Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Annie Montague Alexander Papers
Consult repository
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Annie Montague Alexander Papers
Creator:
Alexander, Annie Montague, 1867-1950
Extent: Number of containers: 3 boxes, 2 volumes
Linear feet: 1.2
Linear feet: 1.2
Repository:
Museum of Paleontology.
Berkeley, California 94720-4780
Language:
English.
The Alexander Papers were given to the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, by Miss Alexander and/or
her heirs in 19xx.
Funding for processing provided by the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
Collections are open by appointment only. Please contact the Museum of Paleontology directly.
Copyright has been assigned to the Museum of Paleontology. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Director or the Principal Museum Scientist for forwarding. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Museum of Paleontology 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.
[Identification of item], Annie Montague Alexander Papers, Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley.
Annie Montague Alexander became interested in paleontological work while attending John C. Merriam's lectures at the University
of California in 1900. From then on, she was closely associated with the Department and Museum of Paleontology, as well as
the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. She supported and participated in many field expeditions up until the year of her death,
and advised museum directors on financial matters, policies, and personnel decisions.
| December 29, 1867 | Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the third of four children born to Samuel Thomas and Martha Cook Alexander |
| 1882 | Alexander family moves to Oakland, CA |
| 1886 | AMA enrolls in La Salle Seminary for girls in Auburn, MA |
| Summer, 1888 | Alexander family travels abroad, AMA remains to study art and music in Paris. She abandons her studies due to headaches caused by eye strain |
| 189? | AMA enters Fabiola Hospital as student nurse, again leaves due to eyestrain and headaches |
| 1896 | Travels to South Pacific, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canton |
| Fall 1900 | Attends lectures at University of California, including paleontology class taught by John C. Merriam, becomes fascinated with paleontology and vertebrates. |
| Summer 1901 | Finances and participates in Merriam's fossil collecting expedition to Fossil Lake, OR |
| Summer 1902 | Finances and participates in Merriam's fossil collecting expedition to Shasta County, CA |
| Summer 1903 | Finances and participates in Merriam's fossil collecting expedition to Shasta County, CA |
| Summer 1905 | Finances and participates in Merriam's "Saurian expedition" to Humbolt Range, NV, which reveals great Triassic ichthyosaur skeleton deposits |
| 1906 | Begins monthly contributions to support research in paleontology at the University of California |
| Summers 1906-8 | Hunting and collecting expeditions to Alaska |
| 1908 | Provides funds to establish the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California |
| 1919 | Establishes an endowment fund for the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology |
| 1921 | Provides funds to establish the Museum of Paleontology as a separate unit of the University of California |
| 1934 | Establishes an endowment fund for the Museum of Paleontology to "safeguard for the future the care of collections on which I have already expended many thousands of dollars." Continues to be active in her own fieldwork. |
| 1948 | Provides funds for student research fellowships in the Museum of Paleontology and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology |
| September 10, 1950 | Death, following illness and a cerebral hemorrhage |
Collection contains correspondence between Annie M. Alexander and key figures in the Museum and Department of Paleontology
from 1901 to 1949. Much of this correspondence consists of information about paleontological research in the field, of Miss
Alexander and others. Further correspondence is with the President's Office and Museum and Department directors regarding
personnel and organizational issues. Letters also cover financial information about Miss Alexander's support for individual
researchers, and ultimately the endowment of the Museum of Paleontology.
Other correspondence of Miss Alexander can be found in collections of John C. Merriam and those relating to the Museum of
Vertebrate Zoology. Also included in the collection are Annual Reports and Budgets of the Department and Museum of Paleontology
for the years 1906-1948, often with a letter to Miss Alexander accompanying the report.
A scrapbook documenting the 1905 Saurian expedition to the Humbolt Range, Nevada is included, with text by Miss Alexander
and captioned photographs.
Important correspondents include David Barrows, Charles Camp, William Wallace Campbell, Ralph Chaney, Bruce Clark, Eustace
Furlong, William Matthew, John C. Merriam, Robert Sproul, Ruben Stirton, Chester Stock, Samuel Welles, and Benjamin Wheeler.
The collection is not complete.
The papers are primarily professional in nature, although since Miss Alexander was personally involved with the workings of
the Museum and Department of Paleontology, the correspondence includes personal matters as well.
Researchers should be aware that the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, holds other papers of Miss Alexander
(Banc MSS 67/121C; CU-120; C-B 1003) as well as a Biographical sketch of Miss Alexander (Banc MSS 69/15c)