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

Record Unit 7077

Stearns, Robert E. C. (Robert Edwards Carter), 1827-1909

Robert Edwards Carter Stearns Papers, 1879-1909

Repository:Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C. Contact us at osiaref@si.edu.
Creator:Stearns, Robert E. C. (Robert Edwards Carter), 1827-1909
Title:Robert Edwards Carter Stearns Papers
Dates:1879-1909
Quantity:0.75 cu. ft. (1 document box) (1 half document box)
Collection:Record Unit 7077
Language of Materials:English
Summary:

These papers consist chiefly of incoming correspondence from the USNM, the Smithsonian Institution, and shell collectors; correspondence between scientists other than Stearns concerning publications, publication revision, and shell collections; scrapbooks containing correspondence, memoranda, labels, and cards collected while Stearns was an Assistant Curator; specimen labels donated to the USNM; handwritten and printed drafts for articles, including a preliminary report on the fossils at San Diego, and the original drawings and draft for Anadontas of the West Coast; and autobiographical materials.

Historical Note

Robert Edwards Carter Stearns (1827-1909) was a public figure of some prominence whose careers included mining, publishing, and the natural sciences. A lover of nature since childhood, Stearns concentrated on conchology, mostly mollusks of the West Coast. Stearns was a researcher for the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1882-1884; an Assistant Curator, Department of Mollusks, United States National Museum (USNM); and a Paleontologist for the United States Geological Survey, 1884-1892.

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Descriptive Entry

These papers consist chiefly of incoming correspondence from the USNM, the Smithsonian Institution, and shell collectors; correspondence between scientists other than Stearns concerning publications, publication revision, and shell collections; scrapbooks containing correspondence, memoranda, labels, and cards collected while Stearns was an Assistant Curator; specimen labels donated to the USNM; handwritten and printed drafts for articles, including a preliminary report on the fossils at San Diego, and the original drawings and draft for Anodontas of the West Coast; and autobiographical materials.

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This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.

Name

Subject

Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection

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Preferred Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7077, Robert Edwards Carter Stearns Papers

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Container List

Series 1

Correspondence, 1884-1909.

Box 1

Folder 1 A - Be

Box 1 of 2

Folder 2 William Greene Binney, 1884-1886

Box 1 of 2

Folder 3 Br - E

Box 1 of 2

Folder 4 G

Box 1 of 2

Folder 5 H

Box 1 of 2

Folder 6 I - O

Box 1 of 2

Folder 7 P - R

Box 1 of 2

Folder 8 S - W

Box 1 of 2

Series 2

Scrapbooks, 1879-circa 1892.

Box 1

Folder 9 Scrapbook, 1879-1884

Box 1 of 2

Folder 10 Scrapbook, 1884

Box 1 of 2

Folder 11 Scrapbook: Memos of specimens donated by R. E. C. Stearns to the U. S. National Museum

Box 1 of 2

Series 3

Handwritten and Printed Drafts for Articles.

Box 1

Folder 12 Preliminary Report on the San Diego, California Fossil Beds, etc. by R. E. C. Stearns with Appendix, diagrams, and map

Box 1 of 2

Folder 13 Sad Fate of a Collector, November 20, 1897

Box 1 of 2

Folder 14 Fort-hill School in days gone by Boston schoolmasters and school books, sixty-years ago, October 29, 1898

Box 1 of 2

Folder 15 The Quakog (Venus mercenaria) as an implement of war

Box 1 of 2

Folder 16 Before Ichabad, September 19, 1908

Box 1 of 2

Folder 17 The Shells of Dreamlands, June 10, 1901

Box 1 of 2

Folder 18 The Smithsonian Institution

Box 1 of 2

Folder 19 The Mutations of Anodonta cygnea and their implication, March 1, 1909

Box 1 of 2

Box 2

Folder 1 Part I, Anodontas of the West Coast

Box 2 of 2

Folder 2 Part II, Anodontas of the West Coast

Box 2 of 2

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