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Title: Owen Frederick Bryant papers
Dates: 1882-1958
Collection Number: MSS-071
Creator/Collector:
Bryant, Owen.
Extent: 21 manuscript boxes (8.82 linear feet)
Repository:
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco, California 94118
Abstract: The papers of Owen F. Bryant, an entomologist who studied weevils. Included are his field notes, diaries, drawings, correspondence,
and photographs.
Language of Material: English
Access is unrestricted
[Identification of item]. Owen Frederick Bryant papers. Collection Number: MSS-071. California Academy of Sciences
Biography/Administrative History
Owen Bryant was born in Brookline Massachusetts on Feb 14,1882. He was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1904, with
an A.B. degree. Although he attended Harvard Medical School between the years 1904-1908 and in 1911 as a special student
in bacteriology, he did not choose that profession. Instead, farming seed grains (Alberta, Canada), oil speculation (Alberta,
Canada) and entomology held his attention. During his school days summers were spent on entomological collecting trips to
Bermuda (1904-1905), Northern Newfoundland (1906), Labrador (1908), and Java (1909-1910). A self proclaimed “bug hunter”,
future collecting trips visited the Arctic (1931) and the Mackenzie Delta, Nuvik, Canada (1932).
In 1932 Owen Bryant married Lucy Helen McBride. They had one daughter, Lou McBride Bryant. Residences included Banff, Alberta,
Canada (1929-1936), Tucson, Arizona (1939) Steamboat Springs, Colorado (1942-1949) and Montara, California (1952-1958), where
he died leaving his entire estate to California Academy of Sciences.
As a Patron of the California Academy of Sciences (1946), Owen Bryant donated 15,000 identified & mounted weevils to the entomology
department. He was also a Life Member and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, member of the
Geographical Society of America, and honorary life member of the Boston Society of Natural History.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers of Owen F. Bryant, an entomologist who studied weevils. Included are his field notes, diaries, drawings, correspondence,
and photographs.
Entomology
Weevils
Coleopterology