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

Record Unit 7249

Scudder, Samuel Hubbard, 1837-1911

Samuel Hubbard Scudder Papers, 1879-1903 and undated

Repository:Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C. Contact us at osiaref@si.edu.
Creator:Scudder, Samuel Hubbard, 1837-1911
Title:Samuel Hubbard Scudder Papers
Dates:1879-1903 and undated
Quantity:0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)
Collection:Record Unit 7249
Language of Materials:English
Summary:

These papers consist of correspondence concerning the transfer of Scudder's insect collection from the Hayden Survey to the United States National Museum; notebooks of Tertiary insect drawings; and a catalog and list of fossil insects, and notes.

Historical Note

Samuel H. Scudder (1837-1911) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied entomology at Williams College from which he received an A.B. degree in 1857. Williams later awarded him A.M. and D.Sc. degrees in 1860 and 1890, respectively. He also received a B.S. degree in 1862 from Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School where he studied with Louis Agassiz.

Scudder remained at Harvard for two years as an assistant to Agassiz; from 1864 to 1870 he held various positions at the Boston Society of Natural History. From 1870 to 1879, Scudder held no salaried position except for the several months he spent with the Hayden Survey in 1877 in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. From 1879 to 1882 Scudder served as Assistant Librarian at Harvard University, and from 1883 to 1886 he was Editor of the magazine Science. From 1886 to 1892 Scudder was a paleontologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) where he specialized in fossil insects. While with the USGS he produced an index to the known fossil insects of the world. He was a leading authority on American Orthoptera.

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Descriptive Entry

These papers consist of correspondence concerning the transfer of Scudder's insect collection from the Hayden Survey to the United States National Museum; notebooks of Tertiary insect drawings; and a catalog and list of fossil insects, and notes.

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Preferred Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7249, Samuel Hubbard Scudder Papers

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Container List

Series 1

General Correspondence, 1879, 1892-1895, 1898, 1902-1903.

Box 1

Folder 1 General Correspondence, 1879, 1892-1895, 1898, 1902-1903

Box 1 of 1

Series 2

Notebooks, Catalog, and Notes, circa 1880, 1891 and undated.

Box 1

Folders 2-4 Notebooks of Tertiary Insect Drawings, circa 1880

Box 1 of 1

Folder 5 Catalog, list, and notes, 1891 and undated

Box 1 of 1

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