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)