Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Guide to the William Conklin Cusick Papers
1906-1924
Cage 316
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Repository
- Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections
- Creator
- Cusick, William C. (William Conklin), 1842-1922
- Title
- William Conklin Cusick Papers
- ID
- Cage 316
- Date [inclusive]
- 1906-1924
- Extent
- 0.5 Linear feet of shelf space, 1 Box, 24 Items
- Language
- Collection materials are in English.
- Abstract
- Cusick’s extant papers consist primarily of his field books, which doubled as the catalog for the second herbarium, and the draft list of the floral surveys he conducted about 1910.
Preferred Citation
[Item description]
William Conklin Cusick Papers, 1906-1924 (Cage 316)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Biography/History
William C. Cusick was born in Illinois in 1842 and emigrated to Oregon while a youth. He had a modest "collegiate" education and worked as a teacher for a time. Most of his adult life he spent as a rancher in the area of the Wallowa Mountains. He began botanical collecting and distribution sometime in the 1870s, encouraged by Harvard’s Asa Gray. Most of his plants came from the area of the Wallowa and Blue Mountains and were arranged in two successive herbariums, one of which he transferred to the University of Oregon, while the second went to Washington State University.
Encouraged by C. V. Piper, Cusick’s second herbarium project included extensive and exhaustive botanical surveys of the area in the two mountain ranges. Unlike his earlier efforts, this second phase did not include large distributions of plants. Cusick died in 1922.
Scope and Content
William C. Cusick’s extant papers consist primarily of his field books, which doubled as the catalog for the second herbarium, and the draft list of the floral surveys he conducted, circa 1900-1910. A few surviving items of correspondence with C. V. Piper, and a biographical sketch of Cusick by W. W. Eggleston are also included.
Arrangement
The Cusick papers are arranged to content, with the meager extant correspondence segregated. The field books follow Cusick’s numbering system.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2021
https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/
Terrell Library
P.O. Box 645610
Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA
509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open and available for research use.
Restrictions on Use
Copyright restrictions may apply.
Custodial History
The papers of William C. Cusick, 1842-1922, of Union County, Oregon, were acquired by the Washington State University Herbarium about 1921, along with Cusick’s Second Herbarium
Acquisition Information
The materials in this collection of botanical documents were transferred to the Washington State University Library in 1975 from the university’s Ownbey Herbarium.
Related Materials
Related Material
Northwest Botanical Manuscripts : an Indexed Register of the Papers, 1867-1957, of Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf, William Conklin Cusick, Charles Vancouver Piper, Rolla Kent Beattie, and Harold St. John in the Washington State University Library. Washington State University; 1976.
Washington State University Botanical Papers, 1881-1973 (Cage 53)
Xerpha Mae Gaines Papers, 1948-1970 (Cage 122)
Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf Papers, 1867-1935 (Cage 315)
Charles Vancouver Piper Papers, 1888-1926 (Cage 317)
Rolla Kent Beattie Papers, 1899-1956 (Cage 318)
Harold St. John Papers, 1912-1957 (Cage 319)
Names and Subjects
Personal Name(s)
Subject(s) :
- Cusick, William C. (William Conklin), 1842-1922 -- Archives.
- Piper, Charles V. (Charles Vancouver), 1867-1926.
- Eggleston, W. W. (Willard Webster), 1863-1935.
Subject(s)
- Botanists -- United States -- Correspondence.
- Botany -- Research -- Oregon.
- Science
- Colleges and Universities
- Washington (State)
Other Finding Aids
Northwest Botanical Manuscripts : an Indexed Register of the Papers, 1867-1957, of Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf, William Conklin Cusick, Charles Vancouver Piper, Rolla Kent Beattie, and Harold St. John in the Washington State University Library. Washington State University; 1976.
Bibliography
Cusick’s life and botanical experiences are discussed in Irwin F. Lange, Pioneer Botanists of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon Historical Quarterly, 57 (1956) 115-118 and Harold St. John, William Conklin Cusick, Rhodora, 25 (1923) 101-105.
Detailed Description of Collection
| box | folder | |||
|
Correspondence, letters from C. V. Piper 1914-1921 3 items. |
1 | 1 | ||
|
Biographical Sketch of Cusick by Willard W. Eggleston 1924 1 item. |
1 | 2 | ||
|
A Catalogue of Grasses of Eastern Oregon 1908 1 item. |
1 | 3 | ||
|
A List, From Memory, of the Plants to be Seen Near at Hand in Crossing the Canyon of the Immaha Near its Source 1911 3 items. |
1 | 4 | ||
|
An Annotated List of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Northeastern Oregon: Wallawa, Union, Baker and Umatilla Counties 1909 2 items. |
1 | 5 | ||
|
Distribution of Characteristic Alpine and Hudsonian Plants of the Wallowa Mountains undated 2 items. |
1 | 6 | ||
|
Distribution of Characteristic Alpine and Hudsonian Plants of the Wallowa Mountains undated 2 items. |
1 | 7 | ||
Field Books/Catalogs 1906-1916 |
||||
| box | folder | |||
|
Specimen Number 2739-2783 |
1 | 7 | ||
|
Specimen Number 3060-3145 |
1 | 8 | ||
|
Specimen Number 3150-3339 |
1 | 9 | ||
|
Specimen Number 3340-3420 |
1 | 10 | ||
|
Specimen Number 1 (3509)-51 (3560) |
1 | 11 | ||
|
Specimen Number 3422-3709 |
1 | 12 | ||
|
Specimen Number 3710-4038 |
1 | 13 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4039-4241 |
1 | 14 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4242-4435 |
1 | 15 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4436-4522 |
1 | 16 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4546-4783 |
1 | 17 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4604-4883 |
1 | 18 | ||
|
Specimen Number 4884-4935 |
1 | 19 | ||
|
|
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