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Howard E. Bigelow (1923-1987)

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HOWARD E. BIGELOW PAPERS (1957-1983)
6.4 linear feet (10 boxes)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Howard E. Bigelow (1923-1987), a mycologist whose specialty was the agaric mycota of the New England area, was a very active member of the Mycological Society of America and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Department of Botany from 1957 to 1983.

Dr. Bigelow was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and he attended Oberlin College from 1941 to1943. He left to fight in World War 2 and returned to Oberlin in 1946. He received his B.A. in 1949 and his M.A. in 1951. He went on to study botany at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Alexander H. Smith and received his Ph.D. in 1956.

He is best known for his monograph on the Clitocybe and Tricholomataceae genera.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection is concerned with Dr. Bigelow's fungi collections and especially his monograph on the Clitocybe and Tricholomataceae genera. It was donated to The New York Botanical Garden by Dr. Roy Halling along with Bigelow's
herbarium from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Botany, whose fungi collection it is also concerned with. It consists of photographs, newspaper clippings, index cards, notebooks, and research notes.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series 1: Clitocybe Collection Lists
Series 2: Host Index Cards
Series 3: Photographs
Series 4: Description of Species
Series 5: Accession Notebooks
Series 6: Oberlin Newspaper Clippings
Series 7: Research Notes
Series 8: Powdery Mildews of Massachusetts

Series 1     Clitocybe Collection Lists
                   2 lin. in.

Research notes for Dr. Bigelow's monograph on the Clitocybe and his specimens.

Series 2     Host Index Cards
                  16 lin. in. Arranged alphabetically.

This index-card file lists the fungi name, host, and collection number for the University of Massachusetts fungi collections.

Series 3     Photographs
                  26 lin. in.

The majority of these photographs are mounted and cropped for publication. Species names are written on most of them. There are separate files on the Amanita muscaria, Clitocybe leucoparilloides, Laccaria laccata, Melanoleuca albiflaviola, laccaria trullesata, Leucopaxillus, Tricholomataceas spores and 1 of electron microscope spore photographs.

Series 4     Description of Species
                  10 lin. in. Arranged alphabetically.

These descriptions are arranged by species and most were not written by Dr. Bigelow.

Series 5     Accession Notebooks
                  2 lin. in. Arranged by number.

These 3 notebooks record 3,829 specimen numbers. The first 2,000 numbers are for pre-1917 specimens for which there are no accession cards. Collectors associated with these specimens include: H. W. Ravenel, W. W. Denslow, B. D. Halsted, J. B. Ellis, W. G. Farlow, and J. E. Humphrey.

Series 6     Oberlin Newspaper Clippings

There are 3 newspapers articles from the Oberlin College newspaper written by Dr. Bigelow concerning Dutch elm disease and its prevention.

Series 7     Research Notes

These notes are on various mushroom species and fungi from diverse geographic areas of the Americas and include annotated reprints. Also included are files concerned with the Massachusetts State College Fungus Herbarium, and an unpublished manuscript list of 400 West American fungi compiled by David Griffiths.

Series 8     Powdery Mildews of Massachusetts

This series is an unpublished manuscript written by Mrs. May Holden Wheeler. Included are illustrations and research notes for the planned publication.

RELATED COLLECTIONS

University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Botany
 

Processed January 2000 by Stephen Sinon 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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