Ronald Bamford papers
Abstract
Ronald Bamford was on the faculty of the Department of Botany at the University of Maryland from 1931 until the late 1960s. Bamford served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture for the 1949-1950 academic year, and served as Dean of the Graduate School from 1950 until 1966. His papers consist of correspondence, writings, awards and photographs. Subjects include Dr. Bamford's academic and professional careers, violet hybrids, and root tips of wheat and corn.
Important Information for Users of the Collection
This collection is open for research.
Ronald Bamford papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
This collection is PROCESSED.
Historical Note
Ronald Bamford was born on November 1, 1901, in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. In 1924, he received his B. S. from Connecticut Agricultural College, which is now the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He was a graduate student and assistant in botany at the University of Vermont at Burlington, where he received his M. S. in 1926. Between 1926 and 1929, Bamford was an instructor of botany at the University of Vermont. In September 1929, he began a fellowship in botany at Columbia University and became an assistant in botany in July 1930. He received his Ph. D. in botany from Columbia University the following year.
Dr. Bamford joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in 1931 as an assistant professor of botany, rising to associate professor in 1933 and full professor in 1939. Dr. Bamford chaired the Department of Botany from 1944 to 1963 and served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture for the 1949-1950 academic year. Dr. Bamford was the Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland from 1950 to 1966. He returned to the Department of Botany as a professor after resigning his deanship. June 1, 1966, Governor J. Millard Tawes appointed Dr. Bamford to the Maryland Board of Natural Resources. During his tenure at the University of Maryland, Dr. Bamford taught general botany, plant anatomy, history and philosophy of botany, cytology, and plant morphology. He served as president of Sigma Xi, the Washington Botanical Society, and the American Genetic Association, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Botanical Society of America. Dr. Bamford retired from the University of Maryland in the late 1960s and died in January 1981.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The papers of Ronald Bamford include materials dating from 1926 to 1967. The collection contains Bamford's correspondence, writings relating to his academic and professional career at the University of Maryland and other academic institutions, awards presented to Dr. Bamford by various organizations in which he participated, such as the Maryland Board of Natural Resources, and photographs.
Custodial History and Acquisition Information
The papers of Ronald Bamford were originally transferred to the University of Maryland Libraries in October 1973 as part of the records of the Department of Botany. Additional materials belonging to Dr. Bamford, also part of the records of the Department of Botany, were received from Dana Thomas in July 1992. In 1996, the Department of Botany transferred materials to the University of Maryland Libraries, which were found to contain additional correspondence and academic writings of Dr. Bamford. A series of letters commemorating Dr. Bamford's retirement as department head were transferred from the records of the Botany Department in 2002. In 2009, another addendum was made, consisting of correspondence, photographs, a notebook, and academic and professional documents, were transferred to the University of Maryland Libraries by Gene Ferrick, Assistant to the Dean of Chemical and Life Sciences.
Processing Information
Processed by Sara Pfaffenbach and Michelle DeMartino, February 1997. Addenda incorporated and guide revised by: Jill F. Reilly, July 2002. Addenda incorporated and guide revised by Valerie Vanden Bossche October 2009.
The Papers of Ronald Bamford were separated from the records of the Department of Botany and Plant Biology during processing, begun in 1996. Staples and paper clips were removed from the collection, and all materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. A 1922 edition of Nutmeg, a yearbook of Connecticut Agricultural College, was removed from the Bamford papers during processing and sent to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. An addendum was made in July 2002, which consisted of a binder of letters. The binder was disassembled, and the letters were placed in an acid-free folder and added to Series I. An addendum was made in October 2009. Photographs and a poem were removed from frames, separated and placed in acid free folders. Correspondence and Academic and Professional Careers documents were interfiled.
EAD markup created using EAD database in Microsoft Access. Markup completed by Jennie A. Levine and Jennifer Evans.
Arrangement of Collection
The collection has been divided into four series:
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series 1: Correspondence, 1927-1967 (92 items)
This series consists largely of correspondence dated between 1927 and 1930, when Bamford was an assistant in botany at Columbia University and between 1932 and 1946 when he was a professor in botany at the University of Maryland. Also included are letters from Maryland governors J. Millard Tawes (1959, 1967) and Spiro T. Agnew (1967) regarding Dr. Bamford's appointment to and resignation from the State of Maryland Board of Natural Resources; correspondences from Bamford's aunt, Emily Butterworth, and Rev. R. Butterworth dated 1966; and additional letters relating to his career. The correspondence is arranged in three groupings and chronologically withing folders. Correspondents of note are Millard E. Tydings, Spiro Agnew and Harry Clifton Byrd.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Correspondence, Columbia University, 1927-1931 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 1 | |
| [Letters to Commemorate Retirement as Department Head], [June 1963] | series 1 | box 1 | folder 2 | |
| General Correspondence, 1930-1967 | series 1 | box 1 | folder 3 | |
Series 2: Writings, 1921-1931 (47 items)
This series contains works authored and/or co-authored by Dr. Bamford between 1926 and 1931. Also included is a notebook copy of Studies in North American Violets, II. The Cytology of Some Sterile F1 Violet Hybrids, a work Bamford co-authored. This is accompanied by a set of the illustrations intended for the published copy and a notebook containing thesis data on wheat and corn grown in nutrient solutions deficient in calcium. Another notebook contains his 1921 student notes on a botany class. Arrangement is chronological.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botany Notes notebook, 1921 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 4 | |
| "The Cytology and Sporogenesis of Two F1 Violet Hybrids" (M. S. Thesis), [1926] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 5 | |
| Studies in North American Violets, I. General Considerations, [A. Gershoy, 1928], II. The Cytology of Some Sterile F1Violet Hybrids, [Ronald Bamford and Alexander Gersho], [1930] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 6 | |
| Studies in North American Violets, II. The Cytology of Some Sterile F1 Violet Hybrids, NOTEBOOK, [Ronald Bamford and Alexander Gershoy], [1930] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 7 | |
| Studies in North American Violets, II. The Cytology of Some Sterile F1 Violet Hybrids, ILLUSTRATIONS, [Ronald Bamford and Alexander Gershoy], [1930] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 8 | |
| "Relationships, Geographic Distribution, Chromosome Numbers and Inheritance Studies in the Genus Viola with Special Reference to North American Forms", [January 31, 1931] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 9 | |
| Thesis Data, 1930-1931 | series 2 | box 1 | folder 10 | |
| Changes in root tips of wheat and corn grown in nutrient solutions deficient in Calcium [Ronald Bamford], [1931] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 11 | |
| Notes for speech, [undated] | series 2 | box 1 | folder 12 | |
Series 3: Academic and Professional Careers, 1929-1967 and undated (18 items)
This series contains academic and University of Maryland documents, a poem on botany, and awards presented to Dr. Ronald Bamford by several University of Maryland campus organizations, such as the Agricultural Student Council and the Society of Sigma Xi, as well as certificates from the State of Maryland recognizing Bamford's appointment and service to the Maryland Board of Natural Resources between 1950 and 1967. Arrangement is chronological.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcript and correspondence Connecticut Agricultural College, 1929 | series 3 | box 1 | folder 13 | |
| 1931-1932 University of Maryland Schedule of Classes, First Semester (oversize), 1931, 1932 | series 3 | box 1 | folder 14 | |
| University of Maryland career documents, 1938-1949 and undated | series 3 | box 1 | folder 15 | |
| Certificate of Award [Agricultural Student Council, University of Maryland], Certificate appointing Dr. Bamford to Maryland Board of Natural Resources, Resolution from State of Maryland Board of Natural Resources, Award for Contributions in Science, Society of Sigma Xi, [1950-1951], 1966, 1967 and undated | series 3 | box 1 | folder 16 | |
| Botany poem, undated | series 3 | box 1 | folder 17 | |
Series 4: Photographs, ca. 1930, 1955 and undated (17 items)
17 black and white photographs - one of a man and woman with youung child [1930], two small graduation photographs, one of a theatrical production, one of a lab scene, seven unidentified group shots, one of H.J. Patterson Hall, one portrait of Dr. Bamford, two portraits of Dr. Ernest Cory, and one lab instruction scene.
| Description | Series | Box / Reel | Folder / Frame | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 black and white photographs, [1930] | series 4 | box 1 | folder 1 | |
Related Material
Administrative correspondence produced during Dr. Bamford's tenure as Dean of the Graduate School can be found in the records of the Graduate School (Series I, Box 1). The records of the Department of Botany contain news clippings about Dr. Bamford's career (Series III, Box 1), photographs of Dr. Bamford (Series V), and correspondence of Dr. Bamford received while he was a professor and head of the department (Series I, Box 3). There are three additional photograph portraits of Dr. Bamford in the Portraits Files of the Photograph Collection.
For other related archival and manuscript collections, please see the following subject guides.
Selected Search Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the University of Maryland Libraries' Catalog. Researchers desiring related materials about these topics, names, or places may search the Catalog using these headings.
Subjects
- Bamford, Ronald, 1901- -- Archives
- Botanists -- United States -- Archives
- Violets -- Cytology
Names (Added Entries)
- Agnew, Spiro T., 1918-1996
- Byrd, Harry Clifton, 1889-1970
- Tawes, J. Millard, 1894-1979
- Tydings, Millard E. (Millard Evelyn), 1890-1961