Smith, C. Earle (Claude Earle), 1922-1987 Search this
Container:
Box 12
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1972-1975
Scope and Contents:
The Institute of Ecology, Association of Systematic Collections, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, Sociedad Botanica de Mexico.
Collection Restrictions:
Grant proposal reviews in Series 4: Professional Activities and materials with student grades in Series 5: University of Alabama have been restricted.
Access to the C. Earle Smith Jr. papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
C. Earle Smith Jr. papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The C. Earle Smith Jr. papers were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Vernon (Jim) Knight of the University of Alabama.
National Museum of Natural History. Department of Botany Search this
Extent:
1 cu. ft. (1 record storage box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1967-1983
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of correspondence and grant proposals pertaining to the Flora North America (FNA) Project. FNA was a project to create a computerized data bank
of information about the vascular plants of North America north of Mexico. The FNA Project was organized in 1966 by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and was funded,
in large part, by the National Science Foundation, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution. Funding for the Project ended in 1972. These records were created and maintained
by Stanwyn G. Shetler, Program Secretary, 1967-1971; and Program Director, 1972.
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
The Doris Holmes Blake papers consist of correspondence, diaries, photographs and related materials documenting in great detail Blake's personal life and, to a lesser
degree, her professional career.
The heavy correspondence she maintained with her mother and daughter, her essays and children's books, and the 70 years' worth of daily journals all attest to her infatuation
with the written word and preoccupation with her inner life. Blake's diaries and family papers stunningly illuminate the contrasts in the daily lives of herself, her mother,
and her daughter.
The papers relating to her professional life are less complete. Although she spent almost 60 years (1919-1978) in association with the entomological staffs of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution, published numerous professional papers, produced all of her own illustrations, and illustrated many of her husband's
botanical works as well, this collection contains only a very limited amount of material documenting those activities. The papers do, however, include her extensive correspondence
with fellow entomologists, both in the United States and abroad.
In the course of transferring her husband's papers to the University of Texas, some of Blake's own papers were included as well. They are presently in the collection of
the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin and include letters to her parents, 1906-1950; school and college notebooks, papers, essays and drawings;
and clippings, genealogical notes, and miscellaneous family letters and papers.
Historical Note:
Doris Holmes (1892-1978) was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, to a middle-class grocer and his wife. Essentially an only child (two siblings died in early childhood
and infancy), her natural intelligence, stubbornness, and extremely competitive nature were well fostered by her parents, who steadily encouraged and supported her determination
to excel.
Holmes left Stoughton for Boston University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1909, where she pursued studies in business and the classics, earning her A.B. in
1913. Her business skills led to her association with the Boston Psychopathic Hospital in 1913, initially as a clerk, and later as aide to Dr. Herman Adler. Her interests
in science and psychology led her to an A.M. from Radcliffe College in zoology and psychology in 1917.
After a short time as a researcher at Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women, Holmes married her childhood sweetheart, botanist Sidney Fay Blake. Early in 1919, Doris Blake
found work as a clerk for the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Entomology under Frank H. Chittenden, and began the entomological studies that would continue for the rest
of her life.
Blake worked her way up to junior entomologist and, when Chittenden retired, continued her work under Eugene A. Schwarz at the United States National Museum. The birth
in 1928 of daughter Doris Sidney (an infant son had died shortly after birth in 1927) was not a sign for her to slow down -- Blake hired a nurse to watch the baby while she
continued to watch beetles. In 1933 her official employment came to an end with the institution of regulations prohibiting more than one member of a family from holding a
government position (Sidney Blake was then working for the Department of Agriculture).
Although no longer on the payroll, Blake continued her taxonomic work on the family Chrysomelides for almost 45 more years, first as a collaborator and then as a research
associate of the Smithsonian Institution. Shortly after her husband's death, Blake traveled to Europe in 1960 on a National Science Foundation grant to revise the genus Neobrotica
Jacoby. She ultimately published 97 papers in various journals (see "Doris Holmes Blake," Froeschner, Froeschner and Cartwright, Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash., 83(3), 1981, for
a complete bibliography) and continued her active research until shortly before her death on December 3, 1978.
National Museum of Natural History. Department of Botany Search this
Extent:
3 cu. ft. (3 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1966-1988
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records documenting the Flora North America (FNA) Project, a project to create a computerized data bank of information about vascular plants
of North American north of Mexico. The FNA Project was organized in 1966 by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and was funded, in large part, by the National Science
Foundation, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution. Funding for the Project ended in 1972. Materials include reports, correspondence, meeting materials, grant proposals,
papers and publications, publicity materials, budget records, notes, and photographs. Records were created and maintained by Stanwyn G. Shetler, Program Secretary, 1967-1971;
and Program Director, 1972.
National Museum of Natural History. Department of Botany Search this
Extent:
9 cu. ft. (9 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Date:
1962-1977
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of reports, correspondence, meeting minutes, grant proposals, papers and publications, publicity materials, budget records, and notes pertaining
to the Flora North America (FNA) Project. FNA was a project to create a computerized data bank of information about the vascular plants of North America north of Mexico. The
FNA Project was organized in 1966 by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and was funded, in large part, by the National Science Foundation, in cooperation with the
Smithsonian Institution. Funding for the Project ended in 1972. These records were created and maintained by Stanwyn G. Shetler, Program Secretary, 1967-1971; and Program
Director, 1972.
