Archives and Manuscript Collections
Personal Papers
GLADYS P. ANDERSON PAPERS (bulk 1934-38)
1.9 linear feet (6 boxes)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Gladys Pomeroy Anderson (1888-1977) was curator of the lichen herbarium
of the Sullivant Moss Society in 1934-1935. Under her care, it was placed
with The New York Botanical Garden, where it remains today. Marshall Howe
made arrangements for the lichen herbarium to be housed within the Garden
Herbarium where it remains today.
Anderson was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 16, 1888. She attended
New Jersey State Normal School and Columbia Teachers College, and graduated
from Columbia University with a B.S. in 1927. From 1917 to1919, she was
a special student and assistant in botany at McGill University. She worked
as a photomicrographer for the Canadian Forest Products Laboratory and
several rubber companies. It is said that she was instrumental in creating
the New Jersey part of the Appalachian Trail. In 1935 she contributed an
article "Centraria Fahlunensis var. Frostii (Du Rietz) Zahlb., in New York
State and in Pennsylvania" to the May-June issue of The Bryologist
(vol. 38, no. 3). Anderson was the German translator for the Sullivant
Moss Society, responsible for translating scientific articles into English.
She was married to George Ernest Anderson in 1913 and lived in Rahway,
New Jersey.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Gladys Pomeroy Anderson Papers document Anderson's curatorship of
the lichen herbarium of the Sullivant Moss Society. Also documented are
Anderson's botanical research and her career as an educator. The collection
contains correspondence, notes, lists, index cards, lantern slides, and
photographs. There is one tintype. The photographs appear to be divided
between family photographs and photographs of sites and specimens. One
group of photographs of trolley and train cars appears to be from Baltimore,
Maryland, the home of Dr. C. C. Plitt. The lantern slides document an expedition
through Maine. Three seed catalogs for Irises have been removed and are
now in the Historic Seed Catalogs Collection. The collection is arranged
into nine series.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1: Transmission Documents
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Botanical Organizations
Series 4: Lichen Literature
Series 5: Personal Files
Series 6: Maps
Series 7: Photographs
Series 8: Lantern Slides
Series 9: Negatives
Series 1 Transmission Documents, 1967-1992
1 folder
This series contains two letters. One is from George Ernest Anderson,
Jr., transmitting material. The other is from Antonia Adejo of The Garden
Conservancy, transmitting material found in the estate of Mary Fleming,
who was employed in the Bryological Herbarium of The New York Botanical
Garden.
Series 2 Correspondence, 1932-1937
3 folders, Arranged alphabetically.
This series contains correspondence related to Gladys Anderson's determinations
of lichen specimens, and general business of the Sullivant Moss Society.
A. T. Beals was also involved with the Society.
Series 3 Botanical Organizations, 1916-1935
1 lin. in. Arranged by subject.
This series consists of papers and correspondence from Anderson in her
capacity as curator of lichens. Reports of the activities of the lichen
department are found here as well. Also included are papers and correspondence
from C. C. Plitt and E. B. Chamberlain, who preceded her and served as
Secretary-Treasurers in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Series 4 Lichen Literature, n.d.-1934
3.5 lin. in. Arranged by subject.
The material in this series consists of Mrs. Anderson's notes from lectures
and the literature including notes on index cards.
Series 5 Personal Files, 1935-1938
1 lin. in. Arranged by subject.
This series contains an estate inventory of an unnamed person's possessions,
a scrapbook of clippings belonging to Mrs. F. J. Feely, chair of the Committee
on Spiritual Life of the Woman's Guild of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church of Westfield, New Jersey, and travel brochures for Maine, New Hampshire,
Virginia, and the Carolinas.
Series 6 Maps, 1915-1935
1 lin. in. Arranged chronologically.
This series contains United States Geological Survey maps of New Jersey,
New York, and Pennsylvania.
Series 7 Photographs, ca. 1860-ca. 1940
2 lin. in. Arranged by subject.
This series contains unlabeled portraits, especially those of an unamed
boy. There is one tintype portrait. Other unlabeled photographs are landscapes
and specimens. One folder contains photographs of railroad and trolley
cars from Baltimore, Maryland. Negatives have been removed and are found
in Series 9: Negatives.
Series 8 Lantern Slides, n.d.
5 lin. in. Arranged by number.
Lantern slides in this series document an excursion or expedition to
Maine. They include maps and landscape and specimen photographs. They were
found in numbered groups from I-X. Groups numbers VI-IX were absent from
the collection.
Series 9 Negatives, n.d.-ca. 1940
1 folder. Arranged by subject.
Included in this series are the negatives from Series 7 which were removed.
PROVENANCE NOTE
The Gladys P. Anderson Collection was donated to The New York Botanical
Garden with her herbarium in 1958. Dr. Clark P. Rogerson picked it up and
transported it to the Garden. Additional materials were added in 1971,
donated by her son, and in 1992, from the estate of Mary Fleming, and transmitted
to the Garden by Antonia Adejo of The Garden Conservancy, Cold Spring,
New York. The collection was transferred to the Garden Archives from the
Garden Bryological Herbarium.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
The New York Botanical Garden
PP A.T. Beals Papers
HSC Historic Seed Catalogs Collection
Processed January 2000 by Laura Zelasnic 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
Back to Top
|