William Saunders Manuscripts

Collection

Identifier: MS0149

Staff Only

Content Description

The William Saunders Manuscripts include: "Alphabetical List of Plants in Four Different Languages, Botanical, English, German, French" (handwritten; call number 452.14 Sa8A Folio), "Cyclopaedia of Economic Plants; Their History Culture and Uses" (handwritten, 1880; six volumes; call number 452.8 Sa8), and "The Journal of William Saunders" (photostat, 1898-1899; call number 120 Sa8).

The collection includes facsimiles of the following documents from the National Grange: William Saunders' manuscript on History and Organization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1885; American Association of the Red Cross document in which the Association thanks Saunders for the care of its exhibits at New Orleans, 1885; Report of William Saunders concerning his trip to South Carolina to study the introduction of the tea plant as a profitable industry in the United States, 1897; excerpt from "The Journal of William Saunders" regarding the Gettysburg Cemetery, 1898; and William Saunders' portrait, undated. Other materials associated with the National Grange Collection on William Saunders include maps of pine supply in various states from the Tenth Census of the United States, 1881, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Album of Agricultural Statistics of the United States by J. R. Dodge, 1891, signed by J. M. Rusk, Secretary of Agriculture.

Dates

Creation: 1880-1899

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Biographical Sketch

William Saunders (1822-1900), horticulturist and landscape gardener, was appointed Superintendent of the Experimental Gardens of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. He established an extensive collection of trees on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and developed a system of street tree-planting used in the District of Columbia in the 1870s. He wrote widely on general horticulture, and his publications include some 3,000 titles.