Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78012229
Collection material in English with Spanish and German
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of George F. Becker, geologist, mathematician, engineer, and physicist were given to the Library of Congress by his wife Florence Deakins Becker from 1952 to 1954. The first accession was transferred from the United States Geological Survey where Mrs. Becker had originally placed it. A bound volume was received as a gift from C. A. Elliott, Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, Mass., in 1992.
The papers of George F. Becker were arranged and described circa 1954. The collection was expanded and the finding aid revised in 2009. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Rachel Telford as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
A brief report on the George F. Becker Papers appeared in the Library's
Photographs and photograph albums have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the George F. Becker Papers.
Related collections in the Manuscript Division include the papers of his wife, Florence Deakins Becker.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of George F. Becker in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of George F. Becker are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, George F. Becker Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of George Ferdinand Becker (1847-1919) span the years 1814-1928, with the bulk of the items dating from 1870 to1919. The papers primarily relate to Becker's service as geologist-in-charge of the United States Geological Survey during which time he conducted investigations in Nevada, southern Alaska, South Africa, the Pacific slope, and the Philippines as well as his service as the geophysicist of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and as the United States representative to the Radioactivity Congress in Brussels, Belgium. Mostly in English with Spanish and German, the papers are organized into the following series: Family Correspondence; General Correspondence; Letterbooks; Subject File; Biographical File; Blueprints, Maps, and Sketches; Addition; and Oversize.
The Family Correspondence consists mainly of letters exchanged between Becker, his mother Sarah Cary Tuckerman Becker, and wives Alice Theodora ("Elsie") Watson Becker and Florence Serpell Deakins Becker. A separate group of early family letters includes the correspondence of Joseph Tuckerman, Becker's grandfather, and other members of the family with literary and scientific figures of the time. Letters for the years 1834-1838 contain references to literary figures Harriet Martineau with whom Sarah Cary Tuckerman Becker traveled and William Ellery Channing.
The General Correspondence and Letterbooks contain Becker's correspondence from about 1857 to his death and document his service as geologist-in-charge for the United States Geological Survey. Correspondents include Andreas Arzruni, James Franklin Bell, Theodore E. Burton, Willilam Crozier, Edward Salisbury Dana, James Dwight Dana, Samuel Franklin Emmons, Archibald Geikie, Arnold Hague, Eugene W. Hilgard, Edmund Otis Hovey, Henry Marion Howe, Louis Janin, Waldemar Lindgren, Charles Washington Merrill, Simon Newcomb, Charles S. Peirce, Chester W. Purington, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ward Turner, Charles D. Walcott, and Robert Simpson Woodward. The Letterbooks are legible except for one, but are in poor chronological arrangement and contain an incomplete index with each volume.
The Subject File relates to Becker's work on Panama Canal landslides, and the gold fields of South Africa, California, and southern Alaska. A large number of the files document Becker's work in the Philippine Islands where he served as the geologist for the United States Army and was later appointed to prepare a report on the desirability of scientific exploration in the area.
The Biographical File is largely comprised of the diaries, journals, and personal notebooks of Alice Theodora ("Elsie') Watson Becker, Sarah Cary Tuckerman Becker, Andrew C. Becker, and Becker himself. Included also are biographical sketches of Becker, his obituary notices, his school essays and notebooks, and folders on other family members.
The collection is rounded out by the Blueprints, Maps, and Sketches series with printed maps and blueprints relating to Becker's career as well as a large number of sketches of landscapes and interiors, by an Addition containing the 1902 book
This collection is arranged in eight series:
Letters sent and received.
Arranged either chronologically or by name of family member and therein chronologically.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged chronologically with Theodore Roosevelt correspondence filed at the end of the series.
Letterpress copies of letters sent.
Arranged chronologically. Illegible letters are filed at the end of the series.
Memoranda, reports, articles, print and near-print matter, notes and notebooks, charts, and tables.
Arranged alphabetically by subject and therein by topic or type of material.
Biographical sketches, diaries, journals, notebooks, memoranda, school essays, memorabilia, and obituary notices.
Arranged by name of person or type of material.
Printed maps, blueprints, loose sketches, and sketch books.
Arranged by type of material.
Book entitled
Certificates, maps, photostatic copies, and a chart.
Arranged and described according to the box and folder from which the items were removed.