No access restrictions. Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions. Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions. Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney measure 3.3 linear feet and date from circa 1883-1944, with twenty slides of a family album dated circa 1993. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1883 to the 1920s. The collection includes scattered personal papers including pencil and pen sketches by Blaney and his brother Henry Blaney; three of Blaney's notebooks on art history; printed material including exhibition catalogs for Blaney and others; a scrapbook of news clippings about John Singer Sargent and photographs of artwork by Sargent; photographs including images of Blaney and his home, John Breck and his studio, and a portrait of John Singer Sargent; and one hundred and ninety-nine glass plate negatives, primarily of Blaney's artwork and interiors of his homes. Also found are three glass plate negatives of paintings by John Singer Sargent, and one glass plate of Sargent seated on Blaney's boat painting Blaney, who is painting on the shore.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as five series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, circa 1883-circa 1920s (0.3 linear feet; Box 1, OV 4)
Series 2: Notebooks, circa 1920s (0.4 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1883-1927, 1944 (0.2 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Scrapbook on John Singer Sargent, 1920s (0.2 linear feet; BV 5)
Series 5: Photographic Material, circa 1880s-1920s, circa 1993 (Boxes 3, 6-10)
Biographical / Historical:
Boston and Ironbound Island, Maine, painter Dwight Blaney (1865-1944), studied at the Boston Art School from 1886 to 1888, and in 1891 traveled to Europe where he met his future wife, Edith Hill, and spent two years sketching and working as a tour guide. Blaney married Hill on his return to the United States and the couple settled in Boston, but also had a home on Ironbound Island in Maine's Frenchman Bay. Over time the family acquired the entire island and John Singer Sargent and other painters came to visit and paint there in the summer months.
Blaney was known for his Impressionist paintings in oil and watercolor, including landscapes, snow scenes, genre, and city views. He often visited Bermuda and was artistically inspired by the houses and the landscape there. Blaney was also an art collector and owned one of Monet's Haystacks series, in addition to being an active member of the Walpole Society which collected Americana. Blaney filled his homes with antique furniture, silver, pewter, and other decorative objects.
John Singer Sargent was a guest of the Blaneys on Ironbound Island in the early 1920s, and painted Blaney in The Artist Sketching (1922). He also painted Woods in Maine on the island the same year.
In addition to painting and collecting, Blaney was a malacologist with a serious interest in documenting marine mollusk species.
Separated Materials:
Benjamin Blaney loaned materials for microfilming in 1990. Originals of loaned material, including letters from artists such as John Singer Sargent and Frank Benson, twenty one volumes of sketchbooks, a notebook, a journal, and a scrapbook, were returned to Blaney after microfilming and were not subsequently donated. Loaned material is available on reels 4405-4407 but is not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Benjamin Blaney, Blaney's grandson, in 1990. In 1993, slides from a family photo album depicting the Blaney family on a trip to Bermuda were donated by Jeffrey Brown, who purchased the original album from the David Blaney estate.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Rights:
The Dwight Blaney papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Extent:
4.5 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes) (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Scientific illustrations
Maps
Black-and-white photographs
Color photographs
Black-and-white negatives
Audiotapes
Date:
1904-2001
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of the papers of S. Stillman Berry (1887-1984), a malacologist and businessman. The majority of these materials consist of the notes and illustrations
for many of his published and unpublished manuscripts. Materials also include reprints, correspondence, scientific illustrations, maps, clippings, photographs, negatives,
and audiocassettes. Materials dated after Berry's death document memorials, his estate, and the distribution of his collections.
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Extent:
14.43 cu. ft. (14 record storage boxes) (1 12x17 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Floor plans
Manuscripts
Clippings
Diaries
Journals (accounts)
Picture postcards
Color photographs
Microfiche
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white transparencies
Date:
1880-1984
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
The Archives would like to thank Paul F. Allen, the executor of the Berry Estate for selecting the Smithsonian Institution Archives as home for the Berry papers; Phillip
J. Livoni, a close associate of Drs. Allen and Berry, for his help in transferring the papers to the Archives; and, last but not least, Clyde F. E. Roper, National Museum
of Natural History, for bringing us together with Dr. Allen.
Descriptive Entry:
This collection documents the different aspects of S. Stillman Berry's long, varied life, illustrating his experiences and work as a student at Harvard and Stanford
Universities, as a malacologist, as an avocational and commercial horticulturist, and as an employee of the Scripps Institution for Biological Research. Berry's papers are
also a primary source of information about his family life and many friendships. The collection is somewhat weak, however, in its coverage of Berry's involvement in the administration
of the Winnecook Ranch.
The papers of S. Stillman Berry primarily consist of correspondence. Although the letters as a whole date from the 1880s to Berry's death in 1984, most of his family correspondence,
which is comprised of letters written by Berry and his parents, is concentrated between 1900 and 1916, while the bulk of his scientific, horticultural, and personal correspondence
is from 1920 to 1965. Also spread throughout the collection are financial records such as bills, receipts, and check stubs, certificates verifying the donation of specimens,
import permits, manuscripts of articles and book reviews, and a small number of photographs. Of particular interest are series consisting of Berry's college and organizational
records and memorabilia and of his diaries, which describe in minute detail his daily activities from 1911-1925 and 1931-1940.
Berry's family correspondence, personal correspondence, college and organizational records and memorabilia, and diaries are the main sources of information about his private
life. Together they document Berry's childhood and adolescence; family relationships, particularly with his parents, other relatives in Unity, Maine, and cousins who lived
in the Berry household in Redlands; friendships with classmates and professors at Stanford and Harvard Universities and with college students and acquaintances who visited
him in Redlands or helped care for his house and garden; social activities; and political views. Two particularly well-documented events in Berry's life are his 1904-1905
excursion to Europe with his mother, which is described in Evelyn Crie Berry's almost daily letters to her husband and in Berry's diary of the trip, and the 1906 San Francisco
Earthquake, the subject of photographs, newspaper clippings, and family and personal correspondence. The most continuous records of Berry's domestic and social ties are his
correspondence with Evelyn Crie Berry, which is especially voluminous during the years Berry attended college, and his five-year diaries. Unfortunately, both Berry's family
correspondence and the diary entries cease in 1940, the year of Evelyn Crie Berry's death. Conversely, although Berry's personal correspondence extends from 1896 to 1984,
copies of most outgoing and many incoming letters are not included in this collection.
Scientific correspondence and related materials constitute the primary record of Berry's activities as a malacologist, including the manner in which he acquired the materials
for his research projects; his participation in scientific organizations; his interest in taxonomy and nomenclature; and his production and distribution of Leaflets in
Malacology. His work for the Scripps Institution for Biological Research, as a Librarian and Research Assistant and as a Research Zoologist, is fully documented in a small,
comprehensive series consisting primarily of correspondence, a large portion of which is with his supervisors, assistants, and other associates at the Institution. Berry's
letters to his mother after 1909, the year he entered the Master's program in Zoology at Harvard, as well as his diary entries also occasionally refer to his scientific interests,
work, and acquaintances.
Berry's scientific interest in hybridization and the origins and operation of his commercial nursery are documented by his horticultural correspondence and related materials.
The diaries also indicate the bulbs and plants which he shipped and received, the customers who visited his garden, and his daily gardening chores. It should be noted, however,
that there are no records in the collection explicitly relating to Berry's horticultural activities beyond the early 1950s.
As previously indicated, information regarding the Winnecook Ranch Company is generally fragmentary and scattered throughout the collection. The earliest years of the Ranch
are described in Ralph Berry's correspondence, which frequently concerns the purchase of livestock, wool sales, ranch finances, and his business associates and employees at
Winnecook. Stillman Berry's correspondence with Evelyn Crie Berry as well as his diary entries after his father's death in 1911 illustrate the beginning of his own involvement
in the Ranch, including the steps which he and his mother took to gain a controlling interest in the Company. The only relatively cohesive group of documents about the Ranch
from the 1940s to the 1970s are Berry's letters with officers of the Winnecook Ranch Company, particularly with Elwyn Dole and Thayer Stevens. Infrequent references are also
made in the collection to the other business ventures of the Berry family, including Ralph Berry's investment in the Cuban-American Land Company, Evelyn Crie Berry's ownership
of property in California, and Stillman Berry's leasing of Winnecook land to oil speculators.
The papers of S. Stillman Berry in the Smithsonian Institution Archives can be supplemented by records, specimens, monographs, reprints, and notes in other repositories
and research institutions. All of Berry's malacological collections except for the cephalopod mollusks, including specimens, published manuscripts, photographs, and original
drawings, were donated to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, as were about 40,000 reprints on shelled mollusks from Berry's private library; his collection of cephalopod
specimens were given to the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution. Berry's collection of horticultural books and reprints and the notes from his
own hybridization experiments are now in the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; prepared specimens of California plants were presented to the herbarium
at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. The correspondence of Berry's relatives in Unity, Maine, and documentation about the history and families of the town in general are housed
with the Unity Historical Society, while Berry's genealogical library is with the University of Redlands. Finally, at some future date the Montana Historical Society in Helena,
Montana, will receive custody of all records generated by the Winnecook Ranch Company since its incorporation in 1906, including minutes of board meetings, correspondence
files, financial records, and maps.
Historical Note:
S. Stillman Berry was the son of Ralph and Evelyn Crie Berry, settlers from Unity, Maine, who founded the Winnecook Ranch, Montana, in 1880. Berry was born in Unity
on 16 March 1887 during one of his mother's trips back to Maine. Much of Berry's adolescence was spent moving across the United States, from Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pasadena,
Oakland, to San Francisco, with occasional stops at Winnecook and Unity, as a result of his mother's efforts to find the most hospitable environment for his fragile health.
In 1897 he moved with Evelyn Crie Berry and two cousins, Charlotte and Evelyn Kelley, to Redlands, California. Although Berry became a permanent resident of Redlands, he also
maintained his close ties with relatives in Maine and the ranch in Montana for the remainder of his life.
Another of Berry's lifelong concerns was his work in malacology. His scientific pursuits apparently began at an early age, as illustrated by letters from Berry dating from
1903 onward in the records of the Division of Mollusks in the Smithsonian Archives. Addressed to William Dall, then Honorary Curator of the Division, the earliest letters
reveal a ready familiarity with Latin species names and a marked attention to accuracy in the identification of specimens. His repeated requests for the National Museum's
publications indicate that he was already busily accumulating books and reprints for what was to become a substantial private research collection consisting of over forty
thousand titles. Berry's first article, "Note on a New Variety of Cerithidea sacrata Gld., from San Diego, Cal.," was published in Nautilus in 1906. In that
same year he entered Stanford University as an undergraduate majoring in zoology; he received his Bachelor's in 1909, his Master's from Harvard in 1910, and his Doctorate,
again from Stanford, in 1913. The published version of his doctoral dissertation, Cephalopoda, is still considered the definitive study of Pacific cephalopods.
In January 1913 Berry began working at the Scripps Institution for Biological Research in La Jolla, California, having been recommended for employment to the Director of
the Institution, William Emerson Ritter, by his advisor at Stanford, Charles Henry Gilbert. As Librarian and Research Assistant, Berry supervised and delegated work in the
library and arranged for the acquisition of scientific papers and monographs to transform the collection into a significant research resource. Anxious to return to his scientific
work and to spend more time in Redlands, he relinquished his library responsibilities in 1916 and instead worked for the Institution as a Non-Resident Research Zoologist.
For the next two years Berry studied the Institution's cephalopod specimens and produced a series of reports partially funded by the Institution on the chitons of North America.
Berry's position at the Scripps Institution, which came to an end in 1918, was the last professional post he held in an academic or research institution.
In spite of his independent status, Berry's scientific output over the next three-quarters of a century was impressive by any standard. In all, he established 401 names
for mollusk taxa and published 209 articles, most of which were on chitons, cephalopods, and land snails. Many of Berry's articles first appeared in his own scientific journal,
Leaflets in Malacology, which he began producing in 1946 to ensure the speedy publication of his scientific findings. He eventually issued 26 editions of Leaflets,
the last appearing in 1969. A large number of his papers were also delivered at meetings of the numerous scientific organizations to which he belonged. In recognition of his
considerable contributions to the field, Berry was elected the only Honorary Life President of the American Malacological Union, the only lifetime President of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, and the only Honorary Member of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council. He additionally served as Research Associate of
the Smithsonian Institution and as Life Fellow of the San Diego Society of Natural History.
Soon after completing college Berry also became involved in horticulture, apparently under the encouragement of Dr. Walter Kenrick Fisher, one of his former zoology professors
at Stanford. Berry's horticultural work was an extension of his general interest in genetics and evolution. Although he chose to concentrate primarily on the hybridization
of irises and daffodils, Berry also cultivated peonies, pansies, gladioli, and various fruit-bearing trees and plants. In an effort to develop or adapt varieties of flowers,
plants, and trees compatible with the climate and conditions of California, he procured bulbs and plants from horticulturists throughout the United States as well as in New
Zealand, Australia, the Middle East, China, India, and South Africa. He also supplied new and rare varieties to prominent horticulturists of his time, including William Mohr,
Grace Sturtevant, the Sass Brothers, Jeannette Dean, and F. X. Schreiner, and published an unknown number of articles and reviews of gardening books. While Berry's horticultural
business, established in the mid-1920s, was initially intended to support further efforts in hybridization, it eventually became a welcome source of income during the Depression.
The abrupt cessation of his business correspondence in the late 1940s suggests that horticulture ceased to be a business at that time and once again became a hobby.
Although Berry had intermittently lived at the Winnecook Ranch for most of his early life, his business association with the Winnecook Ranch Company began in earnest in
1911, with the death of his father. In that year he was voted to the Board of Directors, and in 1917 he was elected President of the Company, an office he filled until his
death in 1984. For most of his life he spent the summer of every year in Montana overseeing affairs at the ranch.
For more data about S. Stillman Berry's life, see Series 9, which consists of biographical articles, most of which were published shortly after his death, a bibliography
of his works, a list of his zoological taxa, and some information regarding the founding and early history of Winnecook Ranch. As part of its Oral History Project, the Smithsonian
Institution Archives also has transcripts and tapes from a series of interviews conducted with Berry in 1980 about his scientific work and colleagues.
Topic:
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906 Search this
Chace, Emery P., 1915-1945, 1947-1948, 1953-1965, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, and undated. Includes correspondence from Elsie M. Chace (Mrs. Emery P.); and a photograph of Emery Chace embarking on a collecting expedition. The Chaces' letters frequently refer...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Hubbs, Carl Leavitt, 1915, 1922, 1944, 1947-1952, 1953-1963, 1965, 1971-1972, 1982. Includes correspondence with Laura Hubbs (Mrs. Carl L.) as well as between Hubbs and other malacologists, including Anna Bidder of Cambridge, Kenneth Orris Emery, and E...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 3 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Scientific Correspondence and Related Material, 1903-1984, and undated.
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Note:
This series consists of correspondence and related materials documenting S. Stillman Berry's work as a malacologist. It is primarily concerned with Berry's efforts
to acquire the malacological specimens and the scientific monographs, papers, and periodicals which he needed for his various research projects.
Other subjects that are highlighted in this series are Berry's interest in nomenclature and taxonomy; his publication of Leaflets in Malacology; his enduring friendships
with other malacologists and scientists; his participation in scientific organizations and clubs; his donation of specimens and scientific literature to museums and other
research institutions; and his inquiries into fields not exclusively related to malacology, including organic luminosity, octopus venum, beaver canals, archaeology, and environmental
issues. Many of the incoming letters are also requests for the identification of individual specimens.
Berry's scientific correspondents included foreign and domestic malacologists; shell collectors and conchologists; staff and officials of museums, academic institutions,
and research foundations; officers and members of professional organizations; editors of scientific journals; professional illustrators and photographers; book dealers and
librarians; scientific and stationery supplies companies.
Photographs and manuscripts included in the correspondence and related materials have been indicated in the folder list.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Van der Schalie, Henry, 1938-1940, 1942, 1944-1945, 1947-1949, 1957, 1964, and undated. Van der Schalie's letters frequently refer to other malacologists and scientists, including Dwight Taylor, Royal Brunson, Harold Harry, Albert C. Silberling, Elmer ...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Wa-We, general. Correspondents include Edward Royal Warren, 1923, 1934, concerning articles both Berry and Warren wrote about the beaver; Charles Edwin Weaver, 1949-1950; Walter F. Webb, 1909, 1930-1931, 1933-1934, consisting mostly of Webb's periodica...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Woodford, Robert W., 1952-1953, 1960-1961. Most of his letters describe his experiences as an Air Force officer stationed in Japan, including the specimens he collected for Berry and his encounters with Yata Haneda and other prominent Japanese malacolo...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Materials concerning reprints. Includes incoming requests for reprints of Berry's articles; lists of reprinted articles and duplicates of scientific papers Berry sent to and requested from other malacologists and scientists; change-of-address cards; in...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Research notes. Includes lists of specimens Berry needed for his research and requested from other malacologists and collectors; notes about possible areas for research; "Inventory of lots of Heterodonax spp. in Stanford University Collection"; "Catalo...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Am-Au, general. Correspondents include M.E. Young, Editor of American Malacologists, 1973; American Society of Naturalists, Pacific Coast Branch, 1915; Gilbert Archey, 1916; Bessie H. Arnold, 1954, 1959; Association of American Conchologists, 1931.
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These papers consist primarily of material documenting Orcutt's collecting activity in Jamaica, 1927-1929. Included is correspondence with USNM staff and others regarding
specimens collected, notes on Jamaican flora and fauna, and maps of Jamaica drawn by Orcutt.
Historical Note:
Charles Russell Orcutt (1864-1929) was a collector of natural history specimens and publisher of scientific journals. Orcutt's primary biological interests were malacology
and botany, and he participated on collecting excursions to Baja California, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. From 1927 until his death in 1929, Orcutt collected
for the United States National Museum (USNM) in Jamaica and Haiti.
