Scope and Contents: This collection consists of correspondence from Willis Linn Jepson to Abby L. Waterman. The correspondence includes letters detailing Jepson's personal travels, field visits, and personal and university life. The bulk of the letters are focused on Jepson's experiences traveling and conducting California desert plant surveys and his time spent working and convalescing at Waterman Ranch. Geographic regions referred to include Barstow, Caliente, Tehachipi, Mojave, Death Valley, San Bernardino, Carrizo Plain, and San Diego. Other letters detail his health conditions and observations on daily life, his various academic duties and accomplishments, and his relationships with graduate students and colleagues. The collection also includes a few newspaper clippings, pages from printed publications, and photographs.
Jepson and Waterman became personally acquainted during his travels to the Barstow area. Waterman had a shared interest in the botany of desert environments where Waterman Ranch was located.