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Luther Burbank

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Allan Teichroew 

Revised and expanded by Patrick Kerwin

 

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress 

Washington, D.C.

2000

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html


Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress

 Manuscript Division, 2003

Collection Summary

Title:		Papers of Luther Burbank 

Span Dates:	1830-1989 (bulk 1880-1926) 

ID No.:		MSS14324

Creator:		 Burbank, Luther, 1849-1926 

Size:			 12,500 items;  41 containers;  16 linear feet;
 2 microfilm reels 

Repository: 	 Manuscript Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. 

Abstract:		Botanist, horticulturist, and naturalist.
Correspondence, speeches and writings, notes, sketches,
nursery plans and notes, business records, scrapbooks,
family papers and genealogies, and printed material
concerning Burbank's career as a botanist and his family
and personal life.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description
of this collection in the Library's online catalog.
They are grouped by name of person or organization,
by subject or location, and by genres and listed alphabetically
therein.

Names:

Burbank, Luther, 1849-1926

Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde), 1858-1954--Correspondence

Bean, Burt C. (Burt Clifford), b. 1874

Burpee, W. Atlee (Washington Atlee), 1858-1915--Correspondence

Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931.--Correspondence

Fairchild, David, 1869-1954--Correspondence

Firestone, Harvey Samuel, 1868-1938--Correspondence

Ford, Henry, 1863-1947--Correspondence

Husbands, José D.--Correspondence

Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931--Correspondence

Keller, Helen, 1880-1968--Correspondence

Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman), 1867-1937--Correspondence

Kinsey, Alfred C. (Alfred Charles), 1894-1956--Correspondence

Lemmon, J. G. (John Gill), 1832-1908--Correspondence

London, Charmian--Correspondence

London, Jack, 1876-1916--Correspondence

Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913--Correspondence

Morrow, William W., 1843-1929--Correspondence

Muir, John, 1838-1914--Correspondence

Samu, Spiegel--Correspondence

Schull, George H.--Correspondence

Vachell, F. Harvey--Correspondence

Van Deman, Henry Elias, 1845-1915--Correspondence

Vries, Hugo de, 1848-1935--Correspondence

Waugh, F. A. (Frank Albert), 1869-1943--Correspondence

Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James), 1848-1923--Correspondence

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 1850-1919--Correspondence

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence

Woodward, Robert Simpson, 1849-1924--Correspondence

Burbank family

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909 : Seattle, Wash.)

Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San
Francisco, Calif.)

Subjects:

Botany

Horticulture

Nurseries (Horticulture)--Californa--Santa Rosa

Plants

Occupations:

Botanists

Horticulturists

Administrative Information

Provenance:  The papers of Luther Burbank, botanist,
horticulturist and naturalist, were given to the Library
of Congress by the estate of Elizabeth Waters Burbank
in 1978. Selected items microfilmed by the Library of
Congress were retained by the city of Santa Rosa, California,
for display in the Luther Burbank Home. A small addition
was given to the Library in 1992 by Renee Felciano.

Processing History:  The papers of Luther Burbank were
processed and described in 1980. Additional material
received in 1992 was processed and incorporated into
the collection in 1999. The Luther Burbank Papers have
been partially described in the  Quarterly Journal of
the Library of Congress, vol. 36, Oct. 1979, pp. 423-427.

Transfers:  Prints and photographs have been transferred
to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where
they are identified as part of these papers.

Copyright Status:  The status of copyright in the unpublished
writings of Luther Burbank is governed by the Copyright
Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.). 

Microfilm:  A microfilm edition of part of these papers
is available on two reels. Consult a reference librarian
in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for
purchase or interlibrary loan.

Preferred Citation:  Researchers wishing to cite this
collection should include the following information:
Container or reel number, Luther Burbank Papers, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

1849, Mar. 7			

Born, Lancaster, Mass.

1871			

Opened plant nursery in Lunenburg, Mass.

1871-1875			

Developed the Burbank potato

1875			

Moved to Santa Rosa, Calif.

1890			

Married Helen Coleman (divorced 1896)

1893			

Published first descriptive seed catalog, New Creations

1904-1906			

Visiting lecturer, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

1905-1910			

Awarded $10,000 annual stipend by the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, Washington, D.C.

1914-1915			

Published  Luther Burbank, His Methods and Discoveries
and Their Practical Application (New York: Luther Burbank
Press. 12 vols.)

1916			

Married Elizabeth Waters

1926, Apr. 11			

Died, Santa Rosa, Calif.

1927			

Posthumous publication with Wilbur Hall of  The Harvest
of the Years (Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 296 pp.)

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Luther Burbank (1849-1926) span the years
1830-1989, with the bulk of the items concentrated in
the period 1880-1926. Known to many of his generation
as "the plant wizard," Burbank was popularly classed
among the scientific heroes of the early twentieth century.
His collection consists of the following series: Family
Papers, General Correspondence, Speeches and Writings
File, Notes and Sketches, Business Records, Miscellany,
an Addition, and a Microfilm series consisting of a
small selection of items from the papers which were
retained by the city of Santa Rosa, California, for
display in the Luther Burbank Home.

The Family Papers series includes a variety of records
predating Burbank's birth in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
and continuing well after his death in the Northern
California town of Santa Rosa. Especially valuable are
letters Burbank exchanged with his mother and sister
while a prospective emigrant to the West Coast in 1875.
The earliest family correspondence, dated as early as
1850, is mostly in the form of typewritten transcripts
by Burbank's second wife, Elizabeth Waters Burbank,
or by one of his biographers. The transcripts reproduce
letters from and between Burbank's brothers and father
supplemented by legal, biographical, and other personal
data. Also in the Family Papers is travel memorabilia
which includes a brief diary by Burbank of a trip to
his boyhood New England in 1888. Since Burbank's sister,
two brothers, and mother had joined or preceded him
in his move to California, his journeys outside the
state account for practically all of his family correspondence
after 1878.

The General Correspondence series is extensive and,
in addition to carbons or drafts of Burbank's replies,
contains personal as well as professional letters. There
are diverse and sometimes substantive inquiries from
farmers interested in his projects, requests for seed
catalogs from other nurserymen, fact-finding reports
by foreign nationals intent on supplying Burbank with
unusual seeds or seedlings, and a great deal of adulatory
"fan" mail from friends both prominent and obscure.
Burbank wrote and received letters from Harvey S. Firestone,
Henry Ford, Charmian London, Joaquin Miller, John Muir,
and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The largest part of the correspondence
concerns scientists and government officials who shared
his training or helped in communicating the results
of his research. Among the more significant of these
individuals were David Starr Jordan, friend and patron
at Stanford University, and Robert S. Woodward, head
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington when Burbank
was funded by that body to free him from the ordinary
tasks of nursery administration.

Other scientists whose correspondence appears with some
frequency include Liberty Hyde Bailey, David G. Fairchild,
Jose D. Husbands, Vernon L. Kellogg, George H. Schull,
H. E. Van Deman, and Hugo De Vries. The letters from
De Vries are of particular interest, since it was the
Dutch botanist's generous writings about Burbank's Santa
Rosa experiments which broadcast their significance
to the academic and scientific community. California
booster organizations, then in their peak phase, also
took an active part in the promotion of the plant breeder's
achievements, and the evidence of their contact is best
seen in the correspondence between Burbank and various
officials of state and county chambers of commerce,
the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle of 1909,
the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco
in 1915, and the California State Boards of Horticulture
and Agriculture.

As a celebrated discoverer of new plant varieties, Burbank
depended less on strict scientific methodology than
on a prodigious ability to test and experiment on a
practical, empirical basis. Although he made sporadic
efforts to keep comprehensive records of his research,
he often destroyed them once a product was finished.
Those accounts which still exist have been organized
in a Notes and Sketches series and complement typescripts
in the Speeches and Writings File containing narrative
descriptions of genera and species which he cultivated
at his Santa Rosa and Sebastopol nurseries between 1903
and 1911. Among the Business Records are account books,
inventories, stock lists, and plan books related to
Burbanks studies. This part of the collection, while
focusing mainly on financial aspects of the Burbank
operation, shows where and how he purchased seeds, the
diligence of his propagation and selection, and the
layout of his gardens. As is true of the Notes and Sketches,
the Business Records are occasionally illustrated with
Burbank's drawings of his techniques and products.

The Speeches and Writings File consists of Burbank's
personal writings as well as the printed, near-print,
and typescript comments of scientists, friends, and
journalists. Prominent among the latter were some of
his most devoted admirers, including De Vries, Wilbur
Hall Jordan, Kellogg, and Edward J. Wickson. In addition,
there is a transcript of a 1913 interview with Burbank
by Burt C. Bean. The bulk of the Burbank manuscripts
pertains to plant descriptions and what is supposed
to be a complete series of his published seed catalogs,
but there are also a few copies of statements he made
on personal and social issues and a small folder of
lectures given at Stanford University between 1904 and
1906. At the end of the collection is a Miscellany series
of clippings and scrapbooks which include large quantities
of ephemera and some important writings. 

The Microfilm series consists of selected correspondence,
family papers and genealogies, nursery plans and notes,
financial records, scrapbooks, and miscellany. Prominent
correspondents in the series include Thomas A. Edison,
Helen Keller, Alfred C. Kinsey, Jack London, and Woodrow
Wilson.

Correspondents in addition to those listed above include
W. Atlee Burpee, Herbert G. Gleason, J. G. Lemmon, W.
W. Morrow, Spiegel Samu, F. Harvey Vachell, and F. A.
Waugh.

Transferred Material:

Burbank made extensive use of photography to record
the course and results of his plant breeding, and a
large quantity of prints and negatives, including glass
plates, has been transferred to the Prints and Photographs
Division of the Library of Congress.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in eight series:

	 Family Papers, ca. 1830-1969, n.d.

	 General Correspondence, 1871-1929, n.d.

	 Speeches and Writings File, 1869-1950, n.d.

	 Notes and Sketches, 1886-1925, n.d.

	 Business Records, 1871-1921, n.d.

	 Miscellany, 1894-1922, n.d.

	 Addition, 1989

	 Microfilm, 1864-1964, n.d.

Container List

Box 1-2 

Family Papers, ca. 1830-1969,  n.d.

Letters to and from Burbank's family, including transcriptions
of originals not in the collection, and subject files
of topical correspondence, legal matters, school reports,
travel notes, and other holograph, typewritten, near-print,
and printed matter. 

Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent or
subject and chronologically therein.

Box 1 

Correspondence

Originals

Bell, Jane (sister), 1890-1907, n.d.

Burbank, Elizabeth Waters (wife), 1916-1921, n.d.

Burbank and Ross family (cousins), 1901-1926

Burbank family (distant relatives), 1904-1918

Transcriptions

Burbank Family, 1869-1912, n.d.

Burbank, George (brother), 1850-1863, n.d.

Subject file

"The Authorized Biography of Luther Burbank," by Burt
C. Bean, 1923-1926

Biographical and family material compiled by Elizabeth
Waters Burbank, 1915-1949, n.d.

Burbank, Alfred (brother), 1909-1913

Centennial of birth, 1949

Condolences on Burbank's death, 1926

Divorce settlement, 1896

Legal documents, 1899-1934

Luther Burbank Christmas Memorial, 1947-1948

Proposed Luther Burbank Foundation at Stanford University,
Stanford, Calif., 1926-1928

Box 2 

School and youth, 1865-1949 

Spanish documents from South America, originals, copies,
and translations, ca. 1830-1969

Travel

Canada, 1894

Massachusetts, 1900

Raymond's Vacation Excursions, 1888

Box 2-12 

General Correspondence, 1871-1929,  n.d.

Letters with enclosures received by Burbank and drafts
or copies of letters sent. 

Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and
chronologically therein.

Box 2 

American Anti-Alcohol Education Association See Container
5, Hobson, Richard P.

Anderson, Ann P., 1906-1911

Atherton, Gertrude, 1905-1908, n.d.

"A" miscellaneous, 1894-1926, n.d. 

(3 folders)

Bailey, Liberty H., 1891-1907, n.d.

Burpee, W. Atlee, 1896-1917

Box 3 

"B" miscellaneous, 1899-1926, n.d. 

(4 folders)

Bonnheim, Albert, 1909 See Container 11, White Crusaders

Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1903-1910 

(2 folders)

"C" miscellaneous

1890-1916 

(2 folders)

Box 4 

1917-1926, n.d.

D. Hay and Son, 1887-1899, n.d.

Damman & Co., 1894-1896

De Vries, Hugo, 1903-1929

Doubleday, Page & Co., 1903-1918

"D" miscellaneous, 1889-1926, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Empson, J. H., 1905-1921

"E" miscellaneous, 1888-1926, n.d.

Fairchild, David G., 1899-1910

Firestone, Harvey S., 1917-1923

Ford, Henry, and Ford Motor Co., 1915-1928, n.d.

"F" miscellaneous

1891-1912

Box 5 

1913-1926, n.d.

Gleason, Herbert W., 1908-1923, n.d.

Grucy, Lucien (French war orphan and godson), 1919-1923,
n.d.

"G" miscellaneous, 1871-1927, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Hobson, Richmond P., 1921-1922

Husbands, Jose D., 1905-1911, n.d. 

(2 folders)

"H" miscellaneous

1891-1906

Box 6 

1907-1926, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Imai, G., 1920-1924

"I" miscellaneous, 1905-1924, n.d.

Jordan, David Starr, 1901-1926 

(4 folders)

"J" miscellaneous, 1897-1925

Katakura & Co., 1920-1924 See same container, Imai,
G.

Kellogg, John Harvey, 1917-1926

Kellogg, Vernon L., 1900-1915, n.d.

Box 7 

Knudsen, H., 1898-1901, n.d.

"K" miscellaneous, 1891-1926, n.d.

Leib, S. F., 1896-1922

Lelong, B. M., 1890-1900

Lemmon, J. G., 1886-1904

de Longpré, Paul, 1899-1903, n.d.

"L" miscellaneous, 1893-1926, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Maxim, Hudson, 1911-1925

Mills, Susan L., 1907-1908

Morrow, W. W., 1904-1909

Box 8 

Miller, P. Francisco, 1918-1922

Muir, John, 1910

"M" miscellaneous, 1890-1926, n.d. 

(3 folders)

"N" miscellaneous, 1891-1926

Osterhout, J. V., 1901-1904

"O" miscellaneous, 1901-1925, n.d.

"P" miscellaneous

1898-1908

Box 9 

1909-1926, n.d. 

(2 folders)

"Q-R" miscellaneous, 1888-1926, n.d. 

(3 folders)

Samu, Spiegel, 1893-1896

School children

1901-1922 

(2 folders)

Box 10 

1923-1926, n.d.

Schull, George H., 1908-1912

 Scientific American, 1903-1926

Slater, Herbert W., 1917-1925, n.d.

"S" miscellaneous, 1892-1926, n.d. 

(4 folders)

"T" miscellaneous, 1891-1926, n.d.

Box 11 

"U-V" miscellaneous, 1896-1926, n.d.

Vachell, F. Harvey, 1903-1912

Van Deman, H. E., 1894-1905

Waugh, F. A., 1896-1901

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 1906-1914, n.d.

White Crusaders, 1909

Woodward, Robert S. See Container 3, Carnegie Institution
of Washington

"W" miscellaneous, 1888-1926, n.d. 

(3 folders)

Box 12 

"X-Y" miscellaneous, 1894-1925

Unidentified and anonymous, 1898-1927, n.d.

Box 12-18 

Speeches and Writings File, 1869-1950,  n.d.

Holograph, typewritten, near-print, and printed copies
of speeches, lectures, and writings. 

Arranged alphabetically by type of speech or author.
Burbank's writings are listed in one category, those
by others in another.

Box 12 

By Burbank

Catalog descriptions, 1906-1911

Bulbs

Cactus

Cereals and other farm crops

Climbing vines, large

Blackberries

Deciduous trees

Desert plants

Evergreen trees (mostly conifers)

Ferns and mosses

Flowers 

(3 folders)

Forage plants

Fruits

Box 13 

Fruits: vines and shrubs

Giant ornamental grasses

Gladioli

Gourds

Herbs, uncommon vegetables, and other economic plants

Legumes

Mistletoe, parasitic plants, etc.

Nuts

Nut trees and nuts

Orchids

Ornamental grasses and sedges

Palms

Plums

Succulents

Shrubs

Shrubs, ornamental

Solanums and physalis

Textile plants

Uncommon tropicals

Vegetables

Vegetables and garden plants

Water and bog plants

Box 14 

Great men, eulogies and statements, 1915-1926, n.d.

Lectures, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., 1904-1906

Miscellany

Titled, A-Z, 1869-1926

Untitled or incomplete, 1918-1922, n.d.

Quotations

Printed catalogs

1883-1922 

(6 folders)

Box 15 

1923-1927

 Proof Book Number 1, for Luther Burbank Society, 1913

Transcribed interviews with Burbank

By Burt C. Bean

pp. 1-716 

(7 folders)

Box 16 

pp. 717-1918 

(12 folders)

Box 17 

p. 1919-2356 

(4 folders)

By Clark, 1914

By others

Burbank, Elizabeth Waters, 1932-1935 

(2 folders)

Hall, Wilbur, 1941

Jordan, David Starr

Kellogg, Vernon L., 1906-1915

Miscellaneous

Printed, A-Z, 1898-1950

Typewritten, 1916-1935, n.d.

Box 18 

Poems dedicated to Burbank

De Vries, Hugo, 1904-1906, n.d.

Wickson, Edward J., 1905-1908, n.d.

Box 18-20 

Notes and Sketches, 1886-1925,  n.d.

Notes and sketches made by Burbank of fruit and plant
species. 

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Box 18 

Apple trees 

(4 folders)

Berries, cherries, and grapes

Box 19 

Cherry trees 

Crosses

Daisies

Gladioli

Grafting charts, vibrations, etc.

Grapes

Lilies

Lilies and berries

List of plants and seeds

Miscellany

New plums

Hybrids and crossings

Peach trees

Peach trees, plumcots, and nectarines 

(3 folders)

Box 20 

Pear trees 

(3 folders)

Plum trees 

(3 folders)

Quince trees

Strawberries

Miscellany

Box 21-25 

Business Records, 1871-1921,  n.d.

Account books, order books, plan books, seed and stock
records, subscription books, and an inventory of Burbank's
nursery operations. 

Arranged alphabetically by type of record and chronologically
therein.

Box 21 

Account books

1882-1888 

(6 folders)

Box 22 

1898-1902

Inventory, 1871-1874

Order books

1881-1885 

(6 folders)

Box 23 

1885-1889 

(5 folders)

Box 24 

Plan books, 1883-1921 

(5 folders)

Box 25 

Seed records

Domestic, 1905-1914, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Foreign, 1902-1904

Stock records, 1887-1894

Subscription books, n.d. 

(2 vols.)

Box 26-40 

Miscellany, 1894-1922,  n.d.

Clippings, calling cards, invitations, programs, seed
catalogs, membership cards, magazines, journals, printed
matter, and scrapbooks. 

Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically
therein.

Box 26 

Clippings

California earthquake, 1906

Miscellaneous 

(4 folders)

Printed matter

Calling cards and tickets

Invitations

Box 27 

Journals and magazines

 Century Magazine, 1905-1911 

(2 folders)

 Guide to Nature, 1910-1913

Miscellaneous, 1894-1922

(2 folders)

Box 28 

(5 folders)

Box 29 

(6 folders)

Box 30 

(4 folders)

 Overland Monthly, 1903-1908 

(2 folders)

 Sunset Magazine, 1901-1909

(2 folders)

Box 31 

(1 folder)

Membership cards

Programs

Seed catalogs 

(2 folders)

Scrapbooks

Index

Membership cards

Programs

Seed catalogs 

(2 folders)

Box 32 

Vol. 3, 1901-1904

Box 33 

Vol. 4, 1902-1905

Box 34 

Vol. 5, 1905

Box 35 

Vol. 6, 1905-1906

Box 36 

Vol. 7, 1906-1907

Box 37 

Vol. 8, 1907-1908

Box 38 

Vol. 9, 1908

Box 39 

Vol. 14, 1913-1917

Box 40 

Vol. 17, 1915-1922

Box 41 

Addition, 1989

Printed matter.

Box 41 

 Historic American Buildings Survey, Documentation No.
CA-2254 of Gold Ridge Farm, Luther Burbank's Experimental
Farm, Sebastopol, Calif., 1989

Reel 1-2 

Microfilm, 1864-1964,  n.d.

Accession no. 17,338

Correspondence, family papers and genealogies, nursery
plans and notes, financial records, scrapbooks, and
miscellany retained by the Luther Burbank Home, Santa
Rosa, Calif. 

Arranged and described to reflect the arrangement of
the Burbank Papers in the Library of Congress. 

Reel 1 

Family papers

Correspondence, 1919, n.d.

Genealogies, 1864, n.d.

Writings and anecdotes, 1921-1926, n.d.

Correspondence

General, 1874-1964, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Bryan, Mary Baird, 1911-1912

Edison, Thomas A., 1915-1920

Keller, Helen, 1925

Kinsey, Alfred C., 1925

London, Jack, 1905

Scopes trial, Dayton, Tenn., [1925]

Wilson, Woodrow, 1916

Nursery plans

Plan books, 1881-1908, 1926 

(2 vols.)

Plan map, 1914

Plant descriptions, 1908-1921

Plant notes, 1890, 1892, 1896

Financial records

Bank books

1883-1898

1902-1903, 1909-1917

Deeds, 1874-1913

Deeds and abstracts, n.d. 

(2 folders)

Reel 2 

Mortages, 1885-1888

Sales books, 1878-1885 

(3 vols.)

Miscellany

Photographs, n.d.

"Riverside Addition," n.d.

Schools named after Burbank in California, n.d.

Printed matter, Burbank's plant contributions

Scrapbooks

Vol. 1, 1874-1895

Vol. 2, 1895-1904[?]


September 9, 2003