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Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Record Unit 7238

Williams, Henry Shaler, 1847-1918

Henry Shaler Williams Papers, circa 1880-1916 and undated

Repository:Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C. Contact us at osiaref@si.edu.
Creator:Williams, Henry Shaler, 1847-1918
Title:Henry Shaler Williams Papers
Dates:circa 1880-1916 and undated
Quantity:8 cu. ft. (16 document boxes)
Collection:Record Unit 7238
Language of Materials:English
Summary:

These papers consist of a small amount of Williams' professional correspondence; field, office, and laboratory notebooks; notes from International Geological Congresses, 1885 and 1891; faunal notes and lists; drafts of writings; and illustrations and plates with accompanying explanations used in his publications. Most of this material was used in the preparation of Williams' publications on the fossils of the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, New York, and the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine.

Historical Note

Henry Shaler Williams (1847-1918) was born in Ithaca, New York. He received degrees from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, Ph.B., 1868, and Yale University, Ph.D., 1871.

In 1871, Williams went to Transylvania College, then known as Kentucky University, where he taught geology for a year. For the next several years he helped with his father's banking and mercantile enterprises in Ithaca. In 1879, Williams joined Cornell University as an assistant professor of geology. He was later promoted to professor of paleontology, 1884, and professor of paleontology and geology, 1886. Six years later Williams was selected by James Dwight Dana to succeed him as Silliman Professor of Geology at Yale where he remained until 1904. He returned to Cornell in 1904 as professor of geology and director of the Geological Museum, a position he held until his retirement in 1912. In addition to his academic appointments, Williams did research and field work for the United States Geological Survey.

Williams' paleontological interests were in the Devonian fossils of southern New York, Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Besides his contributions to research, Williams was one of the founders of the Sigma Xi honorary society, 1886, and The Geological Society of America, 1888.

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Introduction

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

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Descriptive Entry

These papers consist of a small amount of Williams' professional correspondence; field, office, and laboratory notebooks; notes from International Geological Congresses, 1885 and 1891; faunal notes and lists; drafts of writings; and illustrations and plates with accompanying explanations used in his publications. Most of this material was used in the preparation of Williams' publications on the fossils of the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, New York, and the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine.

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Preferred Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7238, Henry Shaler Williams Papers

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Container List

Series 1

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1896, 1906-1907, 1914. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY.

This series consists of Williams' professional correspondence with members of the New York and United States Geological Surveys. Correspondence concerns the activities of a committee on geologic names and the publication of Williams' United States Geological Survey work in New York Devonian fossils by the New York Geological Society.

Box 1

Folder 1 General Correspondence, 1896, 1906-1907, 1914.

Box 1 of 16

Series 2

FIELD, OFFICE, AND LABORATORY NOTEBOOKS, 1880-1916 AND UNDATED. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

This series consists of field notebooks from Williams' study of fossils in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; laboratory notebooks; office notebooks containing daily entries of letters written and received and notes on the progress of his experiments; and notes from the International Geological Congresses held in Berlin and Washington, D.C., 1885 and 1891, respectively. In addition to the notebooks, which are numbered, there are corresponding index cards prepared by Williams which provide summaries of the information contained in the notebooks.

Box 1

Folder 2 Index Cards to Williams' Notebooks, Undated. Cards contain book numbers, date, locality, nature of the record or notes, and publications in which notes were published. Index is incomplete with some cards included in individual notebooks.

Box 1 of 16

Folder 3 Paleontological Notes of Observance in the Occurrence, Locality, Association, and Range and Distribution of Faunas, circa 1880. Book #1.

Box 1 of 16

Folders 4-5 Field Notes of Original Survey of the Genesee Section of New York by Williams and Charles N. Proner, summer 1883. Book #44.

Box 1 of 16

Folder 6 Local Faunas Notebook, October 1883. Book #10. Lists of the species recorded from different localities and formations.

Box 1 of 16

Box 2

Folder 1 United States National Museum Locality Numbers, 1884. Book #5. Includes field notes from New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

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Folder 2 Field Notes on Devonians Along the Southern Tier of Counties in New York, June-July 1885. Book #2.

Box 2 of 16

Folder 3 International Congress of Geologists, Berlin, September 1885, 1885-1887. Book #3. Includes notes on European fossil collections; notes on conversations concerning the methods of teaching paleontology; a diary; notes on the preparation of the American report of the ICG; and other miscellaneous notes.

Box 2 of 16

Folder 4 Laboratory Notebook on New Material, 1887. Book #13.

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Folder 5 Memoranda and Accounts of United States Geological Survey Work, 1889-1891. Book #16.

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Folder 6 Field Notebook, 1890-1891, 1893, 1897-1898. Book #27. Includes notes from fieldwork in New York and Kentucky.

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Folder 7 International Congress of Geologists, Washington, D.C., 1891. Book #17. Includes notes from meetings and pencil sketches of geological formations.

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Folder 8 Laboratory Studies, February 1891-1893. Book #14.

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Folder 9 Laboratory Notes, 1892. Book #15.

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Folder 10 Geology of Connecticut Notes, 1892-1894. Book #8. Notes prepared for geology lectures at Yale.

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Box 3

Folder 1 Laboratory Notebook, October 1892-March 1899. Book #18.

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Folder 2 Office Notebook, March 10, 1898-May 11, 1899. Book #20.

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Folder 3 Record of Photographs Taken by N. W. Cackluff (?), March 29, 1898-November 1902. Book #19.

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Folder 4 Office Notebook, June 10, 1899-December 8, 1900. Book #22.

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Folder 5 Operations for Season 1899-1900. 1899-1900, 1907-1911. Book #29. Entries for later years are infrequent.

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Folder 6 Office Notebook, January 1901-August 1902. Book #24.

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Folder 7 Office Notebook, August 1902-January 1904. Book #25.

Box 3 of 16

Box 4

Folder 1 Notebook of Maps, 1903. Book #30. Includes maps of Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle showing location of important fossil localities and the preliminary lines drawn to indicate classification of the formations.

Box 4 of 16

Folder 2 Locality Notebook, 1903-1905. Book #37. Provides detailed location of formations giving preliminary interpretation of the fossil evidence in terms of location, altitude, and formational directions.

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Folder 3 Field Notes and Memoranda, June 1903-August 1905. Book #31. Notes of Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle document the beginning and progress of preparation of work on United States Geological Survey Folio 169.

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Folder 4 Field Notes on the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle and Harford-Owego Quadrangle, 1903-1904. Book #38.

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Folder 5 Field Notebook, 1904, 1906. Book #34. Contains notes for Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle study.

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Folder 6 Field Notes on the Harford-Owego Quadrangle and the Elmira Quadrangle, 1904. Book #39. Includes maps with locations of formations.

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Folder 7 Field Notes on the Harford-Owego, Apalachin, and Moravia Quadrangle, 1904. Book #40. Includes maps with locations of formations.

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Folder 8 Field Notes on the Eastport, Maine, Quadrangle, 1907. Book #36. Includes maps and notes.

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Folder 9 Office Notebook, March 1909-March 1911, 1912, May-June 1914. Book #26.

Box 4 of 16

Box 5

Folders 1-2 Field Notes on the Faunas of the Eastport Quadrangle: Their Distribution, Local Outcrops, Classification, and Lists of Species, circa 1911.

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Folder 3 Notebook on "The Geological Formations of the Eastport Quadrangle and Their Fossil Faunules," circa 1913.

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Folder 4 Notebook, circa 1914. Book #41. Contains a detailed report of the range and distribution of the fossils by faunules with diagrams of local sections for the area covered by the study of the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle.

Box 5 of 16

Box 6

Folder 1 Locality Catalog, circa 1914. Book #9. Contains memoranda regarding Williams' Devonian collection, including a list of contents of the catalog with locality, place of initial publication, and disposition of the collection as of June 11, 1914.

Box 6 of 16

Folder 2 Catalogue of Types: Fauna of Eastport (Maine) Quadrangle, circa 1915.

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Folder 3 Notebook on the Faunal Ancestors of the genus Pterineda (?), circa 1916.

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Folder 4 Check list of faunules of the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, undated. Book #43.

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Folder 5 Notebook on the Range and Distribution of Devonian Genera, undated. Book #4.

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Folder 6 Field Notes on the Carboniferous of North America, undated. Book #12.

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Box 7

Folder 1 Office Notebook, undated. Book #23. Includes notes on the fossil collections in European cities.

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Folder 2 Laboratory Notebook, undated. Book #28. Includes notes on sections from New York and Pennsylvania.

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Folder 3 Notebook on the Correlation of the Eastport Series With European and American Horizons, undated.

Box 7 of 16

Series 3

FAUNAL NOTES AND LISTS, CIRCA 1884-1914 AND UNDATED. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

This series consists of faunal notes and lists that Williams used in the preparation of his publications, primarily for his study of the Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, New York, and the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine.

Box 7

Folder 4 Faunal Lists of New York Devonian Fossils, circa 1884.

Box 7 of 16

Folders 5-6 Original field notes and preliminary lists of faunas made in course of "Survey of Genesee Section of Western New York," 1887.

Box 7 of 16

Folder 7 Lists of Devonian Species Distribution in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana, circa 1903.

Box 7 of 16

Box 8

Folder 1 Faunal Lists Compiled for Study of Range and Distribution of Faunas in Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1906.

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Folder 2 Notes on the Nomenclature Problems of Western New York Fossils, circa 1908.

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Folder 3 Notes on the genus Eurymyella, 1911.

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Folder 4 Notes on the genus Streptotrochus, 1912.

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Folder 5 Notes on the genus Cliopteria, 1912.

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Folder 6 Notes on the Fauna of Hall's Mill, Washington County, Maine, 1912.

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Folder 7 Notes on the British Silurian Faunas, circa 1912.

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Folder 8 Notes on the Coeymans Fauna of the Maryland District, 1914.

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Folder 9 Faunal Lists of Apalachin, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folder 10 Faunal Lists of Binghampton, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folder 11 Faunal Lists of Cortland, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Box 9

Folder 1 Faunal Lists of Dryden, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folder 2 Faunal Lists of Elmira, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

Box 9 of 16

Folder 3 Faunal Lists of Green, Genoa, and Groton, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folders 4-5 Faunal Lists of Harford, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

Box 9 of 16

Folder 6 Faunal Lists of Ithaca, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

Box 9 of 16

Box 10

Folder 1 Faunal Lists of Owego, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

Box 10 of 16

Folder 2 Faunal Lists of Watkins, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folder 3 Faunal Lists of Waverly, Watkins Glen-Catatonk Quadrangle, 1914.

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Folder 4 Faunal Lists of Western Pennsylvania, 1914.

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Folder 5 Faunal Lists of Sundry New York Devonian Localities, circa 1914.

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Folder 6 Notes on Chapman Fauna: Gastropods and Cephalopoda, undated.

Box 10 of 16

Box 11

Folder 1 Faunules by Formation, undated.

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Folder 2 Chapman Fauna Lists: Brachiopoda and Pelecypoda, undated.

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Folders 3-5 Faunas of the Eastport Quadrangle, undated.

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Folder 6 Notes on the Faunas of the Eastport Quadrangle, undated.

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Box 12

Folders 1-2 New York Quadrangle Faunal Lists, undated.

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Folder 3 New Spirifers from the Silurian of Washington County, Maine, undated.

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Folder 4 Notes on the Lower Helderberg and Oriskang Faunae, undated.

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Folders 5-6 Notes on Faunal Discussions Relating to Correlations of Various New York-Quadrangle, undated.

Box 12 of 16

Box 13

Folder 1 Notes on Ithaca Fauna in Cornell University's Collections, undated.

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Folder 2 Faunal Lists from Cornell University Museum, undated.

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Folder 3 List of the Range and Distribution of Genera, arranged alphabetically, undated.

Box 13 of 16

Folder 4 Locality Catalog with Bibliography References to Faunal Lists, undated.

Box 13 of 16

Folder 5 Notes from P. de Tchihatcheff's book, Devonian Fauna of Asia Minor, undated.

Box 13 of 16

Folder 6 List of Collections, Property of the United States Geological Survey, in charge of H. S. Williams, undated.

Box 13 of 16

Series 4

DRAFTS OF WRITINGS, 1903-1916. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

This series consists of drafts of publications, primarily Williams' study of the fossils of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine.

Box 13

Folder 7 "Contributions to Devonian Paleontology," Introduction, 1903.

Box 13 of 16

Folder 8 "Geological Nomenclature," 1905 (?).

Box 13 of 16

Folder 9 "Notes on the work of the Devonian Laboratory of the United States Geological Survey, Ithaca, New York," 1907.

Box 13 of 16

Folder 10 "On the relation between Rensseleria mainensis to Scaphiocoilia," 1908.

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Folder 11 "On the Persistence of Fluctuating Variations as Illustrated by the Fossil Genus Rhipidomella," 1909.

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Folder 12 "Some New Mollusca from the Silurian Formations of Washington County, Maine," 1911.

Box 13 of 16

Box 14

Folder 1 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Camarotoechia, 1911-1913.

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Folder 2 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Dalmanella, 1911-1913.

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Folder 3 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Homospira, 1911.

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Folder 4 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Leptoena, 1911-1913.

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Folder 5 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Leptostrophia, 1911-1913.

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Folder 6 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genera Monomerilla and Meristina and family Monticuliporidae, 1911-1913.

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Folder 7 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Orthis, 1911.

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Folder 8 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genera Plectambonites and Pentamerus, 1911-1913.

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Folder 9 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Retzia and some related spire-bearing forms, 1911-1913.

Box 14 of 16

Folder 10 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Rhipidomella, 1911-1913.

Box 14 of 16

Folder 11 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Rhynchospira, 1911-1913.

Box 14 of 16

Folder 12 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genera Schizocrania and Scheindirun (?), 1911-1913.

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Folder 13 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Stropheodonta, 1911-1913.

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Folder 14 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Strophomenida, 1911-1913.

Box 14 of 16

Folder 15 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Strophonella, 1911-1913.

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Folder 16 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Wilsonia, 1911-1913.

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Folder 17 Silurian fossils: genus Amnigenia, 1911.

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Folder 18 Silurian fossils: genus Bellerophons, 1911.

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Folder 19 Silurian fossils: genus Cornulites, 1911.

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Folder 20 Silurian fossils: genus Cypicardinia, 1911.

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Folder 21 Silurian fossils: genus Dalmanites, 1911.

Box 14 of 16

Folder 22 Paleozoic Fossils of Maine: Grammysias from the Silurian Formations of Washington County, Maine, 1911.

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Folder 23 Silurian fossils: genus Holopella, 1911.

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Folder 24 Silurian fossils: genus Kionoceras, 1911.

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Folder 25 Silurian fossils: genus Modiolapsis, 1911.

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Folder 26 Silurian fossils: genus Naticopsis, 1911.

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Folder 27 Silurian fossils: genus Orthodontiscus, 1911, and genus Nyassa, 1916.

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Folder 28 Silurian fossils: genus Palenmita, 1911.

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Folder 29 Silurian fossils: genus Syringopora, 1911.

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Folder 30 Silurian fossils: genus Streptelasma, 1911.

Box 14 of 16

Box 15

Folder 1 "On the Correlation of the Paleozoic Faunas of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 2 Eastport Fauna: Subfamily Pteriacea Dall, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 3 Eastport Fauna: genus Actinopteria, 1912-1913.

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Folder 4 Eastport Fauna: genera Avicula and Paleopecten, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 5 Eastport Fauna: genus Avicula rhomboidea Hall, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 6 Eastport Fauna: genera Aviculopecten and Paleopecten, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 7 Eastport Fauna: genus Leiopteria, 1912-1913.

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Folder 8 Eastport Fauna: genus Mytilarca and its allies, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 9 Eastport Fauna: New Genera and Species, 1912-1913.

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Folder 10 Eastport Fauna: genus Paracyclus, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 11 Eastport Fauna: genus Pterontilla, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 12 Eastport Fauna: On Pterineas of the types of Avicula rectangularis Sowerby, 1912-1913.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 13 Eastport Fauna: On the group of Pterinea meso-clattrata McCoy, 1912-1913.

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Folder 14 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Chonetes, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 15 Eastport, Maine, Brachiopods: genus Conchidium, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 16 Maine fossils manuscript: Edmunds formation, 1912.

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Folder 17 Main fossils manuscript: genus Spirifers, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 18 Maine fossils manuscript: On Spirifers, 1912.

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Folder 19 Maine fossils manuscript: On the Classification of Spirifers, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 20 Maine fossils manuscript: Pembroke formation, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Folder 21 Maine fossils manuscript: Revision of the list of fossils from the Whitings Bay, Maine, locality, 1912.

Box 15 of 16

Box 16

Folder 1 Silurian fossils: genus Platyschisma, 1913.

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Folder 2 Manuscript of "Correlation of the Faunas of the Eastport Quadrangle," 1913 (?).

Box 16 of 16

Folder 3 Index to "Description of Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 4 New Species as Described in "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 5 Silurian fossils: genus Nucula, 1915.

Box 16 of 16

Series 5

ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLATES FOR PUBLICATIONS, 1912-1914. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

This series consists of some of the original illustrations and plates with accompanying explanations used in the manuscript on the fossils of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine.

Box 16

Folder 6 Eastport Fauna: Plates IV, X, XIII, 1912-1913.

Box 16 of 16

Folder 7 Illustrations for the "Faunas of the Quoddy, Dennys, Edmunds, Pembroke and Eastport Formations of Washington County, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 8 Illustrations of the Fauna of the Dennys Formation in "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 9 Illustrations of Quoddy and Dennys Formations in "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 10 Illustrations of the Eastport Formation in "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 11 Illustrations of the Quoddy Formation for "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 12 Plates and Explanations of Edmunds Formation for "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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Folder 13 Plates and Explanations of Pembroke Formations for "Description of the Eastport Quadrangle, Maine," 1914.

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