Archives and Manuscript Collections
Records of the Herbarium (RG4)
ELIZABETH GERTRUDE KNIGHT BRITTON RECORDS (1882-1934)
10.2 linear feet (22 boxes)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Elizabeth
Gertrude Knight Britton (1857-1934) was a bryologist and educator, and
one of the founding leaders of The New York Botanical Garden. Born Elizabeth
Gertrude Knight in New York City on January 9, 1857, she was the first
of five daughters of James and Sophie Anne (Compton) Knight. She spent
part of her early childhood on her grandfather's sugar plantation in Matanzas,
Cuba. Elizabeth Knight graduated from the Normal School (now Hunter College)
in 1875 and taught there as a critic teacher (1875-82) and Tutor in Natural
Science (1882-85). She married Nathaniel Lord Britton on August 27, 1885.
Their parallel botanical careers lasted until their deaths within months
of each other in 1934. Both are intrinsically associated with the creation
of The New York Botanical Garden, and Elizabeth Britton became one of the
foremost authorities in bryology of her time.
Elizabeth Knight joined the Torrey Botanical Club (1879), published
her first paper in the club's bulletin (1883), and served as Curator of
Mosses (1884-85) and editor (1886-88). She and her Torrey Club associates,
such as John Strong Newberry and Nathaniel Lord Britton, were leaders in
botanical science during the end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th. In 1893 she was the only woman nominated to be one
of 25 charter members of the Botanical Society of America. She joined Columbia
College as an unofficial curator of its moss herbarium, where she was instrumental
in acquiring the collection of the Swiss bryologist August Jaeger. Though
she lacked an advanced degree, she oversaw the work of doctoral students
at Columbia, including Abel Joel Grout, who became a leading North American
bryologist in the 20th century.
Mrs. Britton began her botanical career with the discovery of the fruit
of the moss Eustichium norvegicum and the presence of a rare
curly grass fern, Schizaea pusilla, in Nova Scotia in 1879. She
was a fervent fieldworker and made extensive collections in the Adirondack
and Appalachian Mountains, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1888 the
Brittons sailed to England to examine the Bolivian collection of Henry
Hurd Rusby at the Kew Botanic Garden. This visit has become legendary as
Mrs. Britton's inspiration to create a similar institution in New York.
On their return to New York they became involved with the Torrey Botanical
Club to establish a botanic garden in New York City, and Mrs. Britton became
a prime mover in the fundraising efforts in the 1890's that led to its
creation. In 1912 she became Honorary Curator of Mosses for The New York
Botanical Garden, an unpaid position, providing annual reports from 1914
to 1929. In 1906 the Garden purchased the William Mitten moss herbarium
and she spent years on its reorganization and integration into the Garden's
collection.
Mrs. Britton wrote 346 papers, 170 of which were on mosses, with many
more on ferns and wildflower preservation. In 1889 she began a series of
11 papers titled "Contributions to American Bryology" that described the
genera Orthotricum, Ulota, Physomitrium, Bruchia, and Scouleria.
Soon afterwards she wrote a series of eight articles, "How to Study the
Mosses," for a popular botanic periodical, The Observer. In 1892
she published a list of the mosses of West Virginia and from 1903 to 1914
a series of 12 papers on moss taxonomy in The Bryologist. While
her research of the 1890's led toward a systematic study of the mosses
of the eastern United States, a proposed Handbook of Mosses of Eastern
America, she abandoned this project in favor of shorter papers. She
also contributed papers on moss systematics to the project known as the
North
American Flora.
Early in the history of the Garden she launched a public effort to raise
people's consciousness about wildflower preservation. In 1902 she helped
organize The Wild Flower Preservation Society of America and published
a series of articles on the subject in the Journal of The New York Botanical
Garden (1912-29). In recent years Elizabeth Britton has become the
focus of several studies on women in the sciences in the 19th
and early 20th centuries. Among her many distinctions, Mrs.
Britton served as president of the Sullivant Moss Society (1916-19) and
chaired the Conservation Committee of the Federated Garden Clubs of New
York (1925), but her stature as a brilliant, and female, scientist
makes her unique. At a time when professional opportunities for women were
rigidly delimited, Elizabeth Britton seems all the more outstanding through
her leadership, influence, strong personality, and indomitable will. Her
enthusiasm and dedication to botany have left a lasting mark on the Garden
and its moss collections.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton collection consists of correspondence,
research and personal papers, manuscripts and typescripts, photographic
material, artwork, and printing plates covering her teaching career at
the Normal School and her association with the Torrey Botanical Club and
The New York Botanical Garden. Mrs. Britton's field notebooks are located
in The New York Botanical Garden Collectors' Field Notebook collection.
In some cases, her field notes are located in notebooks of associated collectors,
especially Nathaniel Lord Britton.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1: Correspondence
Series 2: Research Papers
Series 3: Manuscripts and Typescripts
Series 4: Photography
Series 5: Artwork
Series 6: Personal Papers
Series 7: Printing Plates
Series 1 Correspondence, 1883-1932
4.8 lin. ft. Arranged alphabetically.
There are four boxes of correspondence with colleagues, personal friends,
and social leaders covering the period from her instruction at the Normal
School through her New York Botanical Garden career. Notable correspondents
are Helen Brown, Edward Chamberlain, Alice Eastwood, William Farlow, Jane
Gray, John Holzinger, James Macoun, William Maxon, William Mitten, George
Nichols, Henry Hurd Rusby, Richard Spruce, Anne Morrill Smith, Josephine
Elizabeth Tilden, Hugo de Vries, and Alfred Russell Wallace. There are
10 letters from Nathaniel Lord Britton (1891-98). One (May 29, 1912) is
a notice of her appointment as Honorary Curator of Mosses, passed by the
Garden Board of Managers on May 23, 1912. In some instances, correspondence
to Elizabeth Britton appears in the Nathaniel Britton collection, and vice
versa. Such cases are not cross-referenced. It may be advisable to
refer to each collection for related correspondence, especially in cases
where the same correspondent appears in both collections.
Series 2 Research Papers, 1892-1920
1.1 lin. ft. Arranged alphabetically.
This series consists of 58 files of research papers and 5 boxes of bibliographic
index cards relating to moss systematics. These consist of botanical descriptions,
annotations of lists and catalogues, and notebooks, some with accompanying
sketches. Notebooks and annotated publications (e.g. Musci Appalachiani
by Coe Finch Austin) appear in Box 6. An annotated copy of Musci Austro-Americani
by William Mitten (1869) appears in Box 7. Notes are organized variously
by family, genus, geographical region, or habitat; some material relates
to bryological organizations. The index cards pertain to the Acrocarpus
and Pleurocarpus genera of mosses.
Series 3 Manuscripts and Typescripts, 1888-1930
0.25 lin. ft. Arranged alphabetically.
Manuscripts and typescripts include annotated botanical lists, drafts
of published articles, book reviews, and 2 files of New York Botanical
Garden reports of the "Honorary Curator of Mosses." All pertain to moss
systematics. There are 4 typescripts of collaborative publications with
G. B. Kaiser and Robert Statham Williams, and translations of an article
by P. Vuillemin and of the journal of Nicolas Valverde on an expedition
to Turquino, Cuba. In some cases, pencil sketches accompany the notes and
manuscripts.
Series 4 Photography, 1882-1924
0.5 lin. ft. Arranged by subject.
Photo subjects include the Knight family, including portraits of Elizabeth
alone and with her mother. There are portraits of Nathaniel Lord Britton,
and one of John Strong Newberry (1892) inscribed to Elizabeth Britton.
There are many unidentified nature scenes of lakes, meadows, farmlands,
woodlands, and other scenic and floral subjects. One photo depicts the
Brittons at a picnic at Middlesex Falls, in Melrose, Massachusetts in 1924.
One envelope contains photos taken by Lucien Marcus Underwood in Switzerland,
including shots of the Matterhorn.
Series 5 Artwork, 1901
1.6 lin. ft. Arranged by subject.
There are 9 colored photo engravings of mosses (mounted and framed)
and 4 plates of Alexandrina Taylor's diagrammatic studies for "Life History
of Schizaea pusilla," published in the Bulletin of the Torrey
Botanical Club, Volume 28, 1901. Two oversize drawings of Ms. Taylor
have been separated and removed to The New York Botanical Garden Art &
Illustration Collection #59.
Series 6 Personal Papers, 1882-1934
1.1 lin. ft. Arranged alphabetically.
This series consists of an address book, diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence,
clippings, and a small box of personal effects. There are 2 files of news
clippings and correspondence (1917-27) regarding the preservation of trees
and other flora of New York City parks. There is a diary of the Brittons'
wedding vacation (1885) and trip to Kew Botanic Garden (1888) each with
a typed transcription. The wedding diary also includes a journal kept by
Nathaniel Lord Britton on a United States Geological Survey expedition
to the American west in 1882. There is a bound leather volume (entitled
"Zoe") by Miriam Barnett Fridenberg, inscribed to Elizabeth G. Knight.
One scrapbook contains personal correspondence and clippings relating to
the Normal School, and one photo scrapbook has been disassembled and filed.
Series 7 Printing plates
0.8 lin. in. Arranged by subject.
This series consists of 2 boxes of 17 printing plates for illustrations
of mosses.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
The New York Botanical Garden
RG4 Nathaniel Lord Britton Records, 1875-1934
Robert
Statham Williams Records, 1888-1938
PP William Mitten Papers, 1846-1910
RA Wildflower Preservation Society of America
Records, 1894-1933
CFN Numbers 43-45, 52, 67-68, 132-55, 171-72, 174,
177-81, 194-97, 222
Gray Herbarium and Arnold Arboretum Combined Libraries, Harvard University
James Franklin Collins Papers, 1884-1935
George Edward Davenport Papers, 1872-1907
Walter Deane Papers, 1881-1929
George Golding Kennedy Papers, 1864-1896
Thomas Morong Letters, 1874-1888
Processed September 1999 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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