Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Guide to the Gaines and McCulloch Family Papers
1902-2008
Cage 750
Table of Contents
- Summary Information
- Biography/History
- Scope and Content
- Arrangement
- Administrative Information
- Related Materials
- Names and Subjects
- Bibliography
- Detailed Description of Collection
- Series 1: Parents and siblings of E.F. Gaines and Xerpha Mae McCulloch, 1902-1929
- Series 2: Edward F. and Xerpha Mae McCulloch Gaines papers, 1907-1970
- Series 3: Children and Grandchildren of E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, primarily Mae Gaines Kent and Ramon Kent, 1915-2000
- Series 4: Miscellaneous
- Series 5: Photographs
- Series 6: Oversize items
Summary Information
- Repository
- Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections
- Title
- Gaines and McCulloch Family Papers
- ID
- Cage 750
- Date [inclusive]
- 1902-2008
- Extent
- 4.5 Linear Feet of Shelf Space, 6 boxes
- Language
- Collection materials are inGerman
- Abstract
- This collection includes papers of Edward F. and Xerpha Mae McCulloch Gaines consisting of letters between them, correspondence with their children, other correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, research notes for both Edward. and Xerpha, a few professional papers, and some genealogical information.
Preferred Citation
[Item Description]
Gaines and McCulloch Family papers, 1902-2008 (Cage 750)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Biography/History
Both the Gaines and McCulloch families arrived in Washington from the Midwest at the turn of the twentieth century. Edward F. Gaines (1886-1944) was born in Missouri and moved as a teenager with his family to a farm near Chewelah. The McCulloch family and young Xerpha Mae (1891-1970) left Wisconsin to homestead near Othello.
Edward F. Gaines graduated from the State Normal School at Cheney (now Eastern Washington University) in 1907. He then worked as a public school principal and teacher in Ritzville, where he met Xerpha Mae McCulloch, who graduated from high school there in 1910. Edward left Ritzville in 1909 to continue his education at the State College of Washington (now Washington State University) in Pullman where he earned his bachelor and master of science degrees in agronomy in 1911 and 1913, respectively.
Throughout his career, Edward was associated with several plant genetics pioneers, as a student, colleague, and mentor. One of his students was Karl Sax, who received his bachelor's degree in agriculture from WSC in 1916 and became a leading cytologist and plant geneticist, and National Academy of Science member. Sax credited Edward Gaines for introducing him as an undergraduate to research in plant breeding, and encouraging his pursuit of graduate studies, and they remained correspondents throughout Gaines's lifetime.
Another lifelong correspondent was Harry B. Humphrey, who had been Edward's botany professor at WSC and became long-time phytopathologist with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In an obituary for Edward in the journal Phytopathology, Humphrey wrote that his most important contributions centered on his genetic studies of bunt resistance in wheat and smut resistance in wheat and oats. Gaines developed the Triplet, Ridit, and Albit wheat varieties to increase both yields and smut resistance. Orville Vogel, renowned wheat breeder at WSU with the USDA, named two wheat varieties for Edward Gaines: Gaines (1961), the first semidwarf winter wheat for commercial production, and NuGaines (1965).
Xerpha McCulloch Gaines established her own legacy at WSC. Though she pursued her education at WSC in the first years of marriage, raising her four children delayed her graduation until 1930 when she received her bachelor of arts degree in education and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Married in 1912, Edward F. and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines made their home in Pullman as Edward continued in his position as Assistant Cerealist and Instructor of Agronomy. Edward spent a semester at Harvard University in 1915 studying genetics and plant breeding under Dr. Edward M. East at the Bussey Institution for Research in Applied Biology. He returned in 1920, and received his Doctor of Science degree in 1921. At the same time, he continued on the faculty at WSC, rising to Cerealist in 1917 and serving as Assistant Professor of Farm Crops from 1918 to 1926, Associate Professor from 1926 to 1930, and as Professor of Genetics in Agronomy from 1930 until his death in 1944.
Xerpha began a collaboration in 1950 with Dr. Theodore Scheffer of the U.S. Biological Survey to collect plant specimens in the area around Grand Coulee Dam with their results published in a 1957 article: "A Botanical Survey of the Grand Coulee-Eastern Washington," Research Studies of the State College of Washington 25.3 (Sept. 1957): 207-235. In 1957 she accepted an invitation from the Museum of Northern Arizona for a May botanical collection raft trip down the Colorado River through the area soon to be inundated behind the Glen Canyon Dam. She published her results in an article, "Plants in Glen Canyon," Plateau 30, no. 2 (October 1957): 31-34.
For each of the above botanical surveys, Xerpha collected specimens for herbaria. The University of Washington's Burke Museum herbarium today lists nearly 400 specimens collected by Xerpha Gaines, many from the Grand Coulee surveys. A University of Utah publication about the 1957 Colorado River trip noted that Xerpha Gaines collected specimens from 150 species for the Museum of Northern Arizona herbarium. Because of her association with what is now WSU's Ownbey Herbarium, Xerpha duplicated her Glen Canyon specimens there as well as adding her many specimens collected over her years in the Palouse.
After retirement, Xerpha continued her work, identifying specimens from home at her kitchen table. The WSU Agronomy Club and Agronomy and Soils Department dedicated its Spring 1971 Agronomy and Men issue to Xerpha Gaines, noting that "[h]er reputation as an excellent 'seed hawk' was known throughout the Inland Empire and the State." Xerpha listed under "Hobbies, recreational activities, specialties" on a 1957 WSC personnel information form: "Taxonomy of plants and plant collecting Seeds." That lifelong interest culminated in the posthumous publication of a book, co-authored with D.G. Swan, Weeds of Eastern Washington and Adjacent Areas (1972).
In 2008, Dr. Stephen Jones, Director at the WSU Research and Extension Center in Mt. Vernon, released "Xerpha," a new variety of soft-white common winter wheat named after Xerpha Gaines.
Edward and Xerpha Gaines had four children: Edward M. (1913-2000), Xerpha Mae (1915-2003), John (1917-1955), and Grant (1922-1965). Xerpha Mae Gaines was always known as "Mae." All four siblings graduated from WSC. In 1938 Mae married Ramon Kent, who had a long career with the Soil Conservation Service primarily out of the Spokane office. Janice Gaines Walker, daughter of Grant, and Jocelyn Liu, granddaughter of Mae Gaines Kent, were instrumental in the donation of this collection to WSU.
Scope and Content
This collection includes papers of Edward F. and Xerpha Mae McCulloch Gaines consisting of letters between them, correspondence with their children, other correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, research notes for both Edward. and Xerpha, a few professional papers, and some genealogical information. Of note in E.F. Gaines's "letter box" (subseries 2.4) is his correspondence with pioneers in plant genetics, many with State College of Washington (WSC) connections. Other items of interest include the courtship letters from Edward to Xerpha.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in six series, with Series 2 further divided into five subseries:
Series 1: Parents and siblings of E.F. Gaines and Xerpha Mae McCulloch, 1902-1929. This series includes genealogical information about the McCulloch family, some reproductions, and a few items about E.F. Gaines's sisters.
Series 2: Edward F. and Xerpha Mae McCulloch Gaines papers, 1907-1970.
Subseries 2.1: E.F. Gaines to Xerpha McCulloch Gaines correspondence, 1910-1914. This subseries begins with the 1910 and 1911 postcards and letters from E.F. Gaines to Xerpha McCulloch. It continues with cards and letters from E.F. to Xerpha in the first years after their marriage.
Subseries 2.2: E.F. and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines correspondence, 1907-1970. Combining correspondence to E.F. Gaines and Xerpha McCulloch before and after their marriage, this subseries includes cards and letters received by E.F. and Xerpha including letters from their children.
Subseries 2.3: E.F. and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines, miscellaneous items, 1911-1970. This subseries collects sundry items from diplomas and obituaries for E.F. and Xerpha to address and memorial service guest books.
Subseries 2.4: E.F. Gaines letter box, 1913-1941. This subseries contains the contents of a pasteboard letter box of correspondence (incoming and outgoing). The original alphabetical arrangement has been retained. E.F. Gaines combined personal and professional topics here and arranged letters by subject or by name of correspondent or, for his outgoing correspondence, by addressee. Some letters to Xerpha Gaines are included. Interspersed with the correspondence are newspaper clippings and other items such as grade transcripts for their children, photographs, and some scientific publications.
The correspondence includes a number of letters from pioneers in plant genetics discussing their work and the state of the field in the first few decades of the 20th century. Some were WSC alumni such as Karl Sax, who became a leading cytogeneticist and a founder of the field of radiation cytology and a National Academy of Science member; William Ralph Singleton, who developed a hybrid sweet corn breeding program; and Frederick J. Stevenson, principal geneticist with National Potato Breeding Program beginning in 1930. Others were associated with programs at WSC: A. Leonard Melander, Professor of Entomology, E.C. Johnson, Dean of the College of Agriculture, E.G. Shafer, Professor of Agronomy, and Harry B. Humphrey, who had been professor of botany and the first with the title "plant pathologist" at WSC, and became long-time phytopathologist with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the USDA. Other correspondents include National Academy of Science members William E. Castle and Edward M. East of the Bussey Institution for Research in Applied Biology, Harvard University, and George H. Shull, founding editor of the journal Genetics.
This subseries also includes letters from the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) facility at Mt. Silinda, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), many by former WSC students there, and correspondence with the Leopold Schepp Foundation regarding a boy sponsored by Gaines.
Subseries 2.5: Xerpha Gaines professional project papers, 1940s-1970. Reflected in this subseries are a number of projects Xerpha Gaines participated in, some resulting in her authorship of professional publications. Among these were the preparation of an index for Enoch Albert Bryan's Historical Sketch of the State College of Washingtong1890-1925 (1928); a May 1957 botanical collection trip with the Museum of Northern Arizona down the Colorado River through the area soon to be inundated by the Glen Canyon Dam whose results Mrs. Gaines published in an article "Plants in Glen Canyon," Plateau 30.2 (October 1957): 31-34; and the book, co-authored with D.G. Swan, Weeds of Eastern Washington and Adjacent Areas (1972). Mrs. Gaines (with Theo. H. Scheffer) wrote "A Botanical Survey of the Grand Coulee-Eastern Washington," Research Studies of the State College of Washington 25.3 (Sept. 1957): 207-235.
Series 3: Children and Grandchildren of E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, primarily Mae Gaines Kent and Ramon Kent. The materials of Mae (Gaines) Kent dominate this series from her school days in the 1920s to her 1938 marriage to Ramon Kent up to the 1970s and the death of her mother Xerpha Gaines.
Series 4: Miscellaneous.
Series 5: Photographs. People and places represented in the photographs follow the generational distribution of the above series: McCulloch and Gaines families, E.F. Gaines and Xerpha McCulloch, their children, grandchildren and acquaintances.
Series 6: Oversize items.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2016
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 apply.
Acquisition Information
Jocelyn Liu donated these papers in 2009 to the Washington State University Libraries (MS 2009-21).
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Susan Vetter in 2010.
Related Materials
Related Material
Xerpha Mae Gaines Papers, 1948-1970 (Cage 122), includes notes on the Grand Coulee, Glen Canyon, and weeds of Eastern Washington projects described in Subseries 2.5.
Edward M. Gaines (son of Xerpha and Edward F.) was interviewed as a "golden grad" in 1984. That interview is housed in the Centennial Oral History Project, Oral Histories, 1982-1988, (Archives 202).
Washington State University scrapbooks, 1892-1939 (PC 5) contains a Charles D. Gaines and Helen Gowdy photograph album.
Names and Subjects
Corporate Name(s)
Subject(s) :
- Washington State University -- Faculty -- Archives.
Family Name(s)
- Gaines family -- Archives.
- McCulloch family -- Archives.
- Gaines family.
- McCulloch family.
Personal Name(s)
Subject(s) :
- Gaines, Xerpha M. -- Archives.
- Gaines, Edward Franklin, 1886- -- Archives.
Creator(s) :
- Gaines, Xerpha M.
- Gaines, Edward Franklin, 1886-
Subject(s)
- Scientists -- Washington (State) -- Archives.
- Science
- Colleges and Universities
- Washington (State)
Bibliography
During his school years at WSC, Edward wrote a number of letters to Xerpha that became the subject for a 2009 Washington State Magazine article:
Sudermann, Hannelore. "The Love Letters." Washington State Magazine 8, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 33-39.
Detailed Description of Collection
Series 1: Parents and siblings of E.F. Gaines and Xerpha Mae McCulloch, 1902-1929 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
Mrs. J.H. (Fannie Wise) McCulloch obituary, Othello Times, 1929 November 28 |
1 | 1 | ||
|
McCulloch family history reproductions, 2008 (reproduction date) |
1 | 2 | ||
|
Hattie and Mattie Gaines, sisters of E.F. Gaines, school records, 1902-1910 |
1 | 3 | ||
|
|
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Series 2: Edward F. and Xerpha Mae McCulloch Gaines papers, 1907-1970 |
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Subseries 2.1: E.F. Gaines to Xerpha McCulloch correspondence, 1910-1914 |
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Letters from E.F. Gaines to Xerpha McCulloch |
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| box | folder | |||
|
1910-1911 |
1 | 4-5 | ||
|
1913-1914 and undated |
1 | 6 | ||
Subseries 2.2: E.F. Gaines and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines correspondence, 1907-1970 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
E.F. Gaines, incoming postcards, 1907-1913 |
1 | 7 | ||
|
Xerpha McCulloch, incoming, 1909-1912 |
1 | 8 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, incoming postcards, 1912-1915 |
1 | 9 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, incoming and outgoing while in Europe, 1930-1931 |
1 | 10 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, outgoing to Mae Gaines, 1930-31 |
1 | 11 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, 1914-1941 |
2 | 12 | ||
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Xerpha Gaines, incoming correspondence; 1946-1960, undated |
2 | 13 | ||
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Xerpha Gaines, incoming, 1970 |
2 | 14 | ||
Subseries 2.3: E.F. and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines, miscellaneous items, 1911-1970 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
Diplomas, State College of Washington; E.F. Gaines, 1911 and 1913, Xerpha Gaines, 1930 |
2 | 15 | ||
|
E.F. Gaines, memberships, transcripts, obituary (from Phytopathology), 1909-1941 |
2 | 16 | ||
|
Xerpha Gaines, address book |
2 | 17 | ||
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Xerpha Gaines, clippings (including her obituaries from The Grange News and Pullman Herald), 1960-1970 |
2 | 18 | ||
|
Xerpha Gaines, guest book, Mother of the Year reception, 1963 |
2 | 19 | ||
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Xerpha Gaines, memorial guest book, 1970 |
2 | 20 | ||
Subseries 2.4: E.F. Gaines letter box, 1913-1941 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
Career chronology and publications list, photographs with some identified as from Africa, 1920s-1930s. |
2 | 21 | ||
|
"A." Includes clippings and correspondence with former WSC students serving at the ABCFM facility at Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). |
2 | 22 | ||
|
"B." |
2 | 23 | ||
|
"C." Includes correspondence from Mt. Silinda Mission and from William E. Castle. |
2 | 24 | ||
|
"D." Includes correspondence with Leopold Schepp Foundation. |
2 | 25 | ||
|
"E." Includes correspondence with Edward M. East. |
2 | 26 | ||
|
"F." |
2 | 27 | ||
|
"G." Includes correspondence with plant pathologist George H. Godfrey. |
2 | 28 | ||
|
"H." Includes correspondence with Harry B. Humphrey and photographs of unidentified house. |
3 | 29 | ||
|
"I-J." |
3 | 30 | ||
|
"K." |
3 | 31 | ||
|
"L." Includes 1915 lecture on history of WSC cereal investigations. |
3 | 32 | ||
|
"M." Includes photographs from unidentified exhibit. |
3 | 33 | ||
|
"N-O." |
3 | 34 | ||
|
"P-Q." Includes correspondence with John H. Parker, professor of agronomy at Kansas State University regarding wheat. |
3 | 35 | ||
|
"R." |
3 | 36 | ||
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"S." Includes correspondence with Karl Sax, George H. Shull, William Ralph Singleton, and Frederick J. Stevenson. |
3 | 37 | ||
|
"T." Includes correspondence with an editor at Farm and Fireside about "stinking smut" (Tilletia tritici) in winter wheat in which Gaines mentions efforts to breed smut-resistant strains. |
3 | 38 | ||
|
"U-V." |
3 | 39 | ||
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"W." Includes correspondence from Mt. Silinda Mission and a photograph of a mission school in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). |
3 | 40 | ||
|
"Y-Z." |
3 | 41 | ||
Subseries 2.5: Xerpha Gaines professional project papers, 1940s-1970 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
"Bryan index." Subject index prepared by Xerpha Gaines for Enoch Albert Bryan's Historical Sketch of the State College of Washington, 1890-1925 (1928), manuscript and typescript drafts, undated. |
3 | 42 | ||
|
The Reclamation Era, Official Publication of the Bureau of the Bureau of Reclamation 44.2 (May 1958). Contains the article "Adventure in the Glen Canyon of the Colorado" (p. 41-45) by Stanley Rasmussen about a September 1957 trip down the Colorado River f |
3 | 43 | ||
|
Weed manual correspondence, 1972. Correspondence between Na-Bor-Lee Association and its representatives with Edward M. Gaines as executor of Xerpha Gaines's estate for publication of Weeds of Eastern Washington and Adjacent Areas (1972) by Xerpha M. Gaines |
3 | 44 | ||
|
|
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Series 3: Children and Grandchildren of E.F. and Xerpha Gaines, primarily Mae Gaines Kent and Ramon Kent, 1915-2000 |
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| box | folder | |||
|
Mae Gaines, clippings, 1915-1956 |
3 | 45 | ||
|
Mae Gaines, incoming correspondence; 1929-1933, undated |
3 | 46 | ||
|
Mae Gaines, International Typing Contest, Virginia, 1930 |
3 | 47 | ||
|
Mae Gaines, secondary school, autograph book, programs, 1925-1931 |
3 | 48 | ||
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Mae Gaines, high school (Pullman, WA), diploma, graduation announcement, commencement program, report cards, 1927-1931 |
3 | 49 | ||
|
Mae Gaines, State College of Washington (WSC), diploma, schedule, correspondence, transcript, 1931-1935 |
3 | 50 | ||
|
Ramon Kent to Mae Gaines, correspondence, 1938 |
3 | 51 | ||
|
Mae Gaines and Ramon Kent, wedding planner, 1938 |
3 | 52 | ||
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Correspondence, incoming, Ramon and Mae Gaines Kent, 1944-1974 |
3 | 53 | ||
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Mae Gaines Kent, "keepsakes" volume (includes photographs), 1952-1979 |
4 | 54 | ||
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Mae Gaines Kent, "keepsakes" volume, "obituaries," 1982-2000 |
4 | 55 | ||
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Mae Gaines Kent, condolence correspondence about Xerpha Gaines, 1970 |
4 | 56-58 | ||
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Gaines children (Edward M., Mae, John, Grant), incoming correspondence, 1928-1970 |
4 | 59 | ||
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Gaines children (Edward M., John, Grant), miscellaneous, 1930-1965 |
4 | 60 | ||
|
|
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Series 4: Miscellaneous |
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| box | folder | |||
|
Postcards |
4 | 61 | ||
|
Miscellaneous and unidentified items |
4 | 62 | ||
|
|
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Series 5: Photographs |
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| box | folder | |||
|
McCulloch family, 1928 |
5 | 63 | ||
|
McCulloch family (reproductions) |
5 | 64 | ||
|
Xerpha McCulloch Gaines and her sisters, Flossie Vercler and Alice Tipton; 1959, 1970, undated |
5 | 65 | ||
|
Parents and siblings of E.F. Gaines (especially sister of E.F. Nellie Gaines later Gallagher and her daughter Hallie Gallagher); 1907-1917, undated |
5 | 66 | ||
|
From pocket-sized photograph album, primarily of Xerpha Gaines, children and grandchildren; 1961-1970, undated |
5 | 67 | ||
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Xerpha and E.F. Gaines, 1907-1952 |
5 | 68 | ||
|
Gaines home (many reproductions), Pullman, WA, 1935-1950 |
5 | 69 | ||
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Unidentified photographs (mostly negatives) developed for Xerpha Gaines in Pullman, WA, undated |
5 | 70 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines children (especially Mae Gaines); 1922-1934, undated |
5 | 71 | ||
|
E.F. and Xerpha Gaines children (especially John and Grant Gaines); 1940-1972, undated |
5 | 72 | ||
|
Wedding, Ramon Kent and Mae Gaines, 1938 |
5 | 73 | ||
|
Ramon and Mae Gaines Kent family; 1941-1961, undated |
5 | 74 | ||
|
Gaines and Kent family acquaintances; 1919-1969, undated |
5 | 75 | ||
|
Miscellaneous (many unidentified and includes tintype and glass); 1902-1974, undated |
5 | 76-78 | ||
|
|
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Series 6: Oversize items |
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E.F. Gaines diplomas and membership certificate |
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| box | ||||
|
8th Grade Completion, issued by Common Schools, State of Washington, Stevens County, 1901 |
6 | |||
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Completion of "Advanced Course of Instruction" to qualify to teach in any of Washington State Public Schools for 5 years and to satisfy eligibility for "Life Diploma," issued by Washington State Normal School, 1907 |
6 | |||
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"Life Diploma" to teach in "any Common School in the State of Washington, issued by Washington State Normal School, 1909 |
6 | |||
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Scientiae Doctoris (Doctor of Science), Harvard University, 1921 |
6 | |||
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Phi Kappa Phi fraternity (multi-discipline honor society), 1920 |
6 | |||
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Photograph: Washington State Grange members (panoramic view), Bremerton, WA, 1923 June 15 |
6 | |||
| box | ||||
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Processing file (collection background information) |
5 | |||
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