The Hartshorn-Bolles Microscopy Slide Collection consists of one wooden cabinet of approximately 2000 microscope slides produced in the mid to late 19th century. The slides are a varied collection of mounts by various preparers and retailers, covering a range of subjects including diatoms, polysoa (bryosoan), minerals, human and animal histology, insects and insect histology, pollen and seeds, plant histology, and petrology.

The Hartshorn-Bolles Microscope Collection was assembled by Reverend E. C. Bolles (1836-1920), Universalist minister and professor of English and American Literature at Tufts College. He used the slides in his natural history lectures. Carl L. Hartshorn (1891-1966), who worked for Bolles while Hartshorn was a student at Tufts, received the collection from Bolles and donated it to the San Diego Natural History Museum in 1963. Among the notable preparers/retailers of the microscope slides are E. W. Wheeler, Joseph Bourgogne, Charles Collins, and M. C. Cooke.

3 Linear Feet 1 cabinet of 50 drawers, arranged in two sets of 25.

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

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