The Laura F. Kimball Papers consist of correspondence among botanists and collectors of ferns, mostly in the period 1889 to 1914. Includes a small number of plant lists (earliest 1886).

Laura Frances Kimball was a fern collector in San Diego County, California. She was born on April 30, 1856 in New Hampshire and moved with her family to National City before 1870, where the family took up farming. National City was then a township in San Diego County, founded in 1868 by her uncles, Frank and Warren C. Kimball. Kimball collected ferns of San Diego County for the Biltmore Herbarium and supplied material to other collectors and institutions. She was known for her extensive fern collection which included 60 varieties from 14 states and the Hawaiian Islands. Kimball died on January 3, 1942 in National City.

0.5 Linear Feet

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