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COLLECTION Identifier: gra00038

Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt plant descriptions

Scope and Content

The Klatt collection contains notebooks, loose notes, and manuscript material, primarily consisting of plant descriptions in Latin.

Dates

  • Creation: 1864-1896

Creator

Conditions Governing Use

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 (7 folders)

Biography

Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt was born on February 13, 1825, in Hamburg, Germany. He intended to become an artist but gave up that ambition after the paintings he had prepared for an art exhibition were destroyed in a fire in 1842. He instead turned to education and took over administration of a private boys school with his brother. He taught there until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Klatt was married in 1856. Around the same time, he became acquainted with Johann Georg Christian Lehmann, founder of the Hamburg Botanical Garden. Lehmann encouraged Klatt in his botanical studies and tasked him with organizing his personal herbarium.

Klatt was awarded an honorary doctorate and offered a professorship at the University of Rostock in 1864 but declined the position, likely so he could remain in Hamburg.

In the years following the Franco-Prussian War, Klatt continued teaching natural sciences at schools around Hamburg. His wife died in 1894 and Klatt suffered a heart attack and died on March 3, 1897.

Sources

Schinz H. 1897. Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt. Bull. Herb. Boissier. 5:836-839.

Provenance

The provenance of this collection is unknown. A label on one of the notebooks indicates that it was purchased.

Processing Information

Processed by Lynn McWhood, January 1982

Title
Klatt, Frederich Wilhelm, 1825-1897. Frederich Wilhelm Klatt plant descriptions, 1864-1896: A Guide.
Status
completed
Author
Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University.
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
gra00038

Repository Details

Part of the Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University Repository

The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Gray Herbarium Library specializes in the identification and classification of New World plants with emphasis on North American plants. The Archives of the Gray Herbarium 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 Gray Herbarium.

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