4.25 cu. ft. (8 document boxes) (1 half document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Maps
Field notes
Manuscripts
Place:
Ohio River Valley
Date:
1887-1933 and undated
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These papers consist of Foerste's field, specimen, and miscellaneous notebooks; drafts of manuscripts on Ozarkian and Canadian cephalopods; and topographic maps.
Historical Note:
August F. Foerste (1862-1936) was born in Dayton, Ohio. Foerste studied geology at Denison University, B.A., 1887, and Harvard University, M.A., 1888, and Ph.D., 1890.
While at Harvard, he also served as a part-time assistant with the United States Geological Survey studying the stratigraphy and petrography of New England. Following his
attendance at Harvard, Foerste studied for two years at Heidelberg College and the Collè€ge de France. In 1893, he returned to Dayton and became a science teacher at a high
school where he remained until his retirement in 1932.
Foerste's summer vacations were spent participating in geological surveys in Indiana, 1896, 1897, and 1899; Ohio, 1908 and 1919; Kentucky, 1904-1912; and Canada, 1911-1912.
In 1920, Foerste began research in invertebrate paleontology at the United States National Museum (USNM) and was appointed Associate in Paleontology at the USNM in 1932.
Foerste's study of fossils centered on three areas: Ohio Valley Silurian stratigraphy and paleontology; Ordovician fossils of the United States and Canada; and lower Paleozoic
cephalopods, particularly those of the Ozarkian-Canadian system with Edward Oscar Ulrich of the USNM.
