Frederick Gillan Floyd autograph collection
Scope and Content:
This collection contains letters to Floyd and others from about 60 correspondents. Most correspondents are represented by only one letter. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically and mostly dates from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Dates
- Creation: 1883-1916
Creator
- Floyd, Frederick Gillan, 1869-1941 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register and provide one form of valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.
Extent
0.1 linear feet (2 folders)Biography
Frederick Gillan Floyd was born in Boston on March 24, 1869 to Frederick and Anna Belinda Floyd (née Luce). Following high school he briefly worked for his father before accepting a position as a surveyor for the Massachusetts Highway Commission. He worked on a project on Nantucket and then went to work as a civil engineer for the City of Boston, where he spent the rest of his career. Floyd married Edith Mackay in 1898; they had no children.
Botany was Floyd's hobby for many years. He was an early member of the New England Botanical Club and an active member of the American Fern Society, serving as treasurer and helping found the American Fern Journal, to which he contributed occasional articles. He built a substantial herbarium specializing in ferns, but sold it and gave up botany after collecting became too physically demanding. After retiring in 1929 Floyd and his wife relocated to California where he devoted his time to philately. He died on January 10, 1941 in Sierra Madre, California.
Sources
Vital Statistic Records, Massachusetts Archives
Weatherby CA. 1941. Frederick Gillan Floyd. Amer. Fern J. 32(2):79-80
Provenance
The Floyd letters were given to the Gray Herbarium by Floyd on January 12, 1922 with instruction that they "be kept if needed as autographs, etc. Letters not needed, to be destroyed at Mr. Floyd's request."
General note
Folder 2 missing as of 2016.
Processed by:
Lynn McWhood
December 1981
Creator
- Floyd, Frederick Gillan, 1869-1941 (Person)
- Title
- Floyd, Frederick Gillan, 1869-1941. Frederick Gillan Floyd autograph collection, 1883-1916: A Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University.
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- gra00021
Repository Details
Part of the Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University Repository
The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Gray Herbarium Library specializes in the identification and classification of New World plants with emphasis on North American plants. The Archives of the Gray Herbarium 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 Gray Herbarium.
Harvard University Herbaria
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botref@oeb.harvard.edu