Ernest Christian Rost papers, 1918-1937

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Summary

Creators:
Rost, Ernest Christian, 1867-1940
Abstract:
A collection of manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs related to the life and career of American cacti specialist Ernest Christian Rost.
Extent:
7.08 Linear Feet (7 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Ernest Christian Rost papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

A collection of 648 items from 1918 to 1937, it consists of correspondence, manuscripts, documents and photographs primarily related to Rost's interests in cacti. Included is a typewritten manuscript of his book Something about cacti, a translation of Alwin Berger's Kakteen (1929), and articles by Ernest N. Rost and his wife Etta Newbury Rost, who wrote under the pseudonym Esther Norton. Correspondents in the collection include Joseph Nelson Rose, Curator of Botany at the Smithsonian Institution and Nathaniel Lord Britton, director of the New York Botanical Gardens. The collection also contains 505 photographs, including 287 photographs of cacti and succulent plants which were to be included in Something bout cacti, 3 oversize photograph albums, and approximately 800 uncataloged glass plate negatives.

Biographical / historical:

Ernest Christian Rost (1867-1940) was an artist, pioneer photographer, adventurer, and botanist. He was born in Mount Vernon, New York, son of German parents, Christian Wilhelm Rost, a renowned engraver, and Minna Rost, an embroiderer of military insignia. Rost studied at the National Academy of Design and continued his artistic education in Europe. In the late 1890s, he turned to photography, working in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Panama. In 1907, he married Etta N. Newbury and by 1918 he settled in California. Having failed at growing grapes in the San Joaquin Valley, he moved to Southern California and settled in Alhambra where he devoted his life to the study of cacti. Rost traveled widely throughout the Mojave Desert, Nevada, Mexico, and Arizona, collecting and classifying desert plants. In 1929, he became an editor of Desert, the official publication of the American Succulent Societies. In 1931, he was elected to the German Horticultural Society. In 1933, Rost sought to publish a book Something about cacti, but the book was never published. Rost died in Alhambra in October 1940.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Mrs. Miles E. Rost, 1968.
Processing information:

Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1975. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the finding aid derived from a legacy summary report.

Arrangement:

Organized in the following series: Correspondence; Manuscripts; Photographs; Photograph albums; Glass plate negatives.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

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:

[Identification of item]. Ernest Christian Rost papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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