Finding aid to the Fred Baker Papers, 1916-1938 LA.1998.1209

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library

Title: Fred Baker Papers

Creator: Baker, Frederick, 1854-1938

Identifier/Call Number: LA.1998.1209

Physical Description: 0.25 Linear Feet

Date (inclusive): 1916-1938

Physical Description: Includes both handwritten and typescript letters.

Abstract: The Fred Baker Papers consists of two folders of correspondence principally with malacologist John Read le Brockton Tomlin (Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland). Letters are dated from 1916 through 1938. A few typescript letters are addressed to a Mr. White re collecting activities.

Two folders of correspondence, mostly letters from John Read le Brockton Tomlin, president of the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. A few letters to a Mr. White re collecting activities.

Frederick Baker was a physician and malacologist in San Diego, California. Born on January 29, 1854 in Norwalk, Ohio and educated at Cornell University (1870) and the University of Michigan (M.D., 1880), he married Charlotte LeBreton Johnson in 1881. They moved to San Diego in 1888 and set up medical practices, both working at St. Joseph's Hospital (he in general practice, she in obstetrics-gynecology). Baker served on the San Diego City Council and the board of trustees of the State Normal School (later San Diego State University). He participated in the Stanford Brazil Expedition of 1911, discovering 35 new species of mollusk. He was among the founding members of the Zoological Society of San Diego and of the Marine Biological Association (later the Scripps Institution of Oceanography), and he served as President of the San Diego Society of Natural History. Baker was a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and a member of the American Malacological Society. He donated part of his extensive shell collection to the San Diego Natural History Museum; other institutions receiving shells from his collection include the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. He died on May 16, 1938 in San Diego.

The collection is open to researchers by appointment. Contact the Research Library Director, San Diego Natural History Museum.

Copyright may be reserved. Consult the San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library Director for more information.

[Identification of item], Fred Baker Papers, 1916-1938. Research Library, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, CA.