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Samuel Frank Dexter papers addenda, 1875-1968
mssDexterPapersAddenda  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administration Information
  • Related Materials in the Huntington Library
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Samuel Frank Dexter papers addenda, 1875-1968
    Dates: 1875-1968
    Collection Number: mssDexterPapersAddenda
    Collector: Dexter, Samuel Frank, 1847-1906
    Extent: 4 boxes
    Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department
    The Huntington Library
    1151 Oxford Road
    San Marino, California 91108
    Phone: (626) 405-2191
    Fax: (626) 449-5720
    Email: reference@huntington.org
    URL: http://www.huntington.org
    Abstract: The Samuel Frank Dexter papers addenda includes a taxidermist's notebook and printed material relating to the noted naturalist and ornithologist Frank Dexter, 1847-1906.
    Language of Material: The records are in English.

    Administration Information

    Access

    Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following web site .

    Publication Rights

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    Samuel Frank Dexter papers addenda, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Patricia Miller, July 2006.

    Related Materials in the Huntington Library

    Biography

    Samuel Frank Dexter (1847-1906), or Frank as his friends and family knew him, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on September 3, 1847. He was the grandson of Nathaniel Gregory Balch Dexter, who founded the knitting cotton business in the United States and established the Dexter Yarn Company in 1820. As such Dexter went into the family business and in 1880 after the company had incorporated, he became its secretary and general manager. He married Anna Fannie Wheaton in 1872 and subsequently had three children, Nathaniel Wheaton Dexter or “Wheatie,” Anthony Hamilton Dexter, and Fannie Wheaton Dexter. By 1900, Dexter had sold out his interests in the company and retired from the active business life. Dexter and his family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1902, where he would spend the remainder of his life until his death in 1906.

    Scope and Content

    This collection primarily consists of printed material related to naturalist and ornithologist Samuel Frank Dexter, 1847-1906. There are seven books: Field Guide to Wildflowers by Roger Tory Peterson; A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs by George A. Petrides; A Field Guide to Western Birds by Roger Tory Peterson; How to Know the Birds…by Roger Tory Peterson; Land Birds Bird Guide. Land Birds East of the Rockies by Chester A. Reed; The Observer's Book of British Birds by S. Vere Benson; and What Bird is That? by C.A. Stebbins and R.C. Stebbins. There is also a lengthy run of 19th century ornithological periodicals. There are at least 120 issues of Ornithologist and Oologist published by Frank A. Webster from January 1884 through October 1893. There is also a small run of Birds: A Monthly Serial Designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life from 1897 through 1898. Other printed matter includes two copies of The Audubon Magazine, vol. I, no. 9 and vol. LXIV, no. 1.
    An item of interest is "Taxidermist's Note Book on Collecting Trips of Wm. J. Magee". The contents of the notebook include an index of birds collected by Magee in 1875; descriptions of collecting expeditions, procedures, and weather condition in the New England region in 1876; and general remarks for the season of 1882 and 1883.

    Arrangement

    Arranged by genre.

    Indexing Terms

    Personal Names

    Dexter, Samuel Frank
    Magee, William J.

    Subjects

    Naturalists
    Ornithologists

    Geographic Areas

    New England -- Description and travel

    Genre

    Books
    Journals (periodicals)
    Notebooks
    Serials (publications)