Louis Charles Christopher Krieger glass plate negatives
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of glass plate negatives used by Krieger while illustrating “Icones Farlowianae.” Some negatives are clearly labeled with the photographer’s name. Some labels are unclear and may indicate the collector of the specimen rather than the photographer. Negatives are numbered; however, it is unknown if the numbers indicate a series of negatives or samples or correspond to plates in the finished work. The collection also contains related correspondence.
- Box 1. Negatives: (8.5x10.5") #1-6, 8, 10-11, 15, 17-19, 26-30, 32-38, 40-41, 45-55
- Box 2. Negatives: (8.5x10.5") #56-62, 64-68, 81-84, 90-98, 103-106, 108
- Box 3. Negatives: (6.5x8.5” and 8.5x10.5") #116-131, 133-141, 143
- Box 4. Negatives: (6.5x8.5”) #7 (4.5x8"), 79, 85-89, 101-102, 109-115
- Box 5. Negatives: (5x7") #9, 12-14, 16, 20-25, 31, 39, 42-44, 63, 80, 99-100, plus one unidentified alga
- Box 6. Negatives: (3.5x4.5") #69-77, plus unlabeled negatives
Dates
- Creation: 1900-1912
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register and provide valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.
Extent
1 collection (6 boxes)Biographical Note
Louis Charles Christopher Krieger was born on February 11, 1873, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Henry and Katharine Lentner Krieger. He attended parochial school and enrolled at the Maryland Institute School of Art and Design in 1886. He continued his studies at the Charcoal Club School of Fine Arts and in 1891 was hired as an assistant artist at the United States Department of Agriculture. Krieger worked in the Division of Microscopy under Thomas Taylor, who was particularly interested in mushrooms. He set Krieger to the task of painting local mushrooms and copying plates of European mushrooms.
The Division of Microscopy closed in 1895 and Krieger spent the next year in Munich studying at the Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Maryland in 1896 to teach drawing and painting until 1902 when William G. Farlow invited him to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Krieger spent the next ten years as a mycological illustrator for Farlow. In 1904 he married Agnes Checkley Keighler. Their daughter, Agnes, was born in 1909.
Krieger returned to the U.S.D.A. in 1912 and was assigned to the Plant Introduction Garden in Chico, California. Over the next five years he painted a large series of cactus species for agriculturist, David Griffiths. In 1918 Krieger resumed his study and illustration of mushrooms with Howard Atwood Kelly, a Baltimore physician.
Krieger illustrated sugarcane diseases for the Tropical Plant Research Foundation in Cuba in 1928 and 1929. This work was followed by an appointment as Mycologist at the New York State Museum in Albany. Over the next year Krieger prepared the manuscript and illustrations for “A popular guide to the higher fungi of New York State,” published in 1935. He returned to government service in 1929 to collaborate again with David Griffiths.
Krieger was predeceased by his wife in 1939. He died in Washington, D.C. on July 31, 1940.
Source
Stevenson JA. 1941. Louis Charles Christopher Krieger, 1872-1940. Mycologia. 33(3):241-247.
Provenance
This collection was given to the Farlow Herbarium by Lilian Horsford Farlow after the death of her husband, William Gilson Farlow, in 1919.
Processing Information
At some point the glass plate negatives were rehoused in acid free envelopes. Labels from the original enclosures were transferred in pencil to the new envelopes. The original enclosures were not retained.
Scientific names that have been updated or corrected by Donald H. Pfister, Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard University, are in square brackets.
Notes from the original enclosures are represented as Collecting notes in the finding aid. The notes usually include collecting location and photographer or collector.
Several of the new enclosures list a photographer named Dadmum or Dadnum, but there may be an error in transcription. Based on researching local photographers of the time period, it is likely that the photographer is Leon Dadmun or the Dadmun Company. Dadmum or Dadnum from the original inventory has been replaced with [Dadmun] on the finding aid.
Genre / Form
Creator
Subject
- Title
- Krieger, L. C. C. (Louis Charles Christopher), 1873-1940. Louis Charles Christopher Krieger glass plate negatives, 1900-1912: A Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Botany Libraries, Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University.
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- far00020
Repository Details
Part of the Botany Libraries, Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University Repository
The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany specializes in organisms that reproduce by spores, without flowers or seeds. The Archives of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany houses unique resources including personal papers, institutional records, field notes and plant lists, expedition records, photographs, original artwork, and objects from faculty, curators, staff, and affiliates of the Farlow Herbarium.
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