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Hentz Manuscripts: Araneides of the United States

 Collection
Identifier: A2025-01-01

Content Description

This volume contains pages of a smaller notebook pasted into each page. On the smaller pages are handwritten notes and observations about different species of spiders in the Eastern United States by Nicholas Marcellus Hentz. The pages with the writing appear to have been cut out of a notebook and pasted, not in the order of the original notebook, into the new volume. The writings of these notebook pages appear, generally in the order in which they've been pasted, in "The Spiders of the United States. A Collection of the Arachnological Writings of Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, M.D." edited by Edward Burgess and published by the Boston Society of Natural History in 1875, and were also published serially in the journals of the Boston Society of Natural History.

Dates

  • 1820 - 1856
  • Modified: 1893

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for use. Some materials are fragile and require special care instructions.

Conditions Governing Use

The researcher assumes all responsibility for identifying copyright holders and attaining permission for reproduction.

Biographical / Historical

Nicholas Marcellus Hentz (1797-1856), also known as N.M. Hentz, was born in France where he studied medicine and learned how to paint miniatures before emigrating to the United States in 1816. Friend of zoologist Thomas Say, Hentz was a pioneering zoologist in the field of arachnology and is known for describing over 140 species of spiders, the descriptions of which were published in the journals of the Boston Society of Natural History during the 1840s and 1850s.

Extent

1 Volumes

.18 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Latin

Arrangement

Volume kept intact with nothing removed, presumed to be how it was made.

Custodial History

Publications by the BSNH note that Nicholas Marcellus Hentz gave his papers to the BSNH (see page VI in "The Spiders of the United States. A Collection of the Arachnological Writings of Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, M.D.," edited by Edward Burgess, a BSNH publication from 1875). The book plate in this volume notes "received 1893."

Accruals

None are expected.

Related Materials

Information on Hentz, his parents and brother, and his wife and children, can be found in "The Hentz Family Papers, 1782-1932" at the UNC Chapel Hill Wilson Special Collections Library. "Drawing of a Lycola Riparis Spider" is held at University of Virginia Library Special Collections. Correspondence between the naturalist Samuel Stehman Haldeman and N. M. Hentz is in the Geo M. Greene Collection at Brown University John Hay Library for rare books, special collections, and archives.

Processing Information

Emily Buff (Archives Management Graduate Intern)

Title
Hentz Manuscripts: Araneides of the United States Finding Aid
Status
Completed
Author
Emily Buff (Archives Management Graduate Intern)
Date
January 2025
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Museum of Science, Boston Archives Repository

Contact:
One Science Park
Boston Massachusetts 02114