Records of the American Fern Society
Scope and Contents
Records consist of constitutions, annual reports, minutes, incoming and outgoing correspondence of officers, general correspondence, membership lists, and financial records. Specific items include Treasurer's reports for numerous years, budget details, administrative decisions made on Council Orders, Curator's reports, lists of library reference questions, and billing and production issues concerning The American Fern Journal.
Dates
- 1893-1990
Creator
- American Fern Society (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.
Conditions Governing Use
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.
Biographical / Historical
The American Fern Society was organized in 1893 as the Linnaean Fern Chapter of the Agassiz Association. The group published the journal Linnaean Fern Bulletin, which contained original research, field notes, various discoveries, and Society news. Most members were not professional botanists, but rather amateurs with mutual interests. By mid-1905 the Society voted to create an independent group and became the American Fern Society, which received incorporation in 1936.
By 1910, the AFS established The American Fern Journal and ceased publication of the Linnaean Fern Bulletin in 1912. In time, because The American Fern Journal published more scientific papers the Society began to release a newsletter called Fiddlehead Forum to inform members of general Society news, field trip reports, and horticultural issues. In 1979, the Society began to publish an occasional monograph series called Pteridologia that contained even more scientific information due to the increase in membership by professional botanists.
In addition to the availability of professional and amateur papers, the Society provides an exchange program of fern spores that are provided to both botanical scholars and horticulturists.
Extent
30.75 Linear Inches (6 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is organized into eleven series by subject or activity within annual segments:
- Series 1: 1890-1899.
- Series 2: 1900-1910.
- Series 3: 1911-1920.
- Series 4: 1921-1930.
- Series 5: 1931-1940.
- Series 6: 1941-1950.
- Series 7: 1951-1960.
- Series 8: 1961-1970.
- Series 9: 1971-1980.
- Series 10: 1981-1990.
- Series 11: Library Correspondence. 1940-1946.
Physical Location
Archives, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden.
Other Finding Aids
Please note that the legacy finding guide is outdated and may contain incorrect information.
Legacy finding guide
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The records of the American Fern Society were accessioned on 25 September 1980 [Accession # 239] by Scott Mori, and on 20 June 1989 [Accession # 89-12], by John Mickel. One volume, Progress in Pteridologia was received in 1993 [Accession # 93-2].
Processing Information
Processed July 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.
Creator
- American Fern Society (Organization)
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Kathleene Konkle
- Date
- July 2005
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Processed July 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.
Repository Details
Part of the The Archives of the New York Botanical Garden Repository
New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Library
2900 Southern Boulevard
Bronx NY 10458 United States
ssinon@nybg.org