Custodial History note
Information about Access
Ownership & Copyright
Cite As
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: John Casper Branner papers
creator:
Branner, John Casper, 1850-1922
Identifier/Call Number: SC0034
Physical Description:
40 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1882-1925
Custodial History note
Received by the University Archives as part of the Stanford Collection, 1965. Additional papers were received in March 2011.
Information about Access
Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.
Ownership & Copyright
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Cite As
[Identification of item], John Casper Branner papers (SC0034). Department of Special Collections and University Archives,
Stanford University Archives, Stanford, Calif.
Biography
John Casper Branner, second president of Stanford University, was born in New Market, Tennessee in 1850. He entered Cornell
University in 1870, but left in 1874 for
Brazil
first as assistant geologist on the Geological Survey of
Brazil
then as assistant engineer for the Sao Cyriaco Gold Mining Company. He returned to Cornell to finish his b.s. degree in 1882.
Between 1883 and 1891, he served in a number of state positions including topographic geologist for Pennsylvania and State
Geologist of Arkansas; between 1885 and 1891, he also served as professor of geology at Indiana University. The first professor
to be named at the new Stanford University in 1891, Branner served as professor of geology at Stanford as well as executive
head of the Geology Department. He later served as vice president of Stanford (1898-1913) and president of Stanford (1913-1915)
and professor emeritus (1915-1922). He died on March 1, 1922.
Scope and Content of Collection
These papers are Branner's personal and professional papers and do not contain any of his Stanford University Presidential
records. The collection contains most of his outgoing and incoming correspondence for the years 1882 to 1921. The outgoing
correspondence is in letter press books and has not been indexed. The incoming correspondence has been arranged, but not indexed
except for a very few names of importance to Stanford University or of national significance. There is a fairly complete collection
of articles and books by Branner as well as manuscripts, photographs, and line drawings of geographical formations; three
scrapbooks of earthquake pictures; the report of the Commission investigating the Panama Canal slides; and the manuscript
of the Baker genealogy which Branner made. There is a lot of material of interest to geologists and students of the history
of geology. While State Geologist of Arkansas Branner refused to encourage speculation concerning gold and silver mines and
finally said that there were none of importance, for which he was reviled in many newspapers and hanged in effigy twice. The
letters from his field assistants give a rather complete (and amusing) picture of Arkansas in the 1880s. There is also correspondence,
mostly during 1906, concerning Branner's dissatisfaction with the U. S. Geological Survey and finally his resignation from
it. Branner had many students at Stanford who went on to make quite a reputation as geologists, among them Herbert Hoover
and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. There are many letters from these students from all over the world. Especially interesting
are those from the Hoovers and N. F. Drake who were in Tientsin at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Branner's great interest
was
Brazil
. He had visited
Brazil
while a graduate student in 1882 and was to make return trips throughout his life. His interests were not purely geological
as he also wrote a Portuguese grammar and translated a book on the Portuguese inquisition. A college classmate of his, Ajax
J. Lamoureux, lived in
Brazil
from 1886 to 1906 and his letters give a detailed description of the life there.
Arrangement
Outgoing correspondence arranged chronologically. Incoming correspondence arranged alphabetically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Geology -- California.
Panama Canal.
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906
Geology --
Brazil
Hoover, Lou Henry, 1874-1944
Stanford University. Department of Geology
Lamoureux, Ajax J.
Brazil
.
Branner, Susan Kennedy.
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson
Jordan, David Starr
Drake, N. F.
Branner, John Casper, 1850-1922
United States. Geological Survey.
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Hoover, Herbert
Washington, Booker T.