Guide to the San Francisco Microscopical Society records, 1870-1905

Processed by Marilyn Kwock
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
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© 2002
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Guide to the San Francisco Microscopical Society records, 1870-1905

Collection number: BANC MSS C-A 154

The Bancroft Library



University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

Processed by:
Marilyn Kwock
Date Completed:
September 2001
Encoded by:
Xiuzhi Zhou
© 2002 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: San Francisco Microscopical Society records,
Date (inclusive): 1870-1905
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-A 154
Creator: San Francisco Microscopical Society
Extent: Number of containers: 2 boxes, 14 volumes Linear feet: 2.2
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Consists of records chronicling the first incarnation of the SF Microscopical Society, 1870-1905, including organizational records, meeting minutes, correspondence, indexes of publications, scrapbooks of clippings, fern mounts, and photographs of microscopic organisms, and papers written and presented by members.
Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], San Francisco Microscopical Society records, BANC MSS C-A 154, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

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Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS C-B 396
Title: Reception of the San Francisco Microscopical Society, at Irving Hall, May 19th, 1885,
Identifier/Call Number: xF869.S3.4.S1805 BANC
Title: San Francisco Microscopic Society Transactions,
Identifier/Call Number: xF870.S2S2 BANC
Title: Transactions of the San Francisco Microscopical Society,
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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The San Francisco Microscopical Society Records were given to the University of California, Berkeley in 1906 shortly after the Society disbanded. Some materials were transferred from the Biology Library to The Bancroft Library in 1950.

Organizational History

The San Francisco Microscopical Society was formed in 1870, when the California Academy of Sciences declined a proposal by two members, Hiram G. Bloomer and Henry G. Hanks, to form a section devoted to the use of microscopes in scientific studies. Within a year the Society was nearly inactive. However, interest revived the Society in 1872, with a new organizational structure and fees to support equipment and other expenses.
Members met monthly to discuss their research and to promote scientific study. Papers on subjects such as geology, biology, and botany were presented for discussion and visiting scientists were brought in to share ideas and demonstrate new scientific equipment. The Society also elected corresponding members from other states and countries. Through exhibits, receptions, a journal, and proceedings published in local newspapers, the Society publicized their research efforts.
The Society disbanded just before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Its property and library were donated to the University of California at Berkeley. The Society was re-formed in 1946 by George H. Needham, and continues to date.

Scope and Content

The San Francisco Microscopical Society Records, 1870-1905, chronicles the first incarnation of the organization, from its founding to its dissolution, including organizational records, meeting minutes, correspondence, indexes of books and journal articles, scrapbooks, and papers written and presented by members. These records do not include materials from the subsequent San Francisco Microscopical Society, which was revived in 1946.
Organizational records include the Society's certificate of incorporation, an annual report for 1877, and a history of the organization written in 1890. Three volumes of minute books record the formal and "conversational" meetings of the society. Scrapbooks contain clippings from local newspapers publicizing the Society's meetings and public events. Notable are the scientific papers presented by members at the Society's regular meetings. The Society was comprised of some of the most distinguished physicians and natural scientists of the time.
Divided into six series, most of the few materials are arranged hierarchically or chronologically as appropriate, with the exception of the final series, arranged alphabetically by author.

 

Series 1: Organizational Records, 1872-1896, n.d.

Box 1, folder 1

Certificate of incorporation 1872

folder 2

Annual report, 1877 1878

folder 3

History 1890

folder 4

Miscellany 1885, 1896, n.d.

 

Series 2: Minutes of Meetings, 1872-1905, n.d.

volume v. 1

Minutes 1872 -1881 March 3

volume v. 2

Minutes 1881 March 17 -1892 July

volume v. 3

Minutes 1892 August-1905

Box 1, folder 5

Minutes, miscellany 1890-1901, n.d.

 

Series 3: Correspondence, 1874-1898.

volume v. 11

Correspondence 1874-85

Box 1, folder 6

Correspondence 1877-98

 

Series 4: Indexes, n.d.

volume v. 4

Books n.d.

volume v. 5

Student and Intellectual Observer, Intellectual Observer, American Naturalist, Popular Science Review, and Lens (as to subjects relating to Microscopical Science) and meetings of scientific societies n.d.

volume v. 6

Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science and Transactions of the Royal Microscopical Society n.d.

volume v. 7

Monthly Microscopical Journal [and Transactions of the Royal Microscopical Society] n.d.

 

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1870-1892, n.d.

volume v. 8

Scrapbook, clippings 1870-1877

volume v. 9

Scrapbook, clippings ca. 1878-1887 May

volume v. 10

Scrapbook, clippings 1887 May-1892

volume v. 12

Fern mounts n.d.

volume v. 13

Photographs of microscopic organisms n.d.

 

Series 6: Writings by Members, 1872-1892.

Box 1, folder 7

Attwood, Melville and Hanks, Henry G. Native alloy - Comstock Lode ca. 1874

 

Attwood, Melville, 1812-1898

folder 8

Rusty gold 1875

folder 9

Micro-lithology 1875

folder 10

Micro-lithology 1876

folder 11

Porphyry n.d.

 

Blake, James

folder 12

New variety of gold bearing mica n.d.

 

Breckenfeld, A. H.

folder 13

Pond life 1890

folder 14

The fructification of some of our common ferns 1892

folder 15

Some of our common forms of fresh 1892

 

water algae

 

Clark, Xenos

folder 16

The vibration microscope 1878

folder 17

The hard tissues of animals n.d.

 

Dod, A. F.

folder 18

Dr. Tolle's "4 system" immersion 1/10 objective 1875

 

Edwards, Arthur M. (Arthur Mead)

folder 19

New apparatus for the microscope 1892

folder 20

Examination, made by means of the microscope, of the specimens of the Geological Survey of California 1892

folder 21

Examination, made by means of the microscope, of the specimens of the Geological Survey of California (2nd edition) 1892

folder 22

Substitute for glass for covers and slides for the microscope (No. 2) 1892

folder 23

Mode of cleaning diatoms for the microscope (No. 3) 1892

folder 24

[Notes on microscopic techniques] (No. 4) and A medium for mounting microscopical objects, both animal and vegetable, of a high refractive index, and which would not mould. Omaha Clinic 1892

folder 25

What is a "species" in the Diatomacea (No. 5) 1892

folder 26

Report on the sample of mud (clay?) brought in by the [Str.?] "Brucewell," Capt. A. H. Benson in Ap. 92, Lat. N. 40ø 29'. Long. W. 74ø. 06'. Depth to sand 3 « to 4 fath (No. 6) 1892

folder 27

On a deposit of marsh mud upheaval by supincumbent pressure and containing the remains of shells of Mollusca and microscopic organisms (No. 7) 1893

folder 28

On a Champlain(?) deposit of Diatomacea belonging to the Littoral Plain (No. 8) 1893

folder 29

On a fresh-water fossil deposit of Diatomacea consisting of clay in New Jersey and its geology, with the occurrence of marine species along with fresh-water (No. 9) 1893

folder 30

The Diatomacea of kettle holes and the clay underlying them on the borders of the glacial gravel in New Jersey (No. 10) 1893

folder 31

Report on the examination by means of the microscope of certain specimens from the United States Geological Survey (No. 11) 1893

folder 32

Review of the genus Cyclotella, a genus of the Diatomacea (No. 12) 1893

folder 33

Examination of Raised Coast Diatomacea from around Boston, Mass. n.d.

folder 34

The re-discovery of a Diatomaceaous Stratum in Florida n.d.

 

Edwards, Henry

Box 2, folder 1

Sugar-cane weevil 1874

folder 2

Notes on a species of Gordius (Class Entozoa). Colusa, Calif. (new) 1875

 

Freund, R. H.

folder 3

The 70th birthday of Louis Pasteur 1893

 

Hanks, H. G. (Henry Garber), 1826-1907

folder 4

Our mint stone ca. 1874

folder 5

Coccus Lacca 1875

folder 6

Polarized light 1875

folder 7

Report on San Diego water 1876

folder 8

Silver mud (so-called) 1876

folder 9

A mechanical finger 1877

folder 10

The divisibility of gold 1878

folder 11

Examination of a bilary calculus 1892

folder 12

Report on sample of volcanic ash from Wenjaminow, Alaska ca. 1892

folder 13

On the origin of magnetic rocks n.d.

 

Harkness, H. W. (Harvey Willson), 1821-1901

folder 14

Melampsora salicini. Fungus found in Williams, Sac. River 1876

folder 15

Peridermium Harknessii. A new fungus 1876

folder 16

Xanthium strumarium. Fungus on cockle burr 1876

folder 17

Erysiphe graminus, or wheat mildew 1877

 

Howard, F. L.

folder 18

Epizoa n.d.

 

Hyde, Henry C.

folder 19

Spontaneous generation 1877

 

Kinne, C. Mason

folder 20

Acari in date sugar 1874

folder 21

Acarus sacchari in ham 1874

folder 22

How a fly walks 1875

folder 23

Worms (so-called) in teeth 1875

folder 24

Acarus found in diseased lemon trees 1876

folder 25

Trichobasis, or grain rust 1877

folder 26

Flea seeds. Cynips saltatorius n.d.

folder 27

Scale insect n.d.

 

Kustel, Guido

folder 28

Efflorescence of silver 1872

 

Lockington, W. N. (William N.)

folder 29

Artemia utahensis. A new crustacean 1875

 

Moore, J. P.

folder 30

Agaricus tridens. A new fungus 1876

folder 31

Lentinus aurantius 1876

folder 32

Pinus tuberculata and grape vine fungus 1876

folder 33

Agaricus (clytocybe) occidentalis 1877

folder 34

Agaricus nemorosus and Tremella frondosa, latter edible 1877

folder 35

Edible fungi 1877

folder 36

The laurel wood borer 1878

folder 37

A new fungus - Polyporus (Merisma) Kalakaua 1878

 

[Morehouse, G. W.]

folder 38

Some notes on the markings of Frustulia saxonica 1877

 

Mouser, S. M.

folder 39

The microscope in medicine 1878

folder 40

A microscopic cabinet n.d.

 

Norris, Wm.

folder 41

On the study of diatoms n.d.

 

O'Toole, M. C.

folder 42

Observations on structural changes in diseases of the heart 1892

 

Pischl, Caspar

folder 43

Gonococci from a case of ophthalmia neonatorum 1891

 

Sanderson, H. E.

folder 44

The spirillum of Asiatic cholera 1892

 

Smith, J. Edwards

folder 45

The microscope and its misinterpretations 1875

folder 46

Object glasses 1875

folder 47

Microscopic gymnastics 1876

folder 48

Paper on Dr. Wythe's amplifiers 1876

 

Stallard, J. H. (Joshua Harrison)

folder 49

On some pathogenic bacilli n.d.

 

Stodder, Charles

folder 50

Notes on Diatomacea from Santa Monica, Cal. 1878

 

Stout, Arthur B.

folder 51

Hygiene. Water-tanks on tops of houses 1873

 

Wythe, J. H. (Joseph Henry), 1822-1901

folder 52

New microscopic amplifiers 1876

folder 53

Light receiving organs of octopus 1877

folder 54

Ultimate structure of striated muscle 1892

folder 55

Graphiology n.d.

folder 56

Graphiology n.d.

folder 57

Micro-spectroscope n.d.