Benjamin Kendall Emerson Papers ca. 1837-1928
General International Standard for Archival Description
Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarah Sorscher. 2002-07-25
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Emerson Papers
Emerson, Benjamin Kendall, b. 1843
Biographical History for: Emerson Papers
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.
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.
Geologists--Massachusetts--Amherst.
lcsh
Geology--Study and teaching--Massachusetts--Amherst.
Emerson, Benjamin Kendall, b. 1843.
lcnaf
Amherst College--Faculty.
Pratt Museum of Natural History.
Amherst College. Class of 1865. Emerson.
aat
series
Section 1: Correspondence
B. K. Emerson - Incoming Correspondence
A-B
E-BF Emerson
CE Emerson
"Caro" Emerson - Nellie Emerson
F-H
J-L
M-N
O-R
T-Weeden
Weeks-Z
Unknown
B. K. Emerson - Outgoing Correspondence
A - Annette Emerson (B. K. E.'s first wife) (Second wife was Anna Hawley Seelye Emerson)
Annette Emerson
"Ed" Emerson (brother)
Eliza Kendall Emerson (B. K. E.'s mother)
Eliza Kendall Emerson - letters as an undergraduate 1861-1865
Eliza Kendall Emerson - letters while in Germany 1867-1870
G - Z
Letters to Eliza Kendall (Emerson):
A - G
Kendall
Kittridge - Z, Unknown
Letters from Eliza Kendall Emerson:
A - Z
Letters to Benjamin Frothingham Emerson (B. K. E.'s father)
To C Edward Emerson; to Eliza Kendall Emerson
Letters to Edward Emerson:
Samuel Emerson
Letters to Anna Seelye Emerson:
Frances Emerson (cousin) about Windsor chair
Albert Schweitzer
Henry S Emerson
Miscellaneous letters to and from strangers:
Letters
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
H - Z
Letters to Dr Pauline Emerson Canfield from members of the Emerson family
AJ Emerson -Isaac Emerson
James Emerson - Z
Letters from Dr Pauline Emerson Canfield
to B. K. Emerson
Genealogical material concerning Emersons
Newspaper clippings
A Criticism of 'The Ipswich Emersons' alias 'The Emersons in America' by PH Emerson (pamphlet)
The Ipswich Emersons (chart), The Haverhill Emersons (chart)
A Discourse at the Funeral of Rev Ralph Emerson, DD, May 22, 1863, by Prof Joseph Haven, DD 1863
2 notebooks of genealogical information
The Literary World , Boston Newspaper Issue devoted to Ralph Waldo Emerson 1880 May 22
Ralph Waldo Emerson, His Maternal Ancestors by David Greene Haskins, DD, Boston, Cupples, Upham and Co. 1886
Notes on John Emerson of Ipswich and others
Notes on Daniel Emerson and others Also: pictures of Daniel Emerson
Letters to Edward H Fletcher on Emerson genealogy
Gallery proofs of a few pages of B. K. Emerson's genealogy
Tribute to Hollis, NH where Daniel Emerson preached
Manuscript on Emerson genealogy
Wills of James, Luke, Thomas, and John Emerson Deed of James Emerson
Genealogy of John Emerson of Topsfield
"The Emerson Family", compiled by John M Emerson with additions by B. K. Emerson, Nov 1, 1871 1871
List of deeds, lists of births - Cambridge
Genealogical chart
Genealogy - Fifth generation
Genealogy - Sixth generation
Genealogy - Seventh Generation
James of Mendon
The Emerson's and their Name
The Emerson Coats-of-Arms
An account of Joseph of Mendon written in 1837 by Rev Joseph Emerson 1837
Genealogical data
3 miscellaneous letters of genealogical interest
Miscellaneous information
Section 3: Miscellaneous
Commencement and other programs 1861-1865
Eliza Kendall Emerson's account books and diaries
BF Emerson's inventory of his property with comment by B. K. E.
Account of train wreck on Lake Shore RR in which B. K. E. was injured
Programs-Junior Show, Dartmouth College, (CC Edward Emerson) 1869-1870
"The U P Mirror" B. K. E. editor; "Our Orator" (poem) 1860
Historical Sketch - first hundred years of Dunstable in Nashua Weekly Telegraph; Nov 1, 1873 1873
Eliza Kendall Emerson's penmanship book Phrenological analyses of Eliza Kendall (Emerson) and WPF Emerson
Phrenological analyses of Eliza Kendall (Emerson) and W P F Emerson
Spiritualist message from Kendall (Emerson?) to his wife Elizabeth
The Harriman Alaska Expedition - Notes, magazine articles, clippings 1899
Compositions of B. K. E. 1861
Essays and compositions of B. K. E. -Amherst College, including Valedictory Oration 1864-1865
Essays and composition of B. K. E. - Amherst College
Article on B. K. E. in McPhersons's Genealogical Record, Sept 1895 1895
Class of 1865 memorabilia
Newspaper clippings - including B. K. E. obituaries
School catalogs
Material from student days in Germany 1867-1870
"Difference in Batholithic Granites According to Depth of Erosion" by B. K. Emerson (from Bull Geol Soc Am v10, 1898) 1898
Map re stages to Glacial Lake Hitchcock
Miscellaneous programs
Geological map of New York, with MS note by B. K. E. 1844
Railway maps 1892
US Geological Survey maps of Massachusetts
Mementoes of International Geological Congress in Russia 1897
Applications for annuity - US Dept of the Interior
Certificates (in Latin) announcing B. K. E.'s graduation in Göttingen Germany PhD 1870
"Expos Pedagogique", by Countess Olga de Rodzianko, written in memory of BKE 1953
Deeds Emerson family Nashua, NH
Diary of B. K. E. aged 16 1860
Davis' Catalogue of Apparatus and Experiments 1838
The Laws of Civilization, An Address by Rev Roswell D Hitchcock DD 1860
Catalogue of Tourmaline gems
Drawings by B. K. E. 1873
Compositions and diaries 1858
Account books 1858
Lecture notes in Philosophy
Notes on Phrenological diagnosis of B. K. E. by JH Seely
Materials from trip to Japan;
Case of gram weights
Revised typescript, Introduction to Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island 2pp
Draft of monograph on tonalite; some typescript , ms+ revised printed copy, 49 pp plus envelope
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
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
Book 6 - Bernardston
Book 7 Geological Notes, 1877, No 1, Chesterfield, Worthington, Cummington, Williamsburg, Huntington, West-Hampton 1877
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
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
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
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
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
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
Book 3 - Winchendon
Book 37 - May 12, 1891
Book 38 - Berkshire, Sandisfield
Book 39 - Massachusetts & Rhode Island
Book 40 - Marlboro, Webster, Westboro, Crafton
Book 41 - Berkshire, Becket, Sandisfield, Pittsfield
Book 42 - Winchester, Nitt, Becket
Book 45 - Barre
Book 52 - Blackstone
Book 60 - Belchertown
Book 61 - Palmer
Book 62 - Winchendon
Book 65 - Marlboro
Book 68 - Groton
Book 70 - Warwick
Book 80 - Becket
Book 81 - Sandisfield
Book 82 - Northampton
Book 83 - Greenfield
Book 84 - Keene
Book 85 - Peterboro
Book 87 - Monadnock
Book 90 - Milford
Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Framingham, 1908; A Description of Microscopic Sections of Rocks and Minerals , 1878 1878-1908
Sketch book No 1; loose-leaf field notebook
Section 5:Miscellaneous Notebooks and Diaries
Cash Account book; Notes on lectures by Professor Snell
Diary, 1870; language study book - German into French; diary, 1875 1870-1902
Geological record of receipts and additions to the Amherst College collection, with a history of the collection from 1870 1877-1881
Geological exchange book
Diary, 1871 4 miscellaneous notebooks
3 miscellaneous notebooks
Section 6: Pamphlets
Pan-American Geologist , Vol XXXVII, No. 1, Feb 1922, "Emerson Geological Loving Cup" by Charles Keyes, p 41; Reprint of same 1922
Chemical Reviews , Vol 5, No 2, June 1928, "The Helix Chemica" 1928
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
Reprinted from Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , Vol LVI, 1917, "Recurrent Tetrahedral Deformations and Intercontinental Torsions" 2 copies 1917
Reprinted from the American Journal of Science , Vol XLI, "Descriptions of Large Cylinders of Scoriaceous Diabase in the Normal Holyoke Diabase", 3 copies
Reprinted from the American Journal of Science , Vol XLIII, Sept 1916, Art XXIV, "Mineralogical Notes" (2 copies) 1916
American Journal of Science , Vol XL, No 236, Aug, 1915 Art XIX, "Northfieldite, Pegmatite, and Pegmatite Schist", p 212 (2 copies) 1915
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
Reprinted from Popular Science Monthly , Dec 1911, "Adamas: or the Symmetries of Isometric Crystals", 3 copies 1911
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
Reprinted from the American Chemical Journal , Vol XLV, No2, Feb 1911, "Helix Chemica" 1911
The Mineral Collector , Vol VII, No 5, July, 1900, "Mortised Rocks of Tyringham, Mass." 1900
Dept of the Interior, US Geological Survey, Bulletin 597, Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Washington, 1917, 2 copies 1917
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
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):
Die Liasmulde von Markoldendorf bei Einbeck . Inaugural Dissertation, Universitt Gttingen. Berlin, 1870 66 pages 1870
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
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
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)
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)
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"
Paper on B. K. E. in Bulletin of the Geological Society , Vol I, 1890: "Porphyritic and Gneisold Granites (pp 559-61) 1890
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
American Journal of Science , Vol XL, Nov 1890: "A Description of the 'Bernardston Series' of Metamorphic Upper Devonian Rocks" (pp 362-374) 1890
American Journal of Science , Vol XXIV, Nov 1882: "The Deerfield Dyke and Its Mineral" (pp 195-202) 1882
American Journal of Science , Vol XXIV, Oct 1882: "Art XXX - "The Deerfield Dyke and Its Minerals" (pp 270-278) 1882
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
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
Science , Nov 13, 1896: BKE with others in "Honors to James Hall of Buffalo" (pp 697-717) 1896
Science , Nov 13, 1896: BKE with others in "Honors to James Hall of Buffalo" (pp 697-717) Vol XLV, 1896) 1896
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
The Outlook , Vol 57, No 11, Nov 13, 1897: "Personal Impressions of Fridtjof Nensen" (pp 658-61) 1897
Bulletin of the Geological Society of Americ a, Vol 10, 1898: "Difference in Batholithic Granites According to Depth of Erosion" (abstract, 1pg) 1898
Bulletin of the United States Department of the Interior , Geological Survey" No 159, 1899: "The Geology of Eastern Berkshire County, Massachusetts" (139 pp) 1899
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
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
The American Geologist , Vol XXVI, Nov 1900: "Some Curious Matters Illustrative of Geological Phenomena" (pp 312-315) 1900
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , Vol2, April 1891: "On the Triassic of Massachusetts" (pp 451-456) 1891
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
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
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
The American Geologist , Vol XXX, August 1902: "Two Cases of Metamorphosis Without Crushing" (pp 73-76) 1902
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
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
From Vol IV of "Alaska" - The Results of the Harriman Alaska Expedition: "General Geology - Notes on the Stratigraphy and Igneous Rocks" (56 pp)
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
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
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
American Geologist , Feb 1905: "Notes on Some Rocks and Minerals form North Greenland and Frobisher Bay" (pp 94-104, Vol XXXV) 1905
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
Letter to the editor of Science , November 21, 1907 1907
Popular Science Monthly , Dec 1909: "Medieval Creation Myths" (pp 610-613) 1909
Single 17 x 20" sheet on "Outlines of Geology of the Green Mountain Region in Massachusetts"
Single 17 x 20" sheet entitled "The Hawley Sheet - Descriptive Text" (possibly page 2 of previous item)
Section 7:Manuscript and Scientific Papers
Mostly notes and manuscripts of Helix Chemica and Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island