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/mm78052126
Collection material in English
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 William T. Hornaday, conservationist, zoologist, and taxidermist, were given to the Library of Congress by Temple Hornaday Fielding in 1967. A substantial addition was given by the William T. Hornaday Memorial Trust and William T. Hornaday Conservation Trust in 1981. More material was added in 1982 as a gift from Quinn Hornaday and Aline Hornaday. Additional papers were given by John Ripley Forbes in 1984, the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center from 1996 to 2020, and James A. Dolph from 2015 to 2016. Two letters were purchased from 1988 to 1989.
The papers of William T. Hornaday were processed by Ruth Wennersten in 1968 and expanded with the incorporation into the collection of Additions I and II by Mary Wolfskill in 1985-1986. Additional material received and purchased between 1984 and 2016 was processed as Addition III in 2016, and material received between 2016 and 2020 was processed as Addition IV by Pang H. Xiong in 2022. The finding aid was revised in 2012, 2016, and 2022.
Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the William T. Hornaday Papers. Patrons are encouraged to contact the Prints and Photographs Division in advance of a research visit.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of William Temple Hornaday in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for further information.
The papers of William T. Hornaday are open to research. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting.
Microfilm on fourteen reels was received as part of the papers of William T. Hornaday and is listed and described in this finding aid. This microfilm is not available for interlibrary loan.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, William T. Hornaday Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of William Temple Hornaday (1854-1937) span the years 1866-1975, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period between 1906 and 1936. The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, journals, production material for articles and books, notebooks, financial papers, clippings, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and other papers reflecting Hornaday's career, particularly as director of New York Zoological Park (1896-1926). The papers are organized into ten series: Family Papers; General Correspondence; Speech, Article, and Book File; Camp Fire Club of America File; Miscellany; Addition I; Addition II; Addition III; Addition IV; and Oversize
Hornaday's various activities as taxidermist, collector, zoological park director, and wildlife conservationist are well documented; there are also deeds and property contracts for his ventures in real estate in Buffalo, New York. Reflecting Hornaday's family life is correspondence with his wife, Josephine Chamberlain Hornaday, and daughter, Helen Ross Hornaday Fielding, as well as exchanges of letters with other relatives in the Family Papers series and in the correspondence of Addition I.
William T. Hornaday became the first director of the New York Zoological Park in 1896 and remained in that position until his retirement in 1926. The need for wildfire conservation measures became his paramount interest during this period, and the correspondence in the collection contains references to his activities and campaigns in this endeavor. Correspondents include Edith Helen Franz, Madison Grant, Jack Miner, the New York Zoological Society, Henry Fairfield Osborn, John M. Phillips, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
Other prominent correspondents include Carl Ethan Akeley, Roy Chapman Andrews, Newton Diehl Baker, Daniel Carter Beard, William Beebe, Charles E. Bessey, Frank Buck, John Burroughs, Andrew Carnegie, Elliot Coues, Raymond Lee Ditmars, Theodore Dreiser, G. Brown Goode, Zane Grey, Carl Hagenbeck, W. J. Holland, Charles Evans Hughes, Martin Johnson, S. P. Langley, C. Hart Merriam, Maxwell E. Perkins, Gifford Pinchot, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt, Ernest Thompson Seton, George Shiras, John Wanamaker, and Henry A. Ward.
As president of the American Bison Society, Hornaday worked to prevent the extinction of the bison. He also supported such legislation as the New York (State) Bayne Act of 1911 and tariff measures to prohibit wanton wildlife destruction and helped raise money to establish the Permanent Wild Life Protection Fund. Material pertaining to these activities is in the collection. For thirty years, Hornaday maintained an interest in the Camp Fire Club of America and its camping and hunting programs. He wrote the music and words for a camp-fire song and saved many mementoes of the club's activities.
During World War I, Hornaday promoted preparedness and became a trustee of the American Defense Society. Under its aegis, he published pamphlets and a book,
Topics among the voluminous writings in the collection include conservation, exploration, natural history, taxidermy, travel, and zoology. In addition to production materials for published works, there are several unpublished manuscripts, one of them about Hornaday's South American expedition for Henry A. Ward's
Addition II consists of a typescript of Hornaday's unpublished autobiography, “Eighty Fascinating Years”; a doctoral dissertation on his early life; and a children's book about Hornaday by John Ripley Forbes.
Addition III consists of material relating to Hornaday's interest in taxidermy and wildlife conservation and career at the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C., and New York Zoological Park. Scrapbooks include clippings from published sources, handwritten notations, and inserts such as correspondence and pamphlets. Also included is Hornaday's buffalo hunting journal from 1886; a sketch pad containing drawings related to the buffalo hunt; and a diary kept by Hornaday about acquiring land for the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., followed by his field notes and initial surveys of the unmapped site of the New York Zoological Park.
Addition IV includes Hornaday's handwritten diary from 1889 with entries on the founding of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., as well as entries about meetings with S. P. Langley and the National Zoological Park Commission and surveying land in the Rock Creek area. This diary complements the diary and scrapbooks in Addition III about the National Zoological Park. Also included are correspondence from Howard Eaton of Eatons' Ranch, Wolf, Wyoming, to Hornaday and printed matter about Eatons' Ranch.
This collection is arranged in ten series:
Correspondence between Hornaday and members of his family and papers of other family members, including notebooks and other items for George T. Fielding.
Arranged by type of material and name of family member.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged alphabetically.
Speeches, articles, poems, miscellaneous notes, notes for books, and material for unpublished autobiography and published books by Hornaday.
Arranged by type of material and by title or topic.
Correspondence, menus, song material, and miscellany.
Arranged by type of material.
Financial papers, invitations, zoo and conservation material, biographical notes, book lists, sketchbook, diaries, fiftieth anniversary memorabilia, will, condolence notes, and scrapbooks on Hornaday's death, World War I, and Don Baxter.
Arranged by type of material.
Correspondence, address books, drafts and printed copies of books, articles, and other writings, clippings, scrapbooks and miscellany.
Organized as arranged and described by the University of Wyoming Conservation History and Research Center before transfer of the addition to the Library of Congress. A copy of the inventory is in Container 111 at the end of the series. Not all items listed in the inventory were located when the material was received by the Library.
The personal letterbooks in this series were microfilmed. The microfilm negatives are available. Shelf no. 22,459.
Unpublished autobiography by William T. Hornaday, dissertation on Hornaday by James A. Dolph, and biography of Hornaday by John Ripley Forbes.
Correspondence, diary, journal, scrapbooks, sketch pad, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged by topic or type of material and alphabetically or chronologically therein.
Correspondence, diary, newspaper articles and clippings, photographs, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material.
Certificates, charts, maps, and miscellaneous items.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.