Owen Frederick Bryant papers

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

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

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.

The papers of Owen F. Bryant, an entomologist who studied weevils. Included are his field notes, diaries, drawings, correspondence, and photographs.