Series 1. General Correspondence, 1928-1962. Arranged Alphabetically.
Series 2. Journals and Notes, circa 1930-1938.
Series 3. Invoices, Packing List, and Inventory Lists, 1932-1940, 1963 and undated.
Series 4. Photographs, Newspaper Clippings, and Specimen Labels, 1937, 1964 and undated.
These papers contain correspondence with amateur and professional
mineralogists, curators, and collectors concerning the examination,
identification, purchase, and exchange of meteorites, as well as eyewitness
accounts of falling meteorites, in particular, the Bird City, Kansas, Meteor,
1931. Also included are photographs of the Walsenburg Quadrangle, Roy S.
Clarke, Jr., Edward P. Henderson, and J. Edgar Chenowith; and newspaper
clippings concerning meteorites. Important correspondents include Oliver
Cummings Farrington, William F. Foshag, John Enos Graf, Herbert M. Hale,
Edward P. Henderson, Oscar Monnig, Harvey Harlow Nininger, Charles P. Olivier,
and Alexander Wetmore. Further information concerning the Allen
Meteorite Collection can be found in National Museum of Natural History
accession files, number 247668. Correspondence deals with the identification, examination, and appraisal of meteorites; location of meteorites; inquiries as to origin and authenticity of meteorite specimens; requests for eyewitness accounts of meteorite falls; arranging distribution of Allen's photographs of meteorites; and supplying information upon request on the nature of meteorites. Correspondents include: F.W. Cassirer, dealer in minerals and meteorites in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Oliver Cummings Farrington, Curator of Geology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago; William F. Foshag, Curator of Mineralogy and Petrology at the U.S. National Museum; John Enos Graf, Associate Director of the U.S. National Museum; Herbert M. Hale, Director of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia; Edward P. Henderson, Assistant Curator of Geology at the U.S. National Museum; F. Frantz, mineral dealer in Bonn, Germany; Oscar Monnig, Texas Regional Director of the American Meteor Society; Henry Harlow Nininger, Director of Nininger Laboratories in Colorado; Charles P. Olivier, Director of the American Meteor Society; Stuart H. Perry, Editor and Publisher of the Adrian Daily Telegram, Adrian, Michigan; and Alexander Wetmore, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. National Museum. Box 1 of 2
INTRODUCTION
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the
Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Arthur R. Allen (1880-1962), an amateur mineralogist, spent a large part of his
adult life searching for meteorites in Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and
Oklahoma. Allen corresponded with professionals and other amateurs throughout
the world in the hope of obtaining new specimens for his meteorite collection.
After his death, his collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution.
DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES 1.
General Correspondence, 1928-1962. Arranged Alphabetically.
| Folder | 1 | Aiston - Buckley | |
| Folder | 2 | Carpenter - Evans | |
| Folder | 3 | Farmer - Fuller | |
| Folder | 4 | Garcia - Hunter | |
| Folder | 5 | Illinois State Museum - Lowell Observatory | |
| Folder | 6 | Mackey - Myrick | |
| Folder | 7 | National Geographic Society - Olivier | |
| Folder | 8 | Palache - Ruff | |
| Folder | 9 | Santillan - Yost |
Box 2 of 2
| Folder | 1 | Notebook, circa 1930s. Consists of Allen's records of eyewitness accounts of various meteorite falls. Includes diagrams outlining the location of the falls. | |
| Folder | 2 | Journal, circa 1932. An inventory describing the various meteorite specimens that passed through Allen's collection: provenance, classification, date, weight, cost, composition, and ownership. | |
| Folder | 3 | Notes, 1931. Describes in detail the occurrence of the Bird City, Kansas, Meteor. Notes, 1938, are entitled "Messages from Space" and are a collection of observations written in an autobiographical style explaining and discussing the phenomenon of meteorites. |
Box 2 of 2
| Folder | 4 | Invoices, 1932-1940. Record some of Allen's exchanges and purchases of materials and specimens from public institutions and private dealers around the world. | |
| Folder | 5 | Packing list, 1963, prepared in Trinidad, Colorado, after Allen's death | |
| Folder | 6 | Inventory lists, undated. Record technical information about the meteorites. |
Box 2 of 2
| Folder | 7 | Photograph, 1937. Shows the topography of the Walsenburg Quadrangle, in the Greenhorn Mountains of Colorado. Photographs, 1964, were taken at the time the Allen collection was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution. Pictured are J. Edgar Chenowith, Representative from Colorado, and Roy S. Clarke and Edward P. Henderson, Curators in the Department of Mineral Sciences. | |
| Folder | 8 | Newspaper clipping, undated. Discusses the origin of meteorites. | |
| Folder | 9 | Specimen labels, undated. Document objects that were part of Allen's collection. |
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Revised: June 26, 2003