Botanist Jason R. Swallen, Extensive Photographic Archive

Lot 210

About Seller

6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States

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About Auction

American History, Featuring the Property of N. Flayderman & Co. by Cowan's Auctions

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American History, Featuring the Property of N...

By Cowan's Auctions

Jun 9, 2017 - Jun 10, 2017

Set Reminder 2017-06-09 10:00:00 2017-06-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History, Featuring the Property of N. Flayderman & Co. https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-featuring-the-property-of-n-flayderman-co-2392 Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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Lot Description

Lot comprised of 6 leather albums, 7.5 x 9.25 in., with gilt Kodak Library on the spines, containing over 1,050 silver gelatin photographs, accompanied by 12pp of typed and manuscript notes of botanist Jason R. Swallen, which identify a portion of the photographs included in the albums.

Jason Richard Swallen (1903-1991) was a native Ohioan, born in Alliance and earning a baccalaureate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. He went on to a Masters' program at Kansas State Agricultural College, earning his MS in 1925. As a botanist, he specialized in grasses (agrostology), publishing on the grasses of California and the American Southwest (Texas, Louisiana & Northeastern Mexico), plus Tennessee and Kentucky, Honduras and the Peten (Guatemala), northeast Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Suriname, Ecuador, Bolivia and more.

Of the 6 photo albums offered here, 2 have notes indicating what is pictured, most being from Brazil (Fordlandia - in Para state, set up by Henry Ford in an effort to increase rubber production). They seem to date from the mid-1930s (ca 1935). Accompanied by 6pp typed and 6pp manuscript notes, which describe the contents of the pair of albums. These 2 photo albums contain 422 images combined, most 2.5 x 4.25 in., but some ranging in size from 2 x 2.5 to 3.5 x 5.5 in. Some of the photos housed in the second album may date from ca 1939.

The four remaining albums contain over 630 additional photographs. Only a few document the grasses, while far more feature the roads, villages, and surrounding country (mountains, swamps, etc.), which is important for geography and soil information. Again, most measure 2.5 x 4.25 in.

Swallen spent some time in Brazil as an agricultural production officer working in Inter-American Affairs. He worked for the Bureau of Plant Industry after receiving his MS. He became curator of Division of Grasses at the National Museum / Smithsonian in 1946, which was reorganized into the Department of Botany in 1947. He chaired the Botany Department from 1950-1965. There are two grass genera and several species named for him. In 1954 he was awarded an honorary DSc. by Ohio Wesleyan.

Condition

Most very good. Some photos with corner tabs, others affixed to album pages.
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