Archives and Manuscript Collections
Records of the Herbarium (RG4)
FRANKLIN SUMNER EARLE RECORDS (1896-1907)
0.3 linear feet (1 box)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Franklin
Sumner Earle (1856-1929) was a mycologist and a specialist in diseases
and the cultivation of sugarcane. He was born in Dwight, Illinois and attended
the University of Illinois, studying under Thomas J. Burrill, but received
no degree. He served as superintendent of the Mississippi Agriculture Experiment
Station (1892-95), assistant pathologist in charge of the mycological herbarium
of the United States Department of Agriculture (1895-96), and biologist
and horticulturist of the Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station (1895-1900).
In 1902 he held an appointment as Professor of Botany at the Alabama Polytechnic
Institute, where he was awarded an honorary masters degree.
In 1901, Earle joined The New York Botanical Garden, where he worked
for three years as Assistant Curator in charge of the mycological collections.
During his career as the first full-time Garden mycologist, he published
The
Genera of the North American Gill Fungi, an important taxonomic
work that followed the American Code of Nomenclature. In 1904 he became
the director of the Estacion Agronomica at Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba.
Soon afterwards, he began fruit cultivation at Herradura, in Cuba, on a
farm that he maintained until the end of his life. His work in Cuba, as
a business consultant, president of the Cuba Fruit Exchange, and later
a USDA investigator, focused on the sugarcane industry. He developed a
variety of sugar cane resistant to a mosaic disease and made many contributions
to the development of its cultivation. Among his many publications, a major
work was Sugar Cane and its Culture (1928).
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Franklin Sumner Earle records consist of correspondence during the
period of his work at The New York Botanical Garden and immediately after
(1901-1907). Watercolor illustrations of Caribbean fungi composed by Esther
J. Skehan Earle (Earle's wife) are part of the William A. Murrill collection
(Series 6: Artwork) and are housed in The New York Botanical Art and Illustration
Collection.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1 Correspondence, 1896-1907
0.3 linear ft. Arranged alphabetically by author.
In this series, there are 32 files of correspondence on the description
and taxonomy of fungi, specimen identification and exchange, scientific
publication, and related botanical matters.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
The New York Botanical Garden
PP Lucian Marcus Underwood Papers
RG4 Nathaniel Lord Britton Records
William Alphonso Murrill Records
Processed June 2000 by David Rose 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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