W. W. Bailey was Botanist of the United States Geological
Exploration of the 40th Parallel, has been removed from the
collection and is cataloged as MSS 001.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1: Correspondence, 1876-1904
Series 2: Diary, 1867-1904
Series 1 Correspondence, 1876-1904.
2 lin. in. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Collection of correspondence covering the period 1876- 1904, when Bailey
was teaching botany at Brown University, and consist largely of discussions
of miscellaneous botanical topics.
Series 2 Diary, 1867-1868.
2 lin. in. Bound notebook.
A Diary of a Journey in California and Nevada covering
the period 1867-1868 when W. W. Bailey was Botanist of the United States
Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel, has been removed
from the collection and is cataloged as MSS 001. It contains an account
and itinerary of Bailey's trip from New York to California via Nevada.
In addition to Baileys written account, the volume contains some sketches
by Bailey and mounted photographs taken by the expeditions photographer,
JHC Sullivan.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
Brown University Archives
William Whitman Bailey Papers, 1856-1914.
Harvard University, Gray Herbarium and Arnold Arboretum Libraries
Papers of William Whitman Bailey, 1884-1914.
Processed July 2000 by Susan Fraser under a grant from
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-23141-98 and a grant
from the Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation.
For more information and a complete description contact
Susan Fraser, NYBG
Archivist
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, NY 10458-5126
(718) 817-8879
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