From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
15 July 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.32-33, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
17 July 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.34, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
23 July 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.35-37, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
Text Online
From:
Alfred Russel Wallace
To:
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:
27 July 1877
Source of text:
Sotheby's (auction)
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
2 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.30-31, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
JDH informs his wife, Lady Hyacinth Hooker, of his latest travels around the United States of America. He & his party camped at La Veta Pass in the Rocky Mountains to explore the forest for plants. The travelling party consists of: Dr Asa Gray, Lady Jane Loring Gray, General Richard Strachey, Lady Jane Maria Strachey, Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden & Dr Robert Henry Lambourne. From La Veta they travelled by rail & wagon to Fort Garland, a remote military garrison, & then ascended Sierra Blanca; the highest mountain in the Rockies at 14,500 feet. He describes the ascent: hard work cutting their way through Aspen & Pine forest & sleeping out in the cold. They then travelled by train past Pueblo to Colorado Springs & by coach to Manitou [Springs] at the foot of the mountains close to Pikes Peak. It is a popular resort for invalids & here JDH met Dr [Samuel Edwin?] Solly an acquaintance from London. Next they will go to George Town [Georgetown] & ascend Gray's Peak, then to Cheyenne on the California rail line. JDH longs for news from home, any letters sent have gone astray. He wishes Hyacinth were with him but the travelling is expensive and uncomfortable for ladies. The conditions are tiring but JDH is learning 'an enormous deal'.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
5 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.25-26, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Date:
7 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/16 f.40, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
JDH received William Thiselton-Dyer's [WTD's] letter of 13 July [1877] at Denver, Colorado. He is glad WTD is not overwhelmed by the duties of RBG Kew Director in JDH's absence. Mrs Hodgson wrote to JDH about visiting WTD & his wife Harriet Thiselton-Dyer. JDH is working learning a lot about western conifers, especially the Pines of Colorado, which are very diverse & incl. Pinus edulis, P. ponderosa P. aristata, P. flexilis, Abies douglasii, A. menziesii, A. engelmannii, Picea concolor, Juniperus virginiana, J. occidentalis & J. communis. Of these western American species only the Junipers are found East of the Rocky Mountains. JDH has collected 500 species. Next the party travels East to the Wahasatch [Wasatch] Mountains beyond Salt Lake to get a glimpse of the West Colorado vegetation where Pinus edulis gives way to P. monophylla. They will go to Nevada & the Taxodium grove via Carson & Silver City then via Calavera & Mariposa to San Francisco, the Redwood [Sequoioideae] district & Monterey. JDH's travelling companion Asa Gray should write a general description of the botanical geography of North America, they may write something jointly for Hayden's Survey. The Stracheys are good company. Discusses improvements being made at RBG Kew: replacement of the boilers [in the Palm House] with 'Rivers' Boilers', the controversy over the height of the [RBG Kew boundary] wall, bad work done by a contractor & poor foundations of the Palm House. JDH is anxious to give up his duties at the Royal Society & focus on RBG Kew. JDH has seen the RBG Kew report published in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. Mentions news regarding his sons Charles Paget Hooker & Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker. JDH is suffering with diarrhoea & travelling through wilderness has left him bruised. He does not have the energy he once had, though he did climb Gray's Peak to 14,300 feet. Recounts the feeling of being at the top of the peak during an electrical storm with Mr Darrell, son of Judge Darrell of Bermuda.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
8 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.22-24, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
12 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.19, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
Whilst staying in Salt Lake City JDH & Asa Gray made a botanical excursion to the Wahsatch [Wasatch] mountains & saw the 'Emma Mine'. Comments on the significance of the mountain flora to understanding plant distribution; they found plants that connect the Flora of Colorado & Utah with that of California. Went from Salt Lake City to Ogden where the Stracheys left for England. Stracheys were to return by train via Cheyennes, Omaha, Chicago, Niagara & then on the Hudson to New York & ship to England. JDH went on through the salt desert region to Reno & Carson City, the region is hot & treeless but irrigation allows cultivation of crops. JDH, Gray & Hayden visited Virginia City in mountains full of gold & silver mines, around which towns grow up, as in a gold rush. Lists some of the richest mines' yields. Briefly discusses the mining processes & machinery used for processing quartz & ores, also the conditions the miners work in underground. Gold & silver are the currency of the towns. Many thousands of people have been ruined trying to make a fortune from mining a lode which turned out to be small & the mountains are full of prospectors. Next JDH & party go to Silver City, across the mountains to Yosemite, Calaveras Groves & on to San Francisco The last of JDH's work in the United States of America will be in the forests of the Pacific coast. He has collected plants across the continent from East to West representing an excellent achievement in geographical botany. It has been tiring work & JDH longs to be home with Hyacinth Hooker, his wife.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
22 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.20, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Date:
23 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/16 f.40a, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
George Bentham
Date:
26 August 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/3/2 f.173, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Date:
22 September 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/16 f.41, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer from New Haven, Connecticut where he is staying with his friend, the fern specialist, Daniel Cady Eaton. JDH admires the green & varied scenery of all the eastern states he has seen. JDH travelled from the Sierra Nevada to Niagara falls, then to Albany & to Poughkeepsie to visit the Vassar College for girls where the astronomers Miss Mitchell & Miss Sommerville are based. Also saw grounds of [Henry Winthrop] Sargent at Fishkill before going on to New York. In New York JDH went to both museums of natural history in Central Park & met their heads: Albert Smith Bickermore & Frederick Law Olmsted. At New Haven JDH has met, or soon will: Othniel Charles Marsh, James Dwight Dana & William Henry Brewer. Marsh is busy with dinosaur remains discovered in the Rocky Mountains, JDH has seen the bones in Arkansas Canon. A botanist named Brewer formerly of the California Survey gave JDH useful information on the distribution of Pines. JDH discusses his return to England from Boston, he may be delayed there & will use the time to name his specimens at Asa Gray's herbarium & work on his Royal Society address. He will resign as President of the Royal Society at the end of the session. He notes that nobody in the United States of America has received a copy of the [RBG Kew Annual] Report. In a post script dated 24 Sep 1877 JDH writes of the arrival of his collections at New Haven. JDH has received a letter from WTTD with news of insubordination from the gardeners at RBG Kew, he discusses the degree to which John Smith & George Nicholson are at fault & to a lesser degree John Reader Jackson & William Granger. JDH disapproves of the raising of such men as Jackson, [Alexander] Moore & Nicholas Edward Brown to positions that make it hard to dismiss them. For discipline of the constables they should be regularly inspected. JDH mentions that his son Charles Paget Hooker has not passed his Chemistry [exam].
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
28 September 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.18, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Lady Hyacinth Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine)
Date:
-[10]-[1877]
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.16-17, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
19 Oct 1877
Source of text:
DAR 104: 95–6
Summary:
JDH has just returned from U. S., where he worked on N. American geographical distribution with Asa Gray.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Date:
20 October 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/22/2 f.93-94, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:
21 Oct [1877]
Source of text:
DAR 95: 457–8
Summary:
Welcomes JDH home from American expedition.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Asa Gray
Date:
23 October 1877
Source of text:
Asa Gray Correspondence 25, Archives of the Gray Herbarium
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
John Firminger Duthie
Date:
24 October 1877
Source of text:
JDH/2/3/4 f.8, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Hooker Project
Addressee
Correspondent
- Hooker, J. D.
- Darwin, C. R.27
- Hooker (nee Symonds, then Jardine), Lady Hyacinth15
- Gray, Asa9
- Thiselton-Dyer, William Turner4
- Duthie, John Firminger3
- Feilden, Colonel Henry Wemyss2
- Hodgson, Brian Houghton2
- Barkly (nee Pratt), Lady Anne Maria1
- Bebb, Mr Michael Schuck1
- Bentham, George1
- Berkeley, Miles Joseph1
- Elliot, Walter1
- Nares, George Strong1
- Wallace, Alfred Russel1
- Williamson, Alexander William1
- [Darwin, Charles Robert]1
- unknown addressee1