Guide to the Charles Vancouver Piper Papers 1888-1926
Cage 317

Summary Information

Repository
Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections
Creator
Piper, Charles V. (Charles Vancouver), 1867-1926.
Title
Charles Vancouver Piper Papers
ID
Cage 317
Date [inclusive]
1888-1926
Extent
2.5 Linear feet of shelf space, 5 Boxes, 3650 Items
Language
Collection materials are in English.
Abstract
Those of Charles V. Piper’s papers which are located at Washington State University consist primarily of correspondence and notes relative to taxonomic studies of Northwest flora, and to the history of Northwest botany.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

Charles Vancouver Piper Papers, 1888-1926 (Cage 317)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Biography/History

Charles V. Piper was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1867. He grew up in Seattle, and attended the Territorial University of Washington until about 1892, although he had received his bachelor’s degree in 1885 at the age of 18.

Piper’s career as a botanist had two almost distinct, although overlapping, phases, first as a regional taxonomist in the Northwest and later as an agronomist with the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, D.C. His activity as a student of Northwest flora began in the mid-1880s, associated with his mountaineering hobby and supported by the Young Naturalists, a Seattle scientific society. Piper joined the staff of the newly opened Washington Agricultural College and School of Science, now Washington State University, in late 1892, and spent the next decade at Pullman, except for one year while a fellow at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. At Pullman, he and his collaborator, R. Kent Beattie, composed the first reasonably complete and authoritative regional Flora, beginning with a survey of the Palouse area of Southeastern Washington and expanding into the 1906  Flora of Washington. The investigations Piper conducted at Pullman also served as the basis for two later publications,  Flora of Southeast Washington and Adjacent Idaho (1941) and  Flora of the Northwest Coast (1915).

Piper’s career as a USDA researcher began in 1903 and continued to his death in 1926. His primary work consisted of the location, domestication or development and introduction of grasses. His most notable success during these years involved his discovery of Sudan grass, a plant he found in Africa and introduced to North America as a forage plant.

As a plant scientist Piper often attempted to take positions which placed him simultaneously in several of the various schools of thought which characterized the bitterly divided field of botany of his day. Throughout his career he consistently emphasized attention to economic and agricultural plants, much to the criticism of the purists of the profession. He also attempted to combine various positions in the nomenclature dispute: while arguing for the necessity of historical research to establish the validity of original names, his Flora adhered to the names proposed by the International Rule school. He himself undertook a great deal of the historical research inspired by the American Rule school. He was greatly involved in the re-discovery of Meriwether Lewis’ lost herbarium and encouraged the publications of journals of earlier plant explorers of the Northwest, such as Archibald Menzies and David Douglas. On one occasion, Piper even traveled to England to make a copy of Douglas’ journal, which was not then available in the United States. Piper also took a mixed position of matters of "splitting" and "lumping." While criticized as a "splitter" and "too anxious for new species," he expressed opinions which tended to encourage "lumping."

Poor health began to restrict Piper’s activities in his early 50s and he died at Washington, D. C. in 1926.

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Scope and Content

Charles V. Piper’s papers consist of correspondence and notes regarding taxonomic investigations of plants of the state of Washington, the collection of botanical specimens, the preparation of regional floras, the history of botanical study of the Pacific Northwest, and the identification of plants for the public. Piper’s letterbooks contain considerable correspondence relative to the identification of plants sent to Washington State University by the public. Significant correspondents include: R. K. Beattie, F. V. Coville, F. A. Golder, Edmond S. Meany, B. L. Robinson, W. N. Suksdorf. An index for this collection is available in Manuscripts Archives and Special Collections.

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Arrangement

Piper’s correspondence is arranged in a chronological sequence. His notes follow the subject files he established with the exception of his typescript copy of the Journal of David Douglas, an item found among the papers of R. Kent Beattie and relocated with Piper’s papers.

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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 Charles V. Piper, 1867-1926, were received by the Washington State University Herbarium in 1926 along with his library and herbarium, donated by Maude Hungate Piper, Stanley Piper and R. Kent Beattie. Transcripts of correspondence located in other archives and repositories were added from time to time.

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.

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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)

William Conklin Cusick Papers, 1906-1924 (Cage 316)

Rolla Kent Beattie Papers, 1899-1956 (Cage 318)

Harold St. John Papers, 1912-1957 (Cage 319)

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Names and Subjects

Personal Name(s)

Subject(s) :
  • Piper, Charles V. (Charles Vancouver), 1867-1926 -- Archives.
  • Coville, Frederick V. (Frederick Vernon), 1867-1937.
  • Golder, Frank Alfred, 1877-1929.
  • Meany, Edmond S. (Edmond Stephen), 1862-1935.
  • Robinson, Benjamin Lincoln, 1864-1935.
  • Beattie, R. Kent (Rolla Kent), 1875-1960.
  • Suksdorf, Wilhelm, 1850-1932.

Subject(s)

  • Botanists -- United States -- Correspondence.
  • Taxonomists -- United States -- Correspondence.
  • Plants -- Classification -- Research -- Northwest, Pacific.
  • Botany -- Research -- Northwest, Pacific.
  • Science
  • Colleges and Universities
  • Washington (State)

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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.

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Bibliography

Biographical treatments in Piper appear in Albert S. Hitchcock, Charles Vancouver Piper, 1867-1926, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 57 (1928) 275-276 and Irwin F. Lange,  Pioneer Botanists of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon Historical Quarterly, 57 (1957) 120-124.

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Detailed Description of Collection

Series 1: Correspondence 

box folder

1888-1891  125 items.

1 1

1892-1894  150 items.

1 2

1895-1896  200 items.

1 3

1897-1898  225 items.

1 4

1899  155 items.

2 5

1900-1901  200 items.

2 6

1902-1904  175 items.

2 7

1905-1911  130 items.

2 8

1912-1915  130 items.

2 9

1916  100 items.

3 10

1917  90 items.

3 11

1918  185 items.

3 12

1919  170 items.

3 13

1920  120 items.

3 14

1921  130 items.

4 15

1922  85 items.

4 16

1923  95 items.

4 17

1924  65 items.

4 18

1925  60 items.

4 19

1926  15 items.

4 20

undated  10 items.

4 21

Letterbook Feb. 1902-Aug. 1902  1 volume.

4 22

Letterbook Sept. 1902-June 1903  1 volume.

4 23

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Series 2: Notes and Working Papers 

box folder

Notes  20 items.

5 24

Allocarya  20 items.

5 25

Aster  45 items.

5 26

Berberis  40 items.

5 27

Carex  20 items.

5 28

Castilleja  5 items.

5 29

Crypthantha  10 items.

5 30

Delphinium  10 items.

5 31

Erytheronium  25 items.

5 32

Fungi  40 items.

5 33

Grasses  50 items.

5 34

Grindellia  10 items.

5 35

Lathyrus  20 items.

5 36

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