Scope and Content
The Ames Papers consists of two manuscripts for articles on orchids of the Philippines. Orchidaceae Halconenses is a draft of an article bearing the same title, published in the Philippine Journal of Science in 1907. New Species, New Combinations contains descriptions of plants arranged alphabetically by Latin plant name. It is described as having been prepared for Fascicle V of Orchidaceae (1915), but is quite different from the published work in both scope and arrangement.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1900-1915
Creator
- Ames, Oakes, 1874-1950 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register and provide two forms of valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.
Extent
0.2 linear feet (1 box)Biographical / Historical
Oakes Ames was born into a wealthy and influential family on September 26, 1874, in North Easton, Massachusetts. He was the youngest son of Oliver Ames, a politician and the 35th Governor of Massachusetts, and Anna Coffin Ames (née Ray). Ames attended Noble and Greenough School in Boston and entered Harvard College in 1894, receiving A.B. and A.M. degrees in 1898 and 1899, respectively. In 1900, he began his professional career at Harvard as Instructor of Botany. In May of that year, he married artist Blanche Ames (no relation). The couple had four children, Pauline, Oliver, Amyas, and Evelyn, and collaborated on many publications, including the seven-volume monograph Orchidaceae.
Ames's childhood interest in botany and horticulture was nurtured by his father, with whom he collected and identified wild flowers. It was in the greenhouses at their family home in North Easton that Ames first encountered orchids. His interest in orchidology was further influenced by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Director of the New York Botanical Garden. Ames amassed a large collection of living orchids, as well as an extensive orchid herbarium, a library, and a collection of orchid images (including drawings and paintings by Blanche).
Ames was also interested in economic botany and was encouraged in that field by George Lincoln Goodale, Director of the Harvard Botanical Museum. He began teaching the subject in 1909 and in the course of his work and travels compiled a collection comprising thousands of specimens, plant products, and publications on economic plants. Ames and his former students also aided the war effort during both World Wars, helping to identify alternative sources of scarce materials and new uses for raw plant products.
Ames published numerous books and articles on orchids and economic botany and held a variety of teaching and administrative positions at Harvard. His accomplishments were not limited to scholarship and collecting. He helped convince Edwin F. Atkins to establish the Atkins Garden in Cienfuegos, Cuba, brought William C. Darrah to Harvard to renew interest in the paleobotanical collections of the Botanical Museum, increased endowment funds for the Botanical Museum and the Arnold Arboretum, and started the Botanical Museum Leaflets.
Ames was a member of many scientific societies, was an elected Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London, and received a number of awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from Washington University in 1938. He gave his orchid herbarium, library, and collection of orchid photographs and paintings to Harvard in 1938. He donated his economic botany herbarium in 1940. Ames died in Ormond, Florida, on April 28, 1950.
Ames's career at Harvard followed two tracks, administrative and teaching.
Administrative Positions:
- (1899-1909)
- Assistant Director of the Botanic Garden
- (1909-1922)
- Director of the Botanic Garden
- (1923-1927)
- Curator of the Botanical Museum
- (1927-1937)
- Supervisor of the Botanical Museum
- (1937-1945)
- Director of the Botanical Museum
- (1945-1950)
- Associate Director of the Botanical Museum
- (1926-1935)
- Chairman of the Division of Biology, the Atkins Garden in Cuba, and the Arnold Arboretum
- (1927-1935)
- Chairman of the Council of Botanical Collections and Supervisor of the Biological Laboratory, the Atkins Garden in Cuba, and the Arnold Arboretum
Teaching Positions:
- (1900-1910)
- Instructor of Botany
- (1915-1926)
- Associate Professor of Botany
- (1926-1932)
- Professor of Botany
- (1932-1935)
- Arnold Professor of Botany
- (1935-1941)
- Research Professor of Botany
- (1941-1950)
- Emeritus Research Professor of Botany
Sources
Mangelsdorf PC. Oakes Ames 1874-. In: Ames O. Orchids in Retrospect. Cambridge (MA): Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 1948. p.ix-xv.
Sax K. 1950. Oakes Ames, 1874-1950. J. Arnold Arbor. 31(4):335-337.
Schultes RE. 1951. Oakes Ames, 1874-1950. Rhodora. 53(627):67-78.
Provenance
The manuscript Orchidaceae Halconenses: An Enumeration of the Orchids collected on and near Mt. Halcon, Mindoro, chiefly by Elmer D. Merrill was given by Ames to the Arnold Arboretum on September 11, 1931. The manuscript New Species, New Combinations and additions to the Orchid Flora of the Philippines was given to the Arnold Arboretum on May 26, 1932. The manuscripts were later transferred to the Archives of the Oakes Ames Orchid Library.
Processing Information
Processed by Lynn McWhood, March 1983
Creator
- Ames, Oakes, 1874-1950 (Person)
- Title
- Ames, Oakes, 1874-1950. Oakes Ames orchid manuscripts, circa 1900-1915: A Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Botany Libraries, Oakes Ames Orchid Library, Harvard University.
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- orc00001
Repository Details
Part of the Botany Libraries, Orchid Library of Oakes Ames, Harvard University Repository
The Harvard University Herbaria houses five comprehensive, non-circulating research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries.The Oakes Ames Orchid Library specializes exclusively in the identification and classification of the orchid family (Orchidaceae). The Archives of the Oakes Ames Orchid 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 Orchid Herbarium.
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