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Cage 87
Ferman Layton Pickett
Papers, ca. 1912-ca. 1938

The papers of Ferman L. Pickett (1881-1940), consisting of photographs and botanical notebooks, were acquired by the Washington State University Library in two installments. The first, the negatives of Pickett’s photographs, came to the Library in 1960. As the negatives were of nitrate film base, a selection was made and copies of about 200 of the approximately 1200 photographs were printed prior to destruction of negatives. In 1975 the WSU Ownbey Hrbarium transferred Pickett’s print file, along with certain of his botanical notes. As these prints contained most of the photographs lost in the destruction of the nitrate negatives, the photograph collection was largely restored to completeness. The papers were processed in July 1976 by Lawrence Stark.

BIOGRAPHY

Ferman Layton Pickett (1881-1940) was a professor of botany at Washington State University from 1914 until his death. He came from Indiana, his native state, shortly after receiving his Ph. D. at Indiana University. His major botanical interests were mosses and in plant physiology. He served as Chairman of the Botany Department and as Dean of the Graduate School for many years. Although his colleagues criticized him for his shortcomings as a botanist, his department educated several significant botanical scientists and sponsored many important research projects. His most important achievement may have been securing the herbarium of Wilhelm N. Suksdorf for the University (see    Northwest Botanical Manuscripts: An Indexed Register, Pullman, 1976). He was also a skilled photographer and one of the few in the 1920’s who photographed a large number of natural features-geological formations, vegetations, rivers, lakes, and mountains.

DESCRIPTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE PAPERS

The papers consists of two series: Pickett’s photographs and his botanical notes. Many of the photographs are of vegetation, both individual specimens and habitats. Others stress the natural features of Washington and Oregon, especially Eastern Washington. Sequences trace several rivers over hundreds of miles. Others record a number of lakes, coulees and mountains. The photographs are arranged into two sub-series. The first consists of Pickett’s prints, arranged in an alphabetical subject system he devised. The second consists of the copies made from the nitrate negatives, and contains some prints of photographs not included in the first sub-series; these represent materials apparently lost prior to transfer of the photographs to the Library. A second series, Pickett’s botanical notes, consist of field and accession notebooks for his personal herbarium, now among the collections of the Ownbey Herbarium at Washington State University.

SERIES LIST

Series                                             Container

Series 1: Photographs

     Subseries 1.1: Print file                        1-4

     Subseries 1.2: Selection from the negatives       5

Series 2: Botanical Notes                              6

CONTAINER LIST

Box	Folder	Description	# of Items
Series 1: Photographs
Subseries 1.1: Print File
1	1	Almota Canyon	2
		Animals
	2	Domestic (s.a. [see also] Lakes, misc.)	10
	3	Wild	39
	4	Wild	55
		Angiosperms
	5	Amaryllidacae	3
	6	Araceae	9
	7	Araliaceae	2
	8	Ascelepiadaceae	11
	9	Begoniaceae	2
	10	Betulaceae	3
	11	Cactaceae	15
	12	Campanulaceae	4
	13	Capparidaceae	4
	14	Caprifoliaceae	2
	15	Caryophyllaceae	5
	16	Chenopodiaceae	3
	17	Commulinaceae	2
	18	Compositeae	28
	19	Compositeae	30
	20	Convolvulaceae	4
	21	Cornaceae	5
	22	Crassulaceae	1
	23	Cruciferae	12
	24	Dicotyledones, misc.	12
	25	Dipsaceae	5
	26	Ericaceae	18
	27	Euphoribiaceae	3
	28	Gentainaceae	12
	29	Gramineae	22
	30	Hydrophyllaceae	1
	31	Iridaceae	18
	32	Leguminosae	41
	33	Liliaceae	36
	34	Liliaceae	9
	35	Malvaceae	25
	36	Menthaceae	25
	37	Monocots, misc.	2
	38	Nyctaginaceae	4
	39	Nymphaceae	26
	40	Oleaceae	3
	41	Onagraceae	3
	42	Orchidaceae	29
	43	Orobanchaceae	2
	44	Polemoniaceae	4
	45	Polygonaceae	16
	46	Portulacaceae	2
	47	Primulaceae	2
	48	Ranunculaceae	32
	49	Rosaceae	22
	50	Rosaceae	37
	51	Rutaceae	3
	52	Salicaceae	21
	53	Sapindaceae	5
	54	Sarraceniaceae	1
	55	Saxifragaceae	15
	56	Scrophulariaceae	38
	57	Scrophulariaceae	28
	58	Solonaceae	1
	59	Umbellifererae	3
	60	Ulmaceae	6
	61	Violaceae	2
2	62	Bellingham, Washington	3
	63	Birds	49
	64	Blewett Pass	19
		California
	65	Pacific Ocean	2
	66	Timber	14
	67	Charts	2
	68	Chinook Pass (s.a. Mt. Rainer)	36
	69	Churches	2
	70	Cities	12
	71	Clouds (s.a. Chinook Pass, Sunrise/Sunset)	39
	72	Clouds	34
	73	U.S.S. Constitution	5
	74	Copies of Old Drawings and Prints	40
	75	Coulees and Coulee Country-Eastern Washington, near Palouse Falls	18
	76	Coulees and Scab-lands, Eastern Washington	14
	77	Creeks-Pataha	3
	78	Crystals, Para-dischloro-benzene	50
	79	DeSmet Mission, North Idaho	5
	80	Dune Vegetation	21
	81	Ecology (s.a. Dune Vegetation, Prairie, Erosion)	2
	82	Epworth League	6
	83	Epworth Institute (Twanoh Park?)	42
	84	Equisetum	2
	85	Erosion	4
	86	Experiments	3
	87	Ferns	35
	88	Fish	6
		Forest
	89	Angiosperm Type	19
	90	Angiosperm Type	51
	91	Gymnosperm, Alpine	4
	92	Gymnosperm, East of the Cascades (s.a. Gymnosperms, Grand Ronde)	14
	93	Gymnosperm, Oregon (s.a. Gymnosperms, Grand Ronde)	14
	94	Gymnosperms, Western Washington	28
	95	Fort Simcoe	1
	96	Frost	2
	97	Fungi	23
	98	Gardens, Ornamental	9
	99	Geological Formations (s.a. Grand Coulee, Coulees, Snake River)	2
	100	Glaciers (s.a. Mountains, Mt. Rainer, Glacier Peak)	1
		Grand Coulee
	101	General (s.a. Rivers-Columbia-Grand Coulee, Coulees)	26
	102	Dry Falls	13
	103	Steamboat Rock	8
	104	Grand Coulee Dam	39
	105	Grand Ronde and Neighboring Country	37
	106	Grand Ronde and Neighboring Country (forests)	5
		Gymnosperms
	107	Pinaceae (s.a. Forests-Gymnosperms, Mt. Rainer, Washington-Yakima Co., Clallam Co., Jefferrson Co., Yakima River)	33
	108	Pinacea (s.a. Forests)	37
	109	Taxaceae	1
3	110	Historical Places (s.a. DeSmet Mission, Oregon)	31
	111	Idaho, Northern (s.a. Lakes, Lewiston, Mountains-Thatuna Hills, Rivers-Clearwater)	47
	112	Idaho (s.a. Forests, Ferns)	16
	113	Indiana (s.a. Erosion, Ferns, Forests)	11
	114	Indians	12
	115	Irritability	2
	116	Kansas City	7
		Lakes
	117	Alta Lake	10
	118	Bonnie Lake	7
	119	Crater Lake	1
	120	Chelan Lake	31
	121	Kahlotus Lake	16
	122	Miscellaneous	48
	123	Moses Lake (both modern and geologic; s.a. Douglas Co., Franklin Co.)	35
	124	Rock Lake	23
	125	Leaves	3
	126	Lewiston and Highway Grade	6
	127	Lumbering, destructive	1
	128	Microscopes	12
	129	Mississippi (s.a. Animals)	1
	130	Monuments	10
	131	Mosses	69
		Mountains
	132	Adams (s.a. Washington-Yakima Co.)	9
	133	Baker	3
	134	Glacier Peak (s.a. Washington-Snohomish Co.)	53
	135	Kamiak Butte	31
	136	Rainier, Misc.	10
	137	Rainier, from Chinook Pass-the Peak	14
	138	Rainier, from Chinook Pass-Winter	1
	139	Rainier, from Chinook Pass-General	22
	140	Rainier, from Yakima Park and Sunrise Lodge	12
	141	Steptoe Butte	10
	142	Thatuna Hills	5
	143	Naches Valley	1
	144	North Dakota	1
	145	Oregon (s.a. Lakes-Crater, Forests-gymnosperm, Ferns, Forest-Angiosperm, Grand Ronde)	39
	146	Palebotany	3
	147	Palouse Country-Hills (s.a. Washington-Whitman County)	1
	148	People-Miscellaneous	7
		Photomicrographs
	149	General	3
	150	Algae	25
	151	Ferns	18
	152	Fungi	6
	153	Leaves	42
	154	Misc.	5
	155	Mitosis	1
	156	Mosses	1
	157	Parasites	2
	158	Roots	16
	159	Stems-dicots	32
	160	Stems-gymnosperms	11
	161	Stems-monocots	8
	162	Stems-pteridophytes	16
	163	Portraits	1
4	164	Prairies	5
	165	Pullman, Washington	1
	166	Reforestation	2
		Rivers
	167	General	1
	168	Clearwater	26
	169	Columbia, General	34
	170	Columbia, Kettle Falls	4
	171	Columbia, Grand Coulee	2
	172	Columbia, Yakima	3
	173	Columbia, Wallula	16
	174	Columbia, Bingen	30
	175	Columbia, Columbia River Highway	4
	176	Palouse, Above Colfax	1
	177	Palouse, Below Colfax	9
	178	Palouse, Middle and Upper Falls	9
	179	Palouse, Big Falls	18
	180	Palouse, Below Big Falls	5
	181	Snake, Above Lewiston	66
	182	Snake, Below Lewiston	14
	183	Snake, Granite Point Area	27
	184	Snake, Geological Formations	12
	185	Snake, Near Highway with Bridge	6
	186	Snake, Near Mouth	15
	187	Yakima
	188	Seedlings	22
	189	Seeds	3
	190	Snow	66
		State College of Washington
	191	Botanical Staff	8
	192	Buildings	19
	193	Campus Views	14
	194	Class Activities	15
	195	Silver Lake	3
	196	Stems, Modified	23
	197	South Dakota	16
	198	Sunrise/Sunset (s.a. Clouds)	3
	199	Teratology, angiosperms	53
	200	Trees	20
	201	Vegetative Propagation	2
		Washington
	202	Eastern-Misc.	8
	203	Asotin County	1
	204	Clallam County (s.a. Monuments)	16
	205	Columbia County (s.a. Creeks, Forests-gymnosperm)	6
	206	Douglas County (s.a. Moses Lake, Grand Coulee, Coulees)	7
	207	Ferry County (s.a. Forest-angiosperm, Lakes)	14
	208	Franklin County (s.a. Dune vegetation)	1
	209	Garfield County	1
	210	Grant County	1
	211	King County (s.a. Erosion)	1
	212	Kitsap County (s.a. Ferns, Forest-angiosperm)	4
	213	Kittitas County	1
	214	Klickitat County (s.a. Dune vegetation, Ferns, Gardens)	2
	215	Pend Oreille County (s.a. Forest-angiosperm, Forest-gymnosperm)	1
	216	Skagit County	2
	217	Snohomish County (s.a. Forest-alpine, Forest-gymnosperm, Mountains-Glacier Peak)	16
	218	Spokane County	3
	219	Stevens County	9
	220	Walla Walla County (s.a. Dune vegetation, Forest-angiosperm, Monuments)	10
	221	Whitman County, Water ways	13
	222	Whitman County, Palouse Hills	20
	223	Whitman County, Breaks of the Snake	4
	224	Yakima County (s.a. Forest-angiosperm, Fort Simcoe, Gardens, Mountains-Adams, Naches Valley)	5
	225	Waves	8
	226	Weeds	8
	227	Winter	4
	228	Yakima Park	2
	229	Young Men’s Christian Association	2
	230	Zea	1
	231	Strays and Unidentified	8
5	232-282	Subseries 1.2: Selections from the negatives, stressing photographs of the campus of Washington State University	approx. 200
Series 2: Botanical Notes
6	283	Moss descriptions	approx. 50
	284	Moss accessions, specimen numbers 1-855, notebook	1
	285	Moss accessions, specimen numbers 1-164, notebook	1
	286	Moss accessions, specimen numbers 165-405, notebook	approx. 140
	287	Lichen accessions, specimen numbers 1-114, notebook	1
	288	Vascular Plants, specimen numbers 1-1100, notebook	1
	289	Vascular Plants, specimen numbers 1100-1699, notebook	1
	290	Moss and Lichen Lists, notecards and loose papers, Includes some correspondence which includes lists	approx. 65
7		Moss notecards	approx. 500+