Guide to the Robert Harding Whittaker Papers,
[ca. 1940-1984]

Collection Number: 4248

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
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, June 2004

© 2003 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Robert Harding Whittaker papers, [ca. 1940-1984]
Collection Number:
4248
Creator:
Robert Harding Whittaker, 1920-
Quantity:
22 cubic ft.
Forms of Material:
Research data, course notebooks, manuscripts, and correspondence.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Collection includes research data, course notebooks, manuscripts, and letters of Dr. Robert H. Whittaker, an ecologist who taught at Cornell University and elsewhere.
Language:
Collection material in English


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Robert H. Whittaker received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Washburn Municipal University in Topeka, Kansas in 1942, served in the Army Air Force as a weather observer and forecaster in England until 1946, and received a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Illinois in 1948. In 1948, he was appointed as an instructor in the Dept. of Zoology at Washington State College in Pullman. He worked for the Aquatic Biology Unit at the Hanford Laboratories of the General Electric Company, taught at Brooklyn College and at the University of California at Irvine, and at Cornell University. He spent two years at Brookhaven National Laboratory, served as American editor of the journal Vegetatio; was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and served as vice president of the Ecological Society of America and president of the American Society of Naturalists. Robert H. Whittaker died on October 20, 1980.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Collection includes research data, course notebooks, manuscripts, and letters of Dr. Robert H. Whittaker. Projects documented include field work on the Siskiyou Mountains of Oregon and California; an effort to obtain measurements of the biomass and productivity of the forest communities along an elevation gradient in the Great Smokey Mountains; with William Niering, a gradient analysis and productivity study of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona; a study with George M. Woodwell at the Brookhaven National Laboratory about the Brookhaven and Hubbard Brook oak-pine forest; and on California vegetation in the San Jacinto Mountains. In 1968, Whittaker accepted a position as Professor of Biology in the Dept. of Ecology and Systematics at Cornell University. While at Cornell, his projects included a study of production, nutrient circulation, and ordination of the vegetable gradient from the pygmy forest through the Bishop pine forest to the redwoods in Mendocino County, Calif., with Walter Westman; continued work on primary production for the Hubbard Brook forest and the Santa Catalina Mountains; and work on species diversity in Nylsvely, South Africa.

SUBJECTS

Names:
Whittaker, Robert Harding, 1920-
Niering, William A.
Olsvig, Linda Susan, 1953-
Westman, Walter E., 1945-
Woodwell, G. M.
Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Cornell University. Dept. of Ecology and Systematics.

Subjects:
Ecology--Study and teaching.
Ecology--Research.
Ecological surveys.
Plant ecology.
Plant communities--Ordination.
Biotic communities.
Mountain ecology.
Vegetation boundaries.
Ecologists.

Form and Genre Terms:
Field notes.


INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
Robert Harding Whittaker papers, #4248. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

CONTAINER LIST

Description
Container
Alpha files/other files
Box 1
Files
Box 2-3
NSF Proposals, Reports, etc.
Box 4
Photographs
Box 5
Manuscripts
Box 6
Catalinas
Box 7
Brookhaven/Hubbard Brook
Box 8-9
Smokies
Box 10-11
Smokies/Oak Ridge/Siskiyous
Box 12
Mendocino/San Jacinto
Box 13
Nylsvley, South Africa
Box 14-15
Course notebooks
Box 16-18
Subject notebooks
Box 18-19
Calendars/certificates
Box 19
Printouts
Box 20
Unprocessed material
Box 21-22