Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: far00013

George Albert Fisher diatom papers

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of one bound volume containing correspondence to Fisher and 24 photographs. Letters are dated 1906-1933 and primarily pertain to diatoms and microscopy and to arrangements to sell, purchase, and exchange diatom samples. Major correspondents include Oliver Kendall, Jr., William Aldworth Poyser, William H. Pratt, and Joseph Parker Wintringham. Photographs are mostly images of diatoms.

Dates

  • Creation: 1906-1933

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register and provide valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.

Extent

0.2 linear feet (1 bound volume)

Biography

George Albert Fisher was born in Framingham, Massachusetts on February 21, 1867 to Sewall and Angie Maria Fisher (née Blanchard). He married Eunice Minette Damon in 1895; the couple settled in Reading and had four children. In May 1918 Fisher traveled to Bristol, Connecticut to assess the diatom collection of William Almeron Terry, comprising over 7,700 slides and 3,000 bottled samples. He purchased the slides from Terry’s son, William, at that time and later that year purchased the remainder of the collection. Fisher corresponded with other diatom collectors, including physician Clarence Alonzo Cheever, to whom he sold his diatom collection, including Terry’s, sometime in 1933 or 1934. Fisher died on March 26, 1937.

Sources

Vital Statistic Records, Massachusetts Archives

William Almeron Terry correspondence, Archives of the Farlow Reference Library, Harvard University

Clarence Alonzo Cheever papers, Archives of the Farlow Reference Library, Harvard University

Provenance

The provenance of this collection is unknown. Fisher’s collection was purchased by Clarence Alonzo Cheever in 1933 or 1934. It may have arrived at the Farlow Herbarium when Cheever’s Diatom Herbarium and papers were given to the Farlow in 1941 and 1943.

Related Materials

Other related material at the Botany Libraries, Harvard University Herbaria: Clarence Alonzo Cheever papers; William Almeron Terry correspondence.

Title
Fisher, George Albert, 1867-1937. George Albert Fisher diatom papers, 1906-1933: A Guide.
Status
completed
Author
Botany Libraries, Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University.
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
far00013

Repository Details

Part of the Botany Libraries, Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University Repository

The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany specializes in organisms that reproduce by spores, without flowers or seeds. The Archives of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany houses unique resources including personal papers, institutional records, field notes and plant lists, expedition records, photographs, original artwork, and objects from faculty, curators, staff, and affiliates of the Farlow Herbarium.

Contact:
Harvard University Herbaria
22 Divinity Ave
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2366