Jean Louis Berlandier papers

The collection is arranged in three series:

Series I: Journals. There are three packets of journal materials dealing with the years 1830-1831. There is a fair amount of overlap in their contents. A fourth packet contains a brief, possibly incomplete, account of an excursion to Fronton de Sa Isabel in 1845 and an account of Berlandier's arrest and forced trip to Mexico City in 1849, while he was serving as alcalde (mayor) of Matamoros. The materials appear to have been prepared with publication in mind. It is not clear what portion of these journals are Berlandier’s own work. Arrangement may have been imposed by Sereno Watson.

What appears to be a draft of a letter from Berlandier to Charles Mirbel at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, dated December 20, 1838 was inserted in one of the 1830-1831 journals. This is of particular interest because this letter is mentioned by Alphonse de Candolle in a footnote to his father’s memoirs (p. 337). De Candolle emphasizes the long delay between this letter and Berlandier's original work in Mexico and suggests that Berlandier had pretended to be dead out of shame. The draft indicates that actually Berlandier had heard from Mirbel in 1833 and had written to him three times since without receiving a response.

Series II: Botanical Manuscripts.

The botanical manuscripts fall into two groups: those written by Berlandier and those written by others about his plants. Manuscripts by Berlandier were bound into four volumes in somewhat haphazard arrangement. This was likely done at the Gray Herbarium during Asa Gray's lifetime, as the bindings use paper from American periodicals and bookplates in the bound volumes designate them as gifts of Asa Gray. One of the four volumes has since been disbound. The major sections of botanical notes are: about 750 pages containing descriptions of new plants, arranged alphabetically by family; about 250 pages of notes on plants and their uses, arranged alphabetically by family; and about 240 pages of descriptions of "Gramineas de los contornos de Mexique." There are also 113 pages of illustrations, largely botanical, by Lino Sánchez y Tapia and Berlandier; a manuscript of "Memoire sur la famille des Grossulariees" and a manuscript of "Du mode de reproduction par fecondation de quelques vegetaux de la famille des Campanulaiees," both written in Geneva; and several articles pertaining to Mexican plants: "Nombres botanicos correspondientes a las denomiraciones Mexicanas que Abate Clairgeno empone a los vegetales" (referred to as the Cervantes mss), "Des plantes usuelles chez les Indiens du Mexique," and Boissons spiritueuses retirees du Regne vegetal."

Series III: Plant List.

This series contains a list of Berlandier’s plants prepared by M.E. Moricand and Alphonse de Candolle, a manuscript by Asa Gray listing and describing plants in Berlandier's collection, and a list by Ivan Murray Johnston of plants described by Berlandier in "Memorias de las Comision de Limites…" There is also a letter from C.W. Short containing excerpts from a lost de Candolle letter.