Some items are in fragile condition. Please seek assistance with the following items of correspondence:
Byrd, Charlene Hodges: General Correspondence, 1946 May 15; 1946 July.
Cummings, Grace E. Shimm: Cummings, Charles Gilmor, 1907 May 13; 1907 May 20; John W, 1890 July 28.
Shimm, Sarah A: General Correspondence, 1881 May 6.
Other Correspondence: William P. Ryder, 1877.
Collection Rights:
This collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Charlene Hodges Byrd collection, circa 1750-2009. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This project received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
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.
An account of Mr. Craton's life from his birth on June 23, 1902 to January 1, 1924. Written in 1972, from old letters, genealogical materials collected by Mr. Craton's mother and memory.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Forman H. Craton Collection, 1902-1983, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Folder 3 Steering Committee Meetings. Includes photographs of Walter Bock, John O. Corliss, Richard Sumner Cowan, Gilbert S. Daniels, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., Askell Love, Doris Love, Robert W. Pennak, James A. Peters, Peter H. Raven, James L. Reveal, Frans ...
Collection Creator::
International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology Search this
Container:
Box 1 of 9
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7141, International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Records
International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology Search this
Extent:
4.5 cu. ft. (9 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1969-1973
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These records pertain to the International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology (ICSEB), 1969-1973, and were maintained by Sally W. Yochelson, administrative
assistant, Office of the Director, National Museum of Natural History. Her arrangement of the records and description of their contents made possible this descriptive finding
aid. Records include Steering Committee minutes and correspondence; program development and plans; keynote speaker correspondence; symposia organizer correspondence; abstracts
of contributed papers, and photographs of the steering committee members.
Correspondents include Walter Bock, Charles E. Bracker, Martin A. Buzas, John O. Corliss, Richard Sumner Cowan, Theodore J. Crovello, Gilbert S. Daniels, Walter M. Fitch,
Lawrence Gilbert, David W. Goodall, Stephen Jay Gould, Terrell H. Hamilton, Stephen P. Hubbell, David A. Hull, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., International Association for Plant Taxonomy,
Richard Levins, Helen Niña Tappan, Askell Löve, Doris Löve, Malcolm C. McKenna, Lynn Margulis, James F. Mello, Robert W. Pennak, James A. Peters, Peter H. Raven, John R. Reeder,
James L. Reveal, Robert K. Selander, Frans Antonie Stafleu, Society of Systematic Zoology, B. L. Turner, William A. Weber, David L. Wood, and Ellis L. Yochelson.
Historical Note:
The First International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology met in Boulder, Colorado, August 4-12, 1973. The idea for the meeting was conceived by Richard
Sumner Cowan, National Museum of Natural History, and Frans Antonie Stafleu, University of Utrecht, Netherlands. The International Association for Plant Taxonomy and the Society
of Systematic Zoology sponsored the meeting.
North Atlantic biota and their history; a symposium held at the University of Iceland, Reykjavík, July, 1962, under the auspices of the University of Iceland and the Museum of Natural History. Sponsored by the NATO Advanced Study Institutes Program. Editors: Áskell Löve and Doris Löve
