Charles C. Plitt Collection

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Charles Christian Plitt (1869-1933) was a botanist who became an international expert in lichenology. By the time of his death in 1933, he had amassed one of the three largest collections of mosses and lichens in the world. However, Plitt was also an avid field botanist in Maryland. For decades, he and companions made weekly field trips into the Maryland countryside around Glen Burnie, Towson, Loch Raven, Curtis Bay, and Ellicott City. Plitt's field notes were kept in journals he titled "Tramps." These journals, dated 1899 to 1922, are a priceless record of the varied species of plants which once grew in habitats now buried beneath urban landscapes.

Series I consists of one ledger and four copybooks containing botany data from 1897 to 1898. Series II consist of the "Tramps," which begin in 29 numbered and dated copybooks and are continued in two ledgers. Series III contains photographs, series IV personal papers, and series V published works. Series VI contains published excerpts from "Tramps."

Though Plitt died in 1933, it was more than half a century before the journals and other materials were donated to Special Collections. The donor was Martha Heard Ray. Her father, Osborne Heard, had been a companion of Plitt's on those weekly "Tramps." Series VII includes Heard's personal papers--primarily correspondence. In the early 1980s, Heard was corresponding with former associates of Plitt to gather biographical material for an article on Plitt. Series VIII includes Ray's papers concerning the donation of the collection.