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Title: William Setchell papers, 1881-1943
Primary Creator: Setchell, William Albert (1864-1943)
Extent: 28.5 Linear Feet
Arrangement:
Arranged in seven series, one of which is further arranged in five subseries.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1881-1943
Series 2: Writing and notes
Subseries 1: Writings and notes by Setchell
Subseries 2: Writings and notes by Setchell and others
Subseries 3: Writings and notes by N. L. Gardner
Subseries 4: Writings and notes by students
Subseries 5: Writings and notes by others
Series 3: Clubs and societies, 1895-1940
Series 4: Photographs
Series 5: Clippings
Series 6: Travel, 1903-1935
Series 7: Memorabilia and personal papers, 1886-1940
Subjects: Algology, Marine algae, Setchell, William Albert, 1864-1943 - Archives, University of California, Berkeley. - Dept. of Botany, University of California, Berkeley. - Herbarium.
Forms of Material: Correspondence, Photographs
Languages: English
William Albert Setchell, prominent phycologist and chair of the Botany Department at the University of California, Berkeley, was born on April 15, 1864 in Norwich, Connecticut. After developing an early interest in natural history, Setchell attended Yale University where he was able to use the library and herbarium of botanist Daniel Cady Eaton. After receiving his B. A. from Yale in 1887, he went to Harvard to study marine algae with William Farlow. While at Harvard he began to collect specimens of North American algae with Isaac Holden and Frank Shipley Collins. The end result of this project was the publication of the Phycotheca Boreali-Americana, a collected of dried algae specimens published in 46 bound volumes from 1895-1919. In 1895 Setchell was hired by the University of California as Professor of Botany and Chair of the Botany Department, a position he held until he retired in 1934. His research focused on the taxonomy and distribution of marine algae with an emphasis on the distribution of species along temperature gradients. In California he collaborated with Nathaniel Lyon Gardner on the marine algae of the Pacific Coast of North America and traveled worldwide for his phycological research. His research interests were broad; in addition to marine algae he studied the formation of coral reefs, taxonomy of fungi, ethnobotany, plant genetics, and the thermal algae of Yellowstone National Park.
He was a popular instructor at the University of California at Berkeley and also served as the director for the campus botanical garden from 1895-1934.
Setchell was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Torrey Botanical Club as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and numerous other professional societies and organizations. He was also an active member of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco.
He married Clara Bell Caldwell in 1920. She assisted him with his research and accompanied him on many of his research trips before passing away on September 4, 1934. They had no children.
William Setchell passed away in Berkeley, California on April 5, 1943.
Chronology:
1883 Began studying at Yale University
1883 Published Catalogue of Wild Plants Growing in Norwich and Vicinity
1887 Received A. B. from Yale University
1888 Received M. A. from Harvard University
1889 Met Frank Shipley Collins
1890 Received Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University
1890-1895 Summer supervisor of marine botany at Woods Hold Marine Biological Laboratory
1891 Graduate thesis published: “Concerning the life-history of Saccorhiza dermatodea”
1891 Hired as an assistant in Biology at Yale University
1892 Hired as Instructor in Biology at Yale University
1895 Hired as Assistant Professor of Botany at Yale University
1895 Hired as Professor of Botany and Chairman of the Department at the University of California, Berkeley
1895 First fascicle of Phycotheca boreali-americana published
1898 Visited Yellowstone National Park to study thermal algae
1899 Trip to Alaska (Bering Sea). with L. E. Hunt. W. L. Jepson, and A. A. Lawson.
1900 Trip to Hawaii, with L. E. Hunt.
1903-1904 First sabbatical: Round the World, eastward Berkeley to Philadelphia, Europe, Egypt, India, New Zealand. General collecting, Marine algae, and herbarium studies.
1905 Visited Yellowstone National Park to study thermal algae
1919 Last (no. 46) fascicle of Phycotheca boreali-americana published
1919 Marine Algae of the Pacific Coast series first published
1919 Elected to the National Academy of Sceinces and the American Philosophical Society
1920 Married Clara B. Caldwell
1920 Spent summer in Samoan Islands studying crustaceous coralline algae and reef building
1922 Summer in Tahiti with Clara Setchell and H. E. Parks
1924 Trip to Hawaii with Clara Setchell
1925 Published "The Marine Algae of the Pacific Coast of North America. Part III. Melanophyceae." in University of California Publications in Botany
1926 Delegate to the Third Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo
1926-1927 Round the world (with Clara B. Setchell): Tonga (with H.E. Parks, J. E. Hoffmeister, J. H. Ostergaard) , Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, Japan (Congress), etc. Australia, New Zealand, So. Africa. Distribution, Coral reefs.
1929 Delegate to the Fourth Pacific Science Congress in Batavia and Bandoeng Java
1931 Faculty Research Lecturer at the University of California
Summers of 1931 and 1932 Traveled to Alaska with Mrs. Setchell to collect willows
1934 Retired from University of California
1934 Clara B. Setchell passes away
April 5, 1943 Died in Berkeley, California
Algology
Marine algae
Setchell, William Albert, 1864-1943 - Archives
University of California, Berkeley. - Dept. of Botany
University of California, Berkeley. - Herbarium.
Repository: University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley
Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions: Copyright has not been assigned to the University and Jepson Herbaria Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University and Jepson Herbaria Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the publisher.
Related Materials: See also the William Albert Setchell papers, 1874-1943 at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley (BANC MSS C-B 1034)
Preferred Citation: William Setchell Papers, University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley.