Scope and Contents
The collection contains professional correspondence, paleobotany research, mounted botany specimens, manuscripts and published material, Carnegie Institution research work material, Berkeley faculty material including lectures, correspondence, and committee work, Save the Redwoods League files, manuscripts of books and articles, and photographs.
The professional correspondence is alphabetically arranged and is substantial, with over 12,000 letters filling four boxes. Please see below for a listing of major correspondents.
The Berkeley series (1921-1962) covers the time Chaney was working at UC Berkeley both as a professor and prior to that, as a research associate of the Carnegie Institute. Material is organized alphabetically by subject/project title and includes correspondence, committee work, research grant material, student activities and recommendations, reports and official documents.
The Carnegie series (1918-1960) is alphabetically arranged by subject title and contains expedition work materials, correspondence, reports, expense accounts, and lecture material.
Save the Redwoods League (1926-1966) materials include correspondence, research material, drafts, and published copies of reports, press releases, and other publications.
The manuscripts series contains paleobotany research, notes, drafts, and some publication copies of works by Chaney, as well as presentation and speech manuscripts, 1910-1967.
A small box houses mounted botany specimens with title, location found and date information.
The photograph series contains over a thousand images and negatives of botany and fossil specimens from the 1920s-1950s.
Major correspondents in the collection are: Annie M. Alexander, American Philosophical Society, Roy Chapman Andrews, Chester A. Arnold, Daniel I. Axelrod, Irving W. Bailey, , George B. Barbour, Edson S. Bastin, Charles P. Berkey, Eliot Blackwelder, Roland W. Brown, John P. Buwalda, Wendell H. Camp, Frederic E. Clements, Carlton Condit, Harold J. Cook, Luther S. Cressman, Helmut DeTerra, Erling Dorf, A. E. Douglass, Newton B. Drury, Roy B. Earling, Max K. Elias, Saido Endo, Louise Fillman, Rudolf Florin, Childs Frick, Eustace L. Furlong, Walter M. Gilbert, Waldo S. Glock, Winifred Goldring, T. Harper Goodspeed, Walter Granger, Joseph T. Gregory, Irving M. Grey, Joseph Grinnel, Edwin T. Hodge, Hsen-Hsu Hu, Olaf P. Jenkins, Willis L. Jepson, George F. Kay, Franz Kirchheimer, Frank H. Knowlton, African N. Kryshtofovich, Rajendra N. Lakhanpal, George D. Louderback, , Harry D. McGinitie, Arnold C. Mason, F. E. Matthes, Charles W. Merriam, John C. Merriam, Elmer D. Merrill, Shigeru Miki, Harold N. Moldenke, Chester W. Nimitz, Adolf C. Noe, Asbjorn P. Ousdal, Adolph Pabst, Earl L. Packard, Leroy T. Patton, Wendell G. Phillips, Charles B. Read, Alfred Rehder, George B. Rigg, Carl P. Russell, Birbal Sahni, Ethel Sanborn, Yasuo Sasa, Hubert G. Schenk, Robert H. Seashore, William A. Setchell, Albert C. Seward, J. Arnold Shotwell, George G. Simpson, Warren D. Smith, Herman A. Spoehr, Chester Stock, J. Leighton Stuart, R. D. Swales, V. O. Tansey, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur C. Trowbridge, T. Wayland Vaughan, Stephen S. Vischer, Charles E. Weaver, Chester K. Wentworth, Alexander Wetmore, David White, George R. Wieland, Jack A. Wolfe.
Dates
- 1917-1966
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time. Glass plate negatives and lantern slides are restricted due to the fragility of the format. All decisions regarding use will be at the discretion of the curator for visual materials.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
Ralph W. Chaney was born in Chicago, Illinois and educated at the University of Chicago. From 1922 he was a research associate at the Carnegie Institution and from 1931 a professor of paleobotany at the University of California, Berkeley. He was known for his ecological approach to paleobotany. From 1943 he was a member of the U.S. National Park Service Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments, and from 1928 a member and officer of the Save the Redwoods League.
Extent
32 linear feet (44 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Ralph W. Chaney was an paleobotanist, an author, and a long-time member of the U.S. Park Service Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments, and of the Save the Redwoods League. The collection contains professional correspondence, paleobotany research, mounted botany specimens, manuscripts and published material, Carnegie Institution research work material, Berkeley faculty material including lectures, correspondence, and committee work, Save the Redwoods League files, manuscripts of books and articles, and photographs.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into the following series: Professional Correspondence, University of California, Berkeley, Carnegie Institution, Save the Redwoods League, Manuscripts, and Photographs.
Material within this collection is minimally arranged. Any arrangement is either derived from the records' creators or custodians or from staff at the time of initial processing. It may be necessary to look in multiple places for the same types of materials.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Collection includes nitrate negatives.
Physical Description
16 record storage boxes and 1 small flat box; Photoboxes 1- 27 include 10 small boxes, 5 - 5x7 boxes, 5 - 8x10 boxes, 2 half manuscript boxes, 2 clamshell boxes, 3 manuscript boxes.
Processing Information
Collection processed by staff.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
This collection received a basic level of processing including minimal organization and rehousing.
Description information is drawn in part from information supplied with the collection and initial surveys of the contents. Folder titles are based on those created by the creators or previous custodians. Titles have not all been verified against the contents of the folders. In some cases, staff supplied folder titles during initial processing.
- Carnegie Institution of Washington
- Chaney, Ralph W. (Ralph Works), 1890-1971
- Chaney, Ralph W. (Ralph Works), 1890-1971
- Conservationists -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Environmental Conditions Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Manuscripts for publication Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Nitrate negatives Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Paleobotanists -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Paleobotany -- Research Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Paleobotany -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California -- Berkeley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographic prints Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Research notes Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Save the Redwoods League
- University of California, Berkeley. Department of Paleontology
- gelatin silver prints Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Ralph Works Chaney Papers
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by University of Oregon Libraries, Archivists' Toolkit Project Team and Tanya Parlet.
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for production of this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
