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Inventory of the Max Clemens Richter Papers
D-083
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Table of contents
Creator:
Richter, M. C. (Max Clemens), 1884-
Title: Max Clemens Richter Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1887-1970
Extent:
1.2 linear feet
Abstract: Max Clemens Richter (1884-1973) was a commercial beekeeper, author of
Honey Plants of California (1911), and owner of a book store, The Book Den. His
Papers contain correspondence, photographs of various apiaries and apiculturalists, and scrapbooks
relating to beekeeping, bee diseases, and queen bee breeders.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as
many are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Department of
Special Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-083
Language of Material: Collection materials in English.
Max Clemens Richter was born on March 11, 1884 in San Francisco, California to Clemens Maximilian Richter
and Mary Barker Hobbs. He received a B.S. in 1910 from the University of California, Berkeley and in
1918 received an M.S. in Agriculture from the same institution. Richter was involved in commercial honey
production from 1907-1927 and he established apiaries near El Monte, Chile and in the California
counties of Sacramento, Stanislaus, and Monterey. He authored
Honey Plants of California (1911).
In 1925, he married Marion Swayne of Oakland, California and they had one son, Richard. Richter also
owned and operated The Book Den, a book store specializing in antiquarian and second hand books. From
1928-1932, The Book Den was located in Oakland. In 1933, he relocated the store to Santa Barbara and
owned the business until his death on April 14, 1973.
The Max Clemens Richter Papers, which span the years 1887-1970, contain correspondence, photographs, and
scrapbooks related to beekeeping, bee diseases, and queen bee breeders.
Letters in the correspondence series deal with Richter's commercial endeavors in beekeeping and
bookselling, his writings for apicultural publications, and his affiliations with apicultural
organizations. The third party subseries contains a group of letters which discuss buckeye poisoning of bees.
Photographs of apiaries in California and Chile as well as images of apiculturalists can be found in
Series 4: Photographs.
Series 5 holds five scrapbooks dealing with bee diseases, honey statistics, and queen bees.
The Papers are arranged into five series: 1. Correspondence, 2. Manuscripts, 3. Printed Material, 4.
Photographs, and 5. Scrapbooks.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online
public access catalog.
Richter, M. C. (Max Clemens), 1884---Archives
Bee culture--California
Bees--California
Bees--Chile
Collection is open for research.
Gift of Max Richter to Cornell University in 1963. Transferred from Cornell University to the University
of California, Davis in 1967.
[Identification of item], Max Clemens Richter Papers, D-083, Department of Special Collections, General
Library, University of California, Davis.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to
publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, General Library,
University of California, Davis 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 researcher.