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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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