Reference Request
Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Record Unit 7236
McElvare, Rowland Robbins, 1893-1976
Rowland Robbins McElvare Papers, 1936-1967
Historical Note
Rowland Robbins McElvare (1893-1976), an amateur lepidopterist, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Columbia College in 1913, and, after taking advanced degrees at Columbia University and Harvard, entered the banking profession in 1917. Two years later he married Lillian Adele Waring, with whom he spent the rest of his life. McElvare became prominent in the field of banking and finance, eventually rising to the position of Director of the Public National Bank and Trust Company of New York, as well as serving as President of the Savings and Loan Division of the American Banking Association. He was also a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking.
McElvare's interest in lepidopterology had its beginnings early in his life under the guidance of George P. Englehardt of the Brooklyn Museum. In the mid-1930s, McElvare decided to focus his attention on the noctuid subfamily Heliothiinae, a day-flying moth, principally found in the Southwest, which hitherto had attracted little scholarly interest. He began compiling information on this variety of insect, a difficult task due to the lack of material. Few institutions held useful collections of Heliothiinae, and extensive field work was still needed to obtain complete specimen collections, as well as gathering data on the life cycle of Heliothids. McElvare, in the course of his studies, which were conducted after business hours until his retirement in 1953, assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of Heliothiinae extant, and in addition supplied type and paratype specimens to the United States National Museum and the British Museum (Natural History). During the period most heavily represented in this collection, 1940-1960, Rowland Robbins McElvare was the foremost American authority on Heliothiinae.
McElvare published numerous journal articles on his work, including several describing new species of Heliothiinae and on the synonymy of a species hitherto thought valid. The majority of his publications appeared in the Journal of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, of which he was President from 1945 to 1947.
Descriptive Entry
This collection documents McElvare's activities in the field of lepidopterology. Of principal interest is the correspondence between McElvare and numerous amateur and professional lepidopterists, both in this country and abroad. These letters deal predominantly with insect collection and exchange, as well as the sharing of information on Heliothiinae and lepidopterology in general. McElvare took extensive notes on the species of Heliothiinae, drawn from personal examination of his collection, as well as his study of institutional collections throughout North America. These, and the transcripts of original descriptions of type insects found in classic works of lepidopterology, comprise the bulk of the remainder of the collection.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- McElvare, Rowland Robbins, 1893-1976
- McElvare, Lillian Adele Waring
- Englehardt, George P.
- Columbia College (New York, N.Y.)
- Columbia University
- Harvard University
- Public National Bank and Trust Company of New York
- American Banking Association
- Brooklyn Museum
- United States National Museum
- British Museum (Natural History)
- Brooklyn Entomological Society
Subject
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7236, Rowland Robbins McElvare Papers