Guide to the William Trelease Papers,
[ca. 1862-1945]

Collection Number: 2560

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-3530
Fax: (607) 255-9524
rareref@cornell.edu
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:
A. Levine
Date completed:
April 1967
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, June 2003

© 2002 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
William Trelease papers, [ca. 1862-1945].
Collection Number:
2560
Creator:
William Trelease, 1857-1945.
Quantity:
3 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence, clippings, photographs, deeds, drawings, and other material.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
General incoming personal and professional correspondence, c. 1879-c. 1845; correspondence, clippings, and other items concerning his work in the Missouri Botanical Gardens, his monographs, the naming of Mount Trelease, Colorado, activities of the Society of American Bacteriologists, and other subjects; and photographs and miscellaneous printed matter. Also Trelease's correspondence, deeds, and drawings concerning family cemetery plots in Urbana, Illinois, and St. Louis Missouri.
Language:
Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Professor of Botany at Wisconsin, Washington, and Illinois Universities, 1883-1912; and director, Missouri Botanical Gardens, 1889-1912.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

General incoming personal and professional correspondence, c. 1879-c. 1845; correspondence, clippings, and other items concerning his work in the Missouri Botanical Gardens, his monographs, the naming of Mount Trelease, Colorado, activities of the Society of American Bacteriologists, and other subjects; and photographs and miscellaneous printed matter. Also Trelease's correspondence, deeds, and drawings concerning family cemetery plots in Urbana, Illinois, and St. Louis Missouri.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Trelease, William, 1857-1945.
Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Society of American Bacteriologists.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
University of Washington.

Subjects:
Botanical gardens--Missouri--St. Louis.
Botany--Study and teaching.
Cemeteries--Illinois--Urbana.
Cemeteries--Missouri--St. Louis.
Botanists--United States.
INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
William Trelease papers, #2560. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
CONTAINER LIST

Date
Description
Container
[1879-1884]-1912
Professional correspondence from Anna Botsford (1854-1930) and John Henry Comstock (1849-1931).
 Box 1 Folder 1
Mar.-Nov. 1880
Professional correspondence from William R. Dudley (1849- )
 Box 1 Folder 2
1882-1901
Professional correspondence, mostly from J.B. Ellis
 Box 1 Folder 3
1886-1889
Professional correspondence and personal correspondence from George J. Engelmann, M.D.
 Box 1 Folder 4
1880-1886
Correspondence from W.G. Farlow
 Box 1 Folder 5a
1887-1894
Correspondence from W.G. Farlow
 Box 1 Folder 5b
1895-1903
Correspondence from W.G. Farlow
 Box 1 Folder 5c
[1880-1888]-1926
Professional correspondence from Simon Henry Gage (1851-1944)
 Box 2 Folder 1
1880-1885
Professional correspondence from W.R. Gerard
 Box 2 Folder 2
1881-1888
Personal and professional correspondence from George Lincoln Goodale (1839-1923)
 Box 2 Folder 3
1887-1893
Professional correspondence from Edward Lee Greene (1832- )
 Box 2 Folder 4
1888-1898
Professional correspondence from J.H. Mellichamp
 Box 2 Folder 5
1879-1880
Professional correspondence from A.S. Packard, Jr., of the Department of the Interior, Entomological Committee
 Box 2 Folder 6
1888-1889, n.d.
Professional correspondence from C.C. Parry
 Box 2 Folder 7
1880-1893
Professional correspondence from Charles H. Peck
 Box 2 Folder 8
1883-1901
Professional correspondence from Charles Mohr
 Box 2 Folder 8
1892-1902
Professional correspondence from J. Reverchen
 Box 2 Folder 9
1885, 1892-1898
Professional correspondence, mostly from Joseph Nelson Rose (1862- ), of the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian
 Box 3 Folder 1a
1899-1901
Professional correspondence, mostly from Joseph Nelson Rose (1862- ), of the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian
 Box 3 Folder 1b
1883-1894
Professional correspondence from C.V. Riley
 Box 3 Folder 2
1883-1896
Professional correspondence from Charles Sprague Sargent (1841- )
 Box 3 Folder 3a
1897-1902
Professional correspondence from Charles Sprague Sargent (1841- )
 Box 3 Folder 3b
30 typewritten pp., "Gardens and Botanical Gardens"
 Box 3 Folder 3b
1885
Correspondence (p.c.) between Trelease, Henry Shaw and W.G. Elliot re: Trelease's employment at Missouri Botanical Garden
 Box 4 Folder 1
A book of letters, mostly regarding Trelease's retirement from his post at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Many of the letters are from well-known men, such as Roscoe Pound, John Muir, Simon and Susanna Phelps Gage, Liberty Hyde Bailey, David Starr Jordan, and the Comstocks.
1904-1912
Box 4 Folder 2a
1912
Box 4 Folder 2b
1914-1917
Box 4 Folder 2c
1892-1912
Missouri Botanical Garden, clippings re: annual reports
 Box 4 Folder 3
1912-1917, n.d.
Correspondence and other items pertaining to Trelease's "Agave in the West Indies"
 Box 4 Folder 5
1932-1933, n.d.
Items pertaining to Mount Trelease
 Box 4 Folder 6
1929
Photographs of the Boyce Thomson Southwestern Arboretum
 Box 4 Folder 7
1925-1935
Letters and other items pertaining to Trelease's monograph of "American Oaks"
 Box 4 Folder 8
1860-1918
Miscellaneous correspondence, articles, and receipts
 Box 5 Folder 1
Miscellaneous correspondence
1925-1927
Box 5 Folder 2
1928
Box 5 Folder 3
1929
Box 5 Folder 4a-b
1930
Box 6 Folder 1a-b
1931
Box 6 Folder 2
1932
Box 6 Folder 3
1933
Box 6 Folder 4
1934
Box 6 Folder 5
1935
Box 6 Folder 6
1936-1937
Box 6 Folder 7
1938-1939
Box 6 Folder 8
1940
Box 7 Folder 1
1941, [1942, 1944]
Box 7 Folder 2
1945
Letters of condolence, newspaper clippings
 Box 7 Folder 3
Undated correspondence
 Box 7 Folder 4
Miscellaneous photographs
 Box 7 Folder 5
Pamphlets
 Box 7 Folder 6
Paperbound book, Memoirs of the National Academy of Science, vol. XX (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1924 ). The whole of this volume compromises "The American Oaks," by William Trelease.
Box 7
1914-[1940-1945]
Additional papers
 Box 8
These additional papers consist mainly of letters from relatives, friends, colleagues, and ex-students on his 80th (1937) and 83rd (1940) birthdays, and letters of condolence (1945) to his widow and children; also included are Trelease's correspondence, deeds, and drawings concerning family cemetery plots in Urban, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri; William Trelease, Personal Reminiscences by J. Christian Bay (12 pp. pamphlet, 1945); photographs of Trelease; and related printed matter and newspaper clippings. Ca. 150 pcs.
Correspondents of William Trelease:
  • John W. Spargo - cousin - professor at Northwestern University
  • Jonibel Blair - granddaughter
  • Hillebrand - English professor - Harvard A.B. and Ph.D.
  • Albert L. Lybyer - professor of history at Illinois
  • Abram Leon Sacher - president of Brandeis University now
  • Cecelia Tonton - daughter of H.B. Ward
  • Kaltienn M. Noyes - widow of W.A. Noyes (chemist)
  • Leighton - Ill. State Geological Survey
  • Frank W. Scott - with D.C. Heat, formerly professor at Illinois
  • Eunice Daniels - widow of Pres. Daniels