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Cage 113
Carl William Sharsmith
Papers, 1937-1939
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| Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections Pullman, WA 99164-5610 USA (509) 335-6691 Inquiries |
Cage 113
Carl William Sharsmith
Papers, 1937-1939
The papers of Carl W. Sharsmith (b. 1903) were transferred to the Washington State University Library in 1975 from the W.S.U. Ownbey Herbarium. The papers were arranged and indexed by Robert Catale in February 1976 and further description was added by Lawrence Stark in June 1976.
BIOGRAPHY
Carl William Sharsmith was born in New York, New York in 1903. He studied botany at the University of California in the 1930s and received the Ph.D. in 1940. He held a position combining duties as herbarium curator and botany instructor at Washington State University from 1937 to 1939. From 1940 to 1946 he was with the University of Minnesota, and from 1950 onward at San Jose State College. His principal interest was in alpine vegetation.
Sharsmith's years at Washington State proved to be a frustrating time. He found himself required to teach many classes, while also attempting to complete a doctoral dissertation and administer a herbarium with a large backlog of work. He inadvertently became involved in a quarrel with the university administration when the University President cancelled planned field trips. He also felt a sense of isolation at Pullman, where he was far from the alpine vegetation which held his major interest. Moreover, the lack of cultural opportunities, especially performances of serious music, added to this feeling of isolation. After two years he left this position. Ironically, many of the problems which had vexed him, and which had also prompted his immediate predecessors to leave Washington State, were then alleviated by changes in the policies regarding research, teaching, and administration of the herbarium.
DESCRIPTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE PAPERS
Sharsmith's papers consist of his correspondence, mostly relative to work at the university herbarium, and his lists of the botanical specimens he collected while at Washington State University. The correspondence is arranged in a chronological sequence, with the botanical collection lists in a separate folder. An index to the correspondents has been compiled.
CONTAINER LIST
| Folder | Description | # of Items |
| Correspondence | ||
| 1 | 1937 | 40 |
| 2 | 1938 | 175 |
| 3 | 1939 | 140 |
| 4 | Lists of Specimens Collected, 1937-1939 | 13 p. |
| Additional material received Aug. 29, 1982 | ||
| Correspondence with C.C. Todd and E.O. Holland, 1939 | 3 | |
| Correspondence with J.W. Thompson, 1938 | 9 |
INDEX TO CORRESPONDENTS
| Correspondent | Folders |
| Alm, Carl G. | 3 |
| Adams, Ed | 1,3 |
| Allen, Jessie M. | 1,3 |
| Andres, Heinrich | 2 |
| Artman, C.E. | 3 |
| Arwidsson, Th. | 3 |
| Bacigalupi, Rimo | 2,3 |
| Ball, Carleton R. | 1 |
| Barkely, Fred A. | 2,3 |
| Barnard, Frank T. | 1 |
| Beath, O.R. | 1 |
| Benjamin, Curtis G. | 2 |
| Benson, Lyman | 1,2,3 |
| Betka, R.G. | 2 |
| Binns, John H. | 3 |
| Blake, Sidney F. | 1,2,3 |
| Bokforlags Aktiebolaget Thule | 2 |
| Boner, Luana | 3 |
| Bonestell and Co. | 2 |
| Brewrink, Captain P. | 1,2,3 |
| Bright, John | 1,2,3 |
| Caldwell, E.J. | 3 |
| Carter, Annetta | 2 |
| Chase, Agnes | 1,2 |
| Coleman, Edith A. | 3 |
| Constance, Lincoln | 1,2,3 |
| Daubenmire, Rexford F. | 2,3 |
| Davies, Una | 3 |
| Davis, Ray J. | 2,3 |
| Detling, Leroy E. | 1,3 |
| Epling, Carl C. | 1,2,3 |
| Ewan, Joseph | 2,3 |
| Eyerdam, Walter J. | 2 |
| Fassett, Norman C. | 2 |
| Freese, Carl R. | 3 |
| Ferris, Roxana S. | 3 |
| Fiker, Charles | 2,3 |
| Freeman, O.W. | 2 |
| Gierisch, Ralph K. | 2 |
| Gleason, H.A. | 3 |
| Gould, Frank W. | 3 |
| Green, W.J. | 2,3 |
| Greenman, J.M. | 2,3 |
| Hamblen, Frances G. | 2,3 |
| Harwell, C.A. | 2 |
| Hassler, Mildred | 2,3 |
| Helgeson, E.A. | 2 |
| Hermann, F.J. | 2,3 |
| Hermann, Elizabeth McKay | 2 |
| Hitchcock, C. Leo | 1,2,3 |
| Hoagland, Henry V. | 2 |
| Hoffman, W.V. | 2 |
| Holland, Ernest O. | 2,add. |
| Hoover, Robert F. | 3 |
| Howell, John Thomas | 1,2,3 |
| Hysslop, G. | 2 |
| Jeffers, D.S. | 3 |
| Johnson, A.M. | 2,3 |
| Johnston, Ivan M. | 2 |
| Keck, David D. | 2 |
| Killip, E.P. | 3 |
| Klastersky, Ivan | 2,3 |
| Kulin, Arthur | 3 |
| Lemmon, Paul E. | 2,3 |
| Leonard, Lewis Y. | 3 |
| Levan, Albert | 3 |
| Lewis, C. | 1 |
| Lewis, Clarence McK. | 1 |
| Looff, Ethel H. | 2 |
| Maguire, Bassett | 2,3 |
| Marie-Victorin, Frere | 1,2,3 |
| Mason, Herbert L. | 1,2,3 |
| Mathias, Mildred see Hassler, Mildred | |
| Maxon, W.R. | 2,3 |
| Merriam, W.B. | 2 |
| Merrill, George M. | 3 |
| Morrison, B.Y. | 2 |
| Moss, E.H. | 3 |
| Muencher, W.C. | 2,3 |
| Munz, Phillip H. | 2,3 |
| Nail, Jack R. | 1 |
| Nelson, Aven | 2,3 |
| Otis, Jean | 3 |
| Ownbey, Marion | 1,2,3 |
| Peck, Morton E. | 1,2,3 |
| Pennell, Francis W. | 2,3 |
| Pool, Raymond J. | 3 |
| Reed, Merton J. | 3 |
| Rossbach, George B. | 2,3 |
| Rouleau, Ernest | 2,3 |
| Samuelsson, G. | 2,3 |
| St. John, Harold | 2 |
| Scheffer, Theodore H. | 2,3 |
| Simmons, Jennie | 2 |
| Slipp, A.W. | 1 |
| Sloanaker, J.L. | 2,3 |
| Smith, Charles Piper | 2,3 |
| Smith, Harold | 2 |
| Smith, L.B. | 3 |
| Spencer Lens Co. | 2 |
| Stacey, J.W. | 2 |
| Stebbins, G. Ledyard Jr. | 1,2 |
| Strechert (G.E.) and Co. | 3 |
| Tees, Grace M. | 2 |
| Thompson, J.W. | add. |
| Todd, C.C. | add. |
| Townsend, Edward C. | 1 |
| Travis, Mildred T. | 3 |
| Weatherby, Charles A. | 2,3 |
| Weigle, W.G. | 1,2 |
| Wiegand, Kenneth M. | 1,2 |
| Weldert, Virginia | 3 |
| Westmore, Hal G. | 3 |
| Wherry, Edgar T. | 2 |
| Wilson, Carrie | 3 |
| Wittrock, G.L. | 3 |
| Wolf, C.B. | 3 |