Contents


Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Section 1: Correspondence

Section 2: Genealogy

Section 3: Miscellaneous

Section 4: Geological Notebooks

Section 5:Miscellaneous Notebooks and Diaries

Section 6: Pamphlets

Section 7:Manuscript and Scientific Papers

Benjamin Kendall Emerson Papers ca. 1837-1928

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by .

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2002

Collection Overview

Creator: Emerson, Benjamin Kendall, b. 1843
Title: Emerson Papers
Dates: Ca. 1837-1928
Abstract: The papers consist of personal and family correspondence; geological notebooks kept by Emerson during his geological survey of Massachusetts and other areas of New England; pamphlets and scientific papers relating to Emerson's Helix Chemica and his Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; essays and compositions written by Emerson when he was a student; and notes and letters concerning family genealogy.
Extent: 17 archives boxes(8.5 linear ft.)
Language: English.

Biographical Note

Benjamin Kendall Emerson was born on December 20, 1843, in Nashua, New Hampshire, the son of Benjamin F and Elizabeth (Kendall) Emerson. He prepared for college at Tilton Academy in Vermont. While there he heard of Edward Hitchcock and decided to study Geology under him at Amherst College. He went to Amherst but missed Hitchcock as he retired that year and Emerson heard only two of his lectures.

He graduated from Amherst in 1865 with honors and from there he went to Groton Academy to teach chemistry and zoology. In 1867 he went to Germany to study geology and received his Ph.D from Gottingen in 1870. He returned to Amherst where he stayed as Professor of Geology (later Professor Emeritus) for the remainder of his life. He died in Amherst on April 7, 1932.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The papers consist of personal and family correspondence; geological notebooks kept by Emerson during his geological survey of Massachusetts and other areas of New England; pamphlets and scientific papers relating to Emerson's Helix Chemica and his Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; essays and compositions written by Emerson when he was a student; and notes and letters concerning family genealogy.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into seven series:

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Section 1: Correspondence



B. K. Emerson - Incoming Correspondence

Box

Folder

1 1
A-B

2
C

3
D

4
E-BF Emerson

5
CE Emerson

6
"Caro" Emerson - Nellie Emerson

7
F-H

8
J-L

9
M-N

10
O-R

11
S

Box

Folder

2 1
T-Weeden

2
Weeks-Z

3
Unknown


B. K. Emerson - Outgoing Correspondence

Box

Folder

2 4
A - Annette Emerson (B. K. E.'s first wife) (Second wife was Anna Hawley Seelye Emerson)

5
Annette Emerson

6
"Ed" Emerson (brother)

7
Eliza Kendall Emerson (B. K. E.'s mother)

8
Eliza Kendall Emerson - letters as an undergraduate 1861-1865

9
Eliza Kendall Emerson - letters while in Germany 1867-1870

10
G - Z


Letters to Eliza Kendall (Emerson):

Box

Folder

2 11
A - G

12
Kendall

13
Kittridge - Z, Unknown


Letters from Eliza Kendall Emerson:

Box

Folder

3 1
A - Z


Letters to Benjamin Frothingham Emerson (B. K. E.'s father)

Box

Folder

3 2
A - Z

3
To C Edward Emerson; to Eliza Kendall Emerson


Letters to Edward Emerson:

Box

Folder

3 4
Samuel Emerson


Letters to Anna Seelye Emerson:

Box

Folder

3 5
Frances Emerson (cousin) about Windsor chair

6
Albert Schweitzer

6a
Henry S Emerson


Miscellaneous letters to and from strangers:

Box

Folder

3 7
Letters

7a
Correspondence between H James Clark and Robert B Tolles, 1859-1871,concerning the construction and specifications for a petrographic microscope eventually purchased by Emerson for Amherst College

Section 2: Genealogy



Letters to B. K. Emerson concerning genealogy

Box

Folder

3 8
A - G

9
H - Z


Letters to Dr Pauline Emerson Canfield from members of the Emerson family

Box

Folder

3 10
AJ Emerson -Isaac Emerson

11
James Emerson - Z


Letters from Dr Pauline Emerson Canfield

Box

Folder

3 12
to B. K. Emerson


Genealogical material concerning Emersons

Box

Folder

3 13
Newspaper clippings

14
A Criticism of 'The Ipswich Emersons' alias 'The Emersons in America' by PH Emerson (pamphlet)

15
The Ipswich Emersons (chart), The Haverhill Emersons (chart)

16
A Discourse at the Funeral of Rev Ralph Emerson, DD, May 22, 1863, by Prof Joseph Haven, DD 1863

17
2 notebooks of genealogical information

18
The Literary World , Boston Newspaper Issue devoted to Ralph Waldo Emerson 1880 May 22

19
Ralph Waldo Emerson, His Maternal Ancestors by David Greene Haskins, DD, Boston, Cupples, Upham and Co. 1886

Box

Folder

4 1
Notes on John Emerson of Ipswich and others

2
Notes on Daniel Emerson and others Also: pictures of Daniel Emerson

3
Letters to Edward H Fletcher on Emerson genealogy

4
Gallery proofs of a few pages of B. K. Emerson's genealogy

5
Tribute to Hollis, NH where Daniel Emerson preached

6
Manuscript on Emerson genealogy

7
Wills of James, Luke, Thomas, and John Emerson Deed of James Emerson

8
Genealogy of John Emerson of Topsfield

9
"The Emerson Family", compiled by John M Emerson with additions by B. K. Emerson, Nov 1, 1871 1871

10
List of deeds, lists of births - Cambridge

11
Genealogical chart

12
Genealogy - Fifth generation

13
Genealogy - Sixth generation

14
Genealogy - Seventh Generation

15
James of Mendon

16
The Emerson's and their Name

17
The Emerson Coats-of-Arms

18
An account of Joseph of Mendon written in 1837 by Rev Joseph Emerson 1837

19
Genealogical data

20
3 miscellaneous letters of genealogical interest

21
Miscellaneous information

Section 3: Miscellaneous


Box

Folder

5 1
Commencement and other programs 1861-1865

2
Eliza Kendall Emerson's account books and diaries

3
BF Emerson's inventory of his property with comment by B. K. E.

4
Account of train wreck on Lake Shore RR in which B. K. E. was injured

5
Programs-Junior Show, Dartmouth College, (CC Edward Emerson) 1869-1870

6
"The U P Mirror" B. K. E. editor; "Our Orator" (poem) 1860

7
Historical Sketch - first hundred years of Dunstable in Nashua Weekly Telegraph; Nov 1, 1873 1873

8
Eliza Kendall Emerson's penmanship book Phrenological analyses of Eliza Kendall (Emerson) and WPF Emerson

9
Phrenological analyses of Eliza Kendall (Emerson) and W P F Emerson

10
Spiritualist message from Kendall (Emerson?) to his wife Elizabeth

11
The Harriman Alaska Expedition - Notes, magazine articles, clippings 1899

12
Compositions of B. K. E. 1861

13
Essays and compositions of B. K. E. -Amherst College, including Valedictory Oration 1864-1865

14
Essays and composition of B. K. E. - Amherst College

15
Article on B. K. E. in McPhersons's Genealogical Record, Sept 1895 1895

16
Class of 1865 memorabilia

17
Class of 1865 memorabilia

18
Newspaper clippings - including B. K. E. obituaries

19
School catalogs

20
Material from student days in Germany 1867-1870

Box

Folder

6 1
"Difference in Batholithic Granites According to Depth of Erosion" by B. K. Emerson (from Bull Geol Soc Am v10, 1898) 1898

2
Map re stages to Glacial Lake Hitchcock

3
Miscellaneous programs

4
Geological map of New York, with MS note by B. K. E. 1844

5
Railway maps 1892

6
US Geological Survey maps of Massachusetts

7
Mementoes of International Geological Congress in Russia 1897

8
Applications for annuity - US Dept of the Interior

9
Certificates (in Latin) announcing B. K. E.'s graduation in Göttingen Germany PhD 1870

10
"Expos Pedagogique", by Countess Olga de Rodzianko, written in memory of BKE 1953

11
Deeds Emerson family Nashua, NH

12
Diary of B. K. E. aged 16 1860

13
Davis' Catalogue of Apparatus and Experiments 1838

14
The Laws of Civilization, An Address by Rev Roswell D Hitchcock DD 1860

15
Catalogue of Tourmaline gems

16
Drawings by B. K. E. 1873

17
Compositions and diaries 1858

18
Account books 1858

19
Lecture notes in Philosophy

20
Notes on Phrenological diagnosis of B. K. E. by JH Seely

21
Materials from trip to Japan;


Case of gram weights

22
Revised typescript, Introduction to Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island 2pp

23
Draft of monograph on tonalite; some typescript , ms+ revised printed copy, 49 pp plus envelope

24
15 photographs and 2 reproductions of photographs of rocks and rock formations; some not labeled and possibly not Emerson's; tracings of fossil tracks

Section 4: Geological Notebooks


Box

Folder

7 1
Book 1 - Crystalline Rocks - Blandford, Goshen, Chesterfield, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Pelham


Book 2 (photocopy) - Connecticut, Western Crystallines, Granby, Meriden Located in Biographical file [Original located at the Fields Records Library, US Geological Survey, Denver, Colo - August 1, 2000]


Book 3 - Connecticut River Sandstone

2
Book 6 - Bernardston


Book 7 Geological Notes, 1877, No 1, Chesterfield, Worthington, Cummington, Williamsburg, Huntington, West-Hampton 1877

3
Book 8 Geological Notes, 1877, No 2 Chesterfield, Worthington, Goshen, Huntington, West Hampton, Williamsburg, Peru 1877


Book 9 Northampton, Hatfield, Whately, Deerfield 1878


Book 10 - Northampton, Easthampton, Hatfield, Amherst Post Tertiary 1878-1879

4
Book 11 - Pelham, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown 1880


Book 12 - Greenfield, Gill, Bernardston, Whately, Deerfield, Post Tertiary 1880


Book 13 - Erving, Deerfield, Northfield, Bernardston, Sunderland, Montague, Post Tertiary 1880

5
Book 14 - South Hadley, Hadley, Shutesbury, Granby, Leverett, Pelham, Amherst, Post Tertiary 1880-1881


Book 17 - Pelham, Northfield, Gill, Bernardston, Montague, Whately, Leverett, Belchertown, Warwick, Granby, Mostly Crystalline rocks, little Post Tertiary 1882

6
Book 19- Bernardston Series, South Vernon, W Northfield, Bernardston 1882


Book 23 Shutesbury, Granby, South Hadley, Leverett, Amherst, Crystalline


Book 24 - Granby, South Hadley, Sunderland, Leverett 1885


Book 25 - Sunderland, Mt Toby


Book 26 - Chicopee, Holyoke, Longmeadow, W Springfield, Ludlow, Montague, Enfield, Deerfield, South Hadley, Sunderland, Leverett, Springfield, Wilbraham, Greenfield, Gill, Bernardston, Westfield

7
Book 28 - Amherst, Leverett, Shutesbury


Book 29 - Marlboro, Ware, Worcester


Book 30 - Bernardston, Leyden, Greenfield, Deerfield, Rowe, Shelburne Falls, Heath, Charlemont, Ashfield, Plainfield, Hatfield, Northampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg

8
Book 31 - Worcester, Winchendon, Fitchburg


Book 32 - Pelham, Wilbraham, Prescott, Enfield, Greenwich, Belchertown, New Salem, Shutesbury, Groton, Conn, Palmer, Leverett, Ware, Worcester Co Crystalline, little Post Tertiary 1884


Book 32 (2) - Webster, Marlboro, Worcester, and Blackstone


Book 33 - Worcester, Marlboro, Webster, Blackstone, Franklin


Book 35 - Ware, Brookfield, Palmer, Groton, Fitchburg

Box

Folder

8 1
Book 3 - Winchendon


Book 37 - May 12, 1891


Book 38 - Berkshire, Sandisfield


Book 39 - Massachusetts & Rhode Island

2
Book 40 - Marlboro, Webster, Westboro, Crafton


Book 41 - Berkshire, Becket, Sandisfield, Pittsfield


Book 42 - Winchester, Nitt, Becket

3
Book 45 - Barre


Book 52 - Blackstone

4
Book 60 - Belchertown


Book 61 - Palmer

5
Book 62 - Winchendon


Book 65 - Marlboro

6
Book 68 - Groton


Book 70 - Warwick

7
Book 80 - Becket


Book 81 - Sandisfield

Box

Folder

9 1
Book 82 - Northampton


Book 83 - Greenfield

2
Book 84 - Keene


Book 85 - Peterboro

3
Book 87 - Monadnock


Book 90 - Milford

4
Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Framingham, 1908; A Description of Microscopic Sections of Rocks and Minerals , 1878 1878-1908

5
Sketch book No 1; loose-leaf field notebook

Section 5:Miscellaneous Notebooks and Diaries


Box

Folder

9 6
Cash Account book; Notes on lectures by Professor Snell

7
Diary, 1870; language study book - German into French; diary, 1875 1870-1902

8
Geological record of receipts and additions to the Amherst College collection, with a history of the collection from 1870 1877-1881

9
Geological exchange book

Box

Folder

10 1
Diary, 1871 4 miscellaneous notebooks

2
3 miscellaneous notebooks

Section 6: Pamphlets


Box

Folder

10 3
Pan-American Geologist , Vol XXXVII, No. 1, Feb 1922, "Emerson Geological Loving Cup" by Charles Keyes, p 41; Reprint of same 1922

4
Chemical Reviews , Vol 5, No 2, June 1928, "The Helix Chemica" 1928

5
Reprinted from Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol 54, No 6, Sept 1919 "William Bullock Clark (1860-1917)" (2 copies) 1919

6
Reprinted from Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , Vol LVI, 1917, "Recurrent Tetrahedral Deformations and Intercontinental Torsions" 2 copies 1917

7
Reprinted from the American Journal of Science , Vol XLI, "Descriptions of Large Cylinders of Scoriaceous Diabase in the Normal Holyoke Diabase", 3 copies

8
Reprinted from the American Journal of Science , Vol XLIII, Sept 1916, Art XXIV, "Mineralogical Notes" (2 copies) 1916

9
American Journal of Science , Vol XL, No 236, Aug, 1915 Art XIX, "Northfieldite, Pegmatite, and Pegmatite Schist", p 212 (2 copies) 1915

10
Reprinted from Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 22, pp 681-686, pls 30-1, Dec 7, 1911, Cirques and Rock-Cut Terraces of Mt Toby 1911

11
Reprinted from Popular Science Monthly , Dec 1911, "Adamas: or the Symmetries of Isometric Crystals", 3 copies 1911

12
Reprinted from Science , NS, Vol XXXIV, No 880, Pp 640-52, Nov 10, 1911, "Concerning a New Arrangement of the Elements on a Helix, and the Relationships which may be Usefully Expressed Thereon" 1911

13
Reprinted from the American Chemical Journal , Vol XLV, No2, Feb 1911, "Helix Chemica" 1911

14
The Mineral Collector , Vol VII, No 5, July, 1900, "Mortised Rocks of Tyringham, Mass." 1900

15
Dept of the Interior, US Geological Survey, Bulletin 597, Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Washington, 1917, 2 copies 1917

16
Reprint from Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 44, pp 317-25, 1933, "Memorial of Benjamin Kendall Emerson" by Frederick B Loomis 1933

17
A Sketch of the Life and a Selection of the Writings of Mary Annette Hopkins Emerson , privately printed, 1899 1899


Bound volume of pamphlets (not boxed):

Box

Folder

NB 1
Die Liasmulde von Markoldendorf bei Einbeck . Inaugural Dissertation, Universitt Gttingen. Berlin, 1870 66 pages 1870

2
From Hampshire County (dated 1879 in pencil), Chapter III "Topography-Geological features - Crystalline Rocks - Gneiss - Feldspather Mica Schist - Hornblende Schist - Hydro-Mica Schist - Calciferous Mica Schist - Fibrolite Gneiss and Schist - Eruptive Rocks of the Older Series - Granite Syenite - Mineral Veins -The Trias - Glacial Period - Flood Period - The Connecticut Lake (pp 10-21) 1879

3
Appendix III (dated in 1879 pencil), "On the Geology of Frobisher Bay and Field Bay: A description of the Geological Collections Made by CF Hall on His First Voyage, 1860-62" 1879

4
Article (source ?) Article XXXII, "On a Great Dyke of Foyaite or Eleolite-syenite, Cutting the Hudson River Shale in Northwestern New Jersey" (pp 376-80)

5
AAAS XXIII, Art XLI - "On the Dykes of Micaceous Diabase Penetrating the Bed of Zinc Ore at Franklin Furnace, Sussex County, New Jersey" (pp 376-80)

6
Brief notices of papers read before the Geological Section of the American Association Pp 319-24 of "Geology and Natural History" (?) BKE on "Holyoke Trap Range" and "Bernardston Devonian, in the Connecticut Valley"

7
Paper on B. K. E. in Bulletin of the Geological Society , Vol I, 1890: "Porphyritic and Gneisold Granites (pp 559-61) 1890

8
American Journal of Science , Vol XL, October 1890: "Art XXV: A Description of the 'Bernardston Series' of Metamorphic Upper Devonian Rocks" (pp 263-275) 1890

9
American Journal of Science , Vol XL, Nov 1890: "A Description of the 'Bernardston Series' of Metamorphic Upper Devonian Rocks" (pp 362-374) 1890

10
American Journal of Science , Vol XXIV, Nov 1882: "The Deerfield Dyke and Its Mineral" (pp 195-202) 1882

11
American Journal of Science , Vol XXIV, Oct 1882: "Art XXX - "The Deerfield Dyke and Its Minerals" (pp 270-278) 1882

12
American Journal of Science , Vol XXIV, Nov 1882: "Art XXXIX - "The Deerfield Dyke and Its Mineral" (pp 349-359) (This article serves as a conclusion of the previous article) 1882

13
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 7, 1895: "Geology of Old Hampshire County, in Massachusetts Abstracts on the 'The Scystalline Rocks', 'The Trias' and 'The Quaternary Deposits' (pp 5-6) 1895

14
Science , Nov 13, 1896: BKE with others in "Honors to James Hall of Buffalo" (pp 697-717) 1896

15
Science , Nov 13, 1896: BKE with others in "Honors to James Hall of Buffalo" (pp 697-717) Vol XLV, 1896) 1896

16
Bulletin of the United States Department of the Interior , Geological Survey No 126, 1895: "A Mineralogical Lexicon of Franklin, Hampshire and Hamden Counties, Massachusetts (180 pp) 1895

17
The Outlook , Vol 57, No 11, Nov 13, 1897: "Personal Impressions of Fridtjof Nensen" (pp 658-61) 1897

18
Bulletin of the Geological Society of Americ a, Vol 10, 1898: "Difference in Batholithic Granites According to Depth of Erosion" (abstract, 1pg) 1898

19
Bulletin of the United States Department of the Interior , Geological Survey" No 159, 1899: "The Geology of Eastern Berkshire County, Massachusetts" (139 pp) 1899

20
American Journal of Science , Vol X, July 1900: "Carboniferous Boulders from India" (pp 57-8) Also includes brief paragraph on "New Bivalve from the Connecticut River Trials" 1900

21
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 11, March 1900: Annual address by President (BKE) at meeting Dec 27, 1899 (pp 61-96) - "Tetrahedral Earth and the Zone of the Continental Seas" 1900

22
The American Geologist , Vol XXVI, Nov 1900: "Some Curious Matters Illustrative of Geological Phenomena" (pp 312-315) 1900

23
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol2, April 1891: "On the Triassic of Massachusetts" (pp 451-456) 1891

24
The American Journal of Science , Vol XLIII, Feb 1892: "Proofs that the Holyoke and Deerfield Trap Sheets are Contemporaneous Flows and Not Later Intrusions" (pp 146-148) 1892

25
The American Journal of Science , Vol XIV, Sept 1902: "Art XXVIII - Note on Corundum and a Graphitic Essonite from Berkamsted, Connecticut" (pp 234-237) 1902

26
The Journal of Geology , Vol X, No 5, July - August 1902: "Holyokeite, a Purely Feldspathic Diabase from the Trias of Massachusetts" (pp 508-512) 1902

27
The American Geologist , Vol XXX, August 1902: "Two Cases of Metamorphosis Without Crushing" (pp 73-76) 1902

28
Extract for the Twelfth Annual Report of the State geologist for 1892, printed by James B Lyon in Albany 1893: "Notes upon Two Boulders of a Very Basic Eruptive Rock from the West Shore of Canandaigua Lake; and their Contact Phenomena upon the Trenton Limestone" (7 pp) 1892

29
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 8, Feb 1897: "Diabase Pitchstone and Mud Enclosures of the Triassic Trap of New England" (pp 59-86, pls 3-9) 1897

30
From Vol IV of "Alaska" - The Results of the Harriman Alaska Expedition: "General Geology - Notes on the Stratigraphy and Igneous Rocks" (56 pp)

31
The American Journal of Science , Vol XVII, May 1904: "On Stegomus Longipes, A New Reptile from the Triassic Sandstones of the Connecticut Valley" (with FB Loomis - pp372-382 pls plate) 1904

32
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol 16, pp 91-130, plates 24-32: "Plumose Diabase and Palagonite from "The Holyoke Trap Sheet" 1905 March

33
Galley of Science article, stamped "Revised Proof New era Printing Nov. 8, 1905: "Structural and Field Geology for Students in Pure and Applied Science; by James Geikie and others. (book review by BKE) 1905

34
American Geologist , Feb 1905: "Notes on Some Rocks and Minerals form North Greenland and Frobisher Bay" (pp 94-104, Vol XXXV) 1905

35
Bulletin of the United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey " No 311, 1907: "The Green Schists and Associated Granites and Porphyries of Rhode Island" (71 pp done with Joseph H Perry) 1907

36
Letter to the editor of Science , November 21, 1907 1907

37
Popular Science Monthly , Dec 1909: "Medieval Creation Myths" (pp 610-613) 1909

38
Single 17 x 20" sheet on "Outlines of Geology of the Green Mountain Region in Massachusetts"

39
Single 17 x 20" sheet entitled "The Hawley Sheet - Descriptive Text" (possibly page 2 of previous item)

Section 7:Manuscript and Scientific Papers


Box



11-17
Mostly notes and manuscripts of Helix Chemica and Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island