The contents of this collection reflect the professional activities of plant geneticist Basil George David Bartley, whose research focused on the cacao plant, Theobroma cacao L. ("food of the gods"), primarily in the Caribbean basin, Central and South America, and Africa. Bartley is remembered especially for his efforts to breed cacao resistant to Witches' Broom, a devastating disease caused by the basidiomycete Crinipellis perniciosa. The papers span the years 1856-2007 (bulk 1952-2006) and include research notes; diaries; travel records; material related to consultancies; published and unpublished articles, papers, and books; correspondence; a variety of secondary resource materials; and audio tapes; as well as photographs, slides, and digital printouts.

Basil George David Bartley was born in New Delhi, India, on February 14, 1927. He received his secondary education at St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, India, and at the age of fifteen passed the Cambridge School Certificate examination in the first grade. In 1943, he entered the Allahabad Agricultural Institute of the University of Allahabad, India, receiving a bachelor of science degree in agriculture in the first division four years later. He continued scientific studies at Iowa State College (later Iowa State University), which awarded him a master of science in 1948 and a doctorate in 1950. Bartley's main interests at the masters and doctoral levels, respectively, were crop breeding and quantitative inheritance in soybeans.

40.4 linear feet

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Collection is open for research.