Reference Request
Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Record Unit 7276
Smith, Lyman B.
Lyman Bradford Smith Papers, 1959-circa 1970
Historical Note
Lyman Bradford Smith (1904-1997), botanist, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University where he received an A.B. in 1925, an A.M. in 1929, and a Ph.D. in biology in 1930. From 1928 to 1929, Smith held a Sheldon traveling fellowship to Brazil. From 1931 to 1947, Smith was an Assistant Curator, Junior Curator, and Curator at the Gray Herbarium.
In 1947, Smith was appointed Associate Curator in the Division of Phanerogams, United States National Museum, and was made Curator of the Division in 1957. Smith retired from the Division in 1966 and held the position of Senior Botanist with the Department of Botany. Smith died in 1997.
Smith concentrated his studies on the taxonomy of flowering plants, especially those from Latin America, and the family Bromeliaceae.
Descriptive Entry
These papers contain correspondence with botanists and directors of herbaria concerning the identification of specimens, collecting and exchanging botanical collections, especially those of South and Central America, and requests for publications and notes and a manuscript on a key to Tillandsia.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- Smith, Lyman B.
- Harvard University
- Harvard University. Gray Herbarium
- United States National Museum. Division of Phanerogams
- National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Department of Botany
Subject
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7276, Lyman Bradford Smith Papers