Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Biography
Scope and Content
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Thomas Harper Goodspeed: Correspondence Relating to Research on Tobacco,
Date (inclusive): 1926-1950
Collection Number: BANC MSS 80/138 c
Creator: Goodspeed, Thomas Harper, 1887-
Extent:
Number of containers: 3 boxes
Linear feet: 1.25
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: Primarily copies of letters written by Goodspeed and his associate, Helen-Mar Wheeler, to various botanists, museums, botanical
gardens, government agencies; and replies, exchanging information on tobacco, plant specimens, and viable seed. Some comment
on response of tobacco to X-rays.
Appended to some letters: plant specimens, photographs, lists of queries and specimens sent, with specific information on
genetic, morphological and taxonomic characteristics.
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], Thomas Harper Goodspeed. Correspondence relating to research on tobacco, BANC MSS 80/138 c, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Biography
Thomas Harper Goodspeed, botanist and cytologist, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1887. In 1909, he received the A.B. degree from Brown University, and in 1912, was awarded the Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.He joined the faculty of the Botany Department at Berkeley in 1912, and in 1928 became a full professor. From 1926 to 1934,
Goodspeed was curator of the Botanical Gardens, and served as its director from 1934 until his retirement from the University
in 1957.
Goodspeed devoted the bulk of his professional career to a study of the cytology and taxonomy of the genus Nicotiana (tobacco),
its interspecific hybridization, its distribution in western South America and the Australian sub-continent, and its response to high frequency radiation such as x-rays.
Scope and Content
These papers, donated by Professor Lincoln Constance in April, 1980, consist essentially of copies of letters written by Goodspeed and his associate, Helen-Mar Wheeler, to various botanists, museums, botanical gardens, government agencies, etc., and replies, exchanging information on tobacco,
plant specimens and viable seed. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization with incoming
and outgoing letters interfiled chronologically thereunder. Plant specimens, photographs, lists of queries and of specimens
sent with specific information on genetic, morphological and taxonomic characteristics, habitat, and range are appended to
some letters. A partial list of correspondents follows herein. Unlisted letters follow those listed, for each letter of the
alphabet.