Rimo Bacigalupi papers, 1908-1995 | University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley

Collection Overview

Title: Rimo Bacigalupi papers, 1908-1995

Predominant Dates:1922-1983

Primary Creator: Bacigalupi, Rimo C. (1901-1996)

Extent: 5.0 Linear Feet

Arrangement: Arranged in six series: Series 1. Correspondence, 1908-1983; Series 2. Field books, 1924-1983; Series 3. Photographs, 1922-1976; Series 4. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, 1962-1966; Series 5. Publications, 1929-1967; Series 6. Additional items added to the collection, 1923-1968.

Subjects: Bacigalupi, Rimo C., 1901-1996 - Archives, Botanists - California, Botany - California, Jepson Herbarium, Regional Parks Botanic Garden (Berkeley, Calif.)

Forms of Material: Correspondence, Field notes, Photographs

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection includes correspondence, field notes, photographs, and other materials documenting the scientific career of Rimo Baciagalupi, California botanist and first curator of the Jepson Herbarium at the University of California, Berkeley. Correspondence and papers from Bacigalupi's tenure as chairman of the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden are also included. A small box of material added to the collection after processing can be found in Series 6.

Biographical Note

Rimo Bacigalupi (1917-1983) was the first curator of the Jepson Herbarium at the University of California, Berkeley. He was born in San Francisco on March 24, 1901 and developed an interest in natural history while attending Lowell High School. He received his A. B. degree in Botany in 1923 and his A. M. degree from Stanford in 1925, studying Garrya with Professor Le Roy Abrams. He taught botany and Italian at Mills College before obtaining his Ph. D. in 1931 from Harvard University, where he studied the North American species of Perezia with Professor B. L. Robinson.

After finishing his doctorate he returned to California and was hired as a botanist for the California Forest Experimental Station from 1933-1938. He served in the U. S. Army for five years during World War II and then was hired at Stanford as a biology instructor from 1946-1949. In 1950 he was hired as the first curator of the Jepson Herbarium which was created at the bequest of Willis Linn Jepson. He retired in 1968 but continued his research at the Herbarium until 1983.

He passed away August 23, 1996 at his home in Berkeley.

Subject/Index Terms

Bacigalupi, Rimo C., 1901-1996 - Archives
Botanists - California
Botany - California
Jepson Herbarium
Regional Parks Botanic Garden (Berkeley, Calif.)

Administrative Information

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.

Preferred Citation: Rimo Bacigalupi Papers, University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Other Note: For more information about Rimo Bacigalupi, see this obituary written by Lincoln Constance and Paul Silva: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/history/biog/bacigalupi_obit.html

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Correspondence, 1908-1983],
[Series 2: Field Notes, 1924-1983],
[Series 3: Photographs, 1922-1976],
[Series 4: Regional Parks Botanic Garden, 1962-1966],
[Series 5: Publications, 1929-1967],
[Series 6: Additional items added to the collection, 1923-1968],
[All]

Series 1: Correspondence, 1908-1983

This series contains professional and personal correspondence. Some of Bacigalupi's professional correspondence was handled by his assistants, G. Thomas Robbins and Lauramay Dempster. Topics include general herbarium business, plant identification, plant specimen donations and exchanges, the flora of California, activities of botany departments and Herbaria at other universities, and requests for information from Willis Linn Jepson’s correspondence and field notebooks. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Correspondence pertaining to the Regional Parks Botanic Garden can be found in Series 4.

Box 1

Folder 1: A-Ba, 1908-1976
Folder 2: Be, 1950-1974
Folder 3: Bi-Bu, 1928-1965
Folder 4: C, 1951-1974
Folder 5: D, 1950-1979
Folder 6: E-F, 1950-1979: Includes a January 17, 1933 letter from Jepson to Emanuel Fritz that Fritz sent to Bacigalupi on July 1, 1965.
Folder 7: Ferris, Roxana & G. F., 1951-1974
Folder 8: Gillett, George, 1952-1971
Folder 9: G, 1952-1968
Folder 10: Ha-Hi, 1952-1983
Folder 11: Hamann, Juanita & Hugo, 1967-1982
Folder 12: Hesse, Vesta, 1947-1971
Folder 13: Howell, John Thomas, 1950-1983
Folder 14: Ho-Hz, 1950-1982
Folder 15: I-L, 1951-1975
Folder 16: M, 1947-1979
Folder 17: Munz, Philip, 1950-1974
Folder 18: N-Q, 1951-1983
Folder 19: Quibell, Charles, 1952-1968
Folder 20: Ra, 1952-1965
Folder 21: Rb-Rz, 1953-1970
Folder 22: Robbins, G. Thomas, 1951-1982

Box 2

Folder 23: Sa-Ss, 1947-1969
Folder 24: Smith, Charlotte, 1961-1977
Folder 25: St-Sz, 1950-1968
Folder 26: Ta-Tr, 1951-1968
Folder 27: Ts-Tz, 1956-1971
Folder 28: U-V, 1951-1966
Folder 29: W-Z, 1947-1969
Folder 30: 1980-1983
Folder 31: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1951-1980

Series 2: Field Notes, 1924-1983

Rimo Bacigalupi's field notebooks document his botanical collecting activities from 1924-1983. Collections are primarily from California, but also from New Mexico, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, and Baja California.

Item 1: Rimo Bacigalupi Field Notebook #1, 1924

New Mexico and Colorado Trip, July-August 1924. Contains collections #500-1217.

Item 2: Rimo Bacigalupi Field Notebook #2, 1925-1929

Contains notes from collecting trips in California and Massachusetts. Includes collections #1218-2054.

Item 3: Field notebook #3, March 1949-May 1952

Includes collections no. 3000-3752 from California and Mexico. Includes the following collecting trips: March 21-25, 1949 to Baja California; March 30-April 4, 1951 with Roxanna S. Ferris, to central California; May 12-13, 1951 with G. Ledyard Stebbins, Lawrence Heckard, and Karl Jakob to El Dorado County; June 12-17, 1951 with Lincoln Constance, Reid Moran, Rafael Lucas Rodriguez, Sherwin Carlquist, and Joseph P. Tracy to northern California; August 6-12, 1951, with Lawrence Heckard to northern California; August 13-25 1951, with Roxana S. Ferris to the central Sierra Nevada; March 26-April 3,1952 with Ruth Sanderson, Jeff McBride, and Leroy Custer to central and southern California; and April 17-22, 1952 with Roi Partridge, Ruth D. Sanderson, and G. Tom Robbins to Southern California including Death Valley.

This notebook also includes a transcript of some of Roxana S. Ferris's collections (and numbers) on joint trips with Bacigalupi in 1951. Includes numbers 12369-12442 with gaps.

Item 4: Field notebook #4, June 1952-July 1953

Includes collections no. 3725-4337 from California and Nevada. Includes the following collecting trips: April 15-22 1952 with G. Thomas Robbins to Paso Robles, Bakersfield, Death Valley, Barstow, and back to Berkeley; April 25-May 1952 with G. Thomas Robbins, Lincoln Constance, George Gillette, and Larry Heckard via Walnut Creek to Altamont Pass, Los Banos, Bakersfield, Barstow, Los Angeles, Death Valley, and back to Berkeley; May 2-11 1953 to Southern California Mts.; June 12-20 1953 with G. Thomas Robbins and Lawrence Heckard to the Southern California Mountains; July 7-8 1953 with Herbert Mason and J.R. Sweeney to Sierra Valley, etc.; and July 22-25 1953 with R.S. Ferris, R.W. Holm, Dr. & Mrs. Page to Kernville, Bakersfield, Lompoc, Cambria, Monterey, Los Gatos, and back to Berkeley.

Item 5: Field notebook #5, August 1953-May 1955

Includes collections no. 4338-5061 from California. Includes the following collecting trips: August 28-31 1953 with J.R. Sweeney and George Bacigalupi to Lassen Nat. Park and vicinity; September 8-11 1953 trip Lincoln Constance and Eugene Nasir to Sierra and Nevada Counties and to Rock Creek Basin in Inyo County; March 9-13 1954 with George Gillett to Bakersfield, Pasadena, Pauma Valley, Santa Monica, and back to Berkeley; March 26-28 1954 with Tom Robbins and Sherwin Carlquist to Paso Robles, Los Angeles Co., Palmdale, Lancaster, and back to Berkeley; April 23-May 2 1954 with Gene Newcomb to San Diego County and the Southern California general area; June 22-29 1954 with Tom Robbins to the North Coast Ranges.

Item 6: Field notebook #6, May 1955-April 1957

Includes collections no. 5062-5838 from California. Includes the following collecting trips: May 13-17 1955 trip with Tom Robbins and Keith Harrison via Suisun, Rio Vista, Lodi, Milton, Copperopolis, Oakland, Modesto to Madera and July 14-22 1955 with Tom Robbins to Yollo-Bolly, Lassen Peak, Warner Mts., etc.

Item 7: Field notebook #7, April 1957-August 1958

Includes collections no. 5839-6624 from California and Nevada. Includes the following collecting trips: June 13-15 1957 with Paul Hutchison to Gerlach, North Central Washoe Co., Nevada and February 28-March 4 1958 with Dr. Rolla, Dr. AliceTryon, and Dr. & Dr. Alava to Mojave, Death Valley, and San Bernadino.

Item 8: Field notebook #8, August 1958-January 1961

Includes collections no. 6625-7538 from California. Includes the following collecting trips: March 19-20 1959 trip with John Weiler and Paul Hutchison to Byron and the Sierra foothills of Tuolumne and Merced counties; July 6-13 1959 with Don Liles, Arthur and Ruby Van Deventer to the Siskiyou Mountain Region; and April 9-11 1960 trip with Dr. J.R. Sweeney and his plant taxonomy class at S.F. State College and Dr. Baki Kasapligil of Mills College to Mohave Desert, 29 Palms, and Joshua Tree National Monument.

Item 9: Field notebook #9, February 1961-March 1962

Includes collections no. 7539-8438 from California and Oregon.

Item 10: Field notebook #10, April 1962-May 1966

Includes collections no. 8439-9152 from California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Includes the following collecting trips: August 17 1963 with Paul Hutchison and J. Kenneth Wright to summit of Mt. Sanhedrin; August 22-September 6 1963 with Richard Marple to Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Yellowstone, Jackson, Teton Pass, Montpelier, Salt Lake City, Zion N.P., Kanab, Glen Canon Dam, Kayenta, Shiprock, Farminton (N.M.), Cuba, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Alamosa, Durango, Monticello (Utah), Monument Valley, Jacob Lake, Kanab, Cedar City, etc., and back to Berkeley; April 10-17 1965 trip with Wayne Savage and L.R. Heckard to S Nevada, SW Utah, and NW to SE Arizona; and May 4 1965 trip with Robert Ornduff, Mary Ashton and Charles Quibell to SW Mariposa Co., W Madera County, and sierra foothills of Fresno Co.

Item 11: Field notebook #11, May 1966-May 1983

Includes collections no. 9153-9350 from Nevada, California, and Oregon.

Series 3: Photographs, 1922-1976

Photographs taken by Bacigalupi and others between 1922 and 1976. Subjects include botanical collecting trips througout California, Sierra Club High trips, Army life at Camp Berkeley, personal photographs, and portraits of friends and colleagues.

Series 4: Regional Parks Botanic Garden, 1962-1966

This series contains material documenting the controversy regarding a proposed move of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in the mid 1960s. Contains correspondence, clippings, reports, and agendas and minutes from the Friends of the Tilden Park Botanic Garden, Friends of the Regional Parks Botanical Garden, East Bay Regional Parks Board, and the Regional Parks Association Board of Directors. Bacigalupi was the chairman of the chairman of the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in 1964.

Box 2

Series 5: Publications, 1929-1967

Partial set of reprints of Bacigalupi's publications. In chronological order.

Box 2

Series 6: Additional items added to the collection, 1923-1968

This series contains diaries, school work, correspondence, and other items found after the bulk of the Bacigalupi papers were processed.

Box 2

Folder 25: Letter and photograph from Elizabeth McClintock, 8 September 1995
Folder 26: Letters received upon retirement, 1968
Folder 27: Hikers' trail map and guide of California Redwood Park (Big Basin), 1923
Folder 28: Homage to Willis Linn Jepson
Folder 29: Photographs of Downinigia bacigalupi specimens
Folder 30: Class notes on fleshy fungi, Botany 5

Item 1: Diary and field book, 19 June 1921-23 September 1923

Item 2: Field diary and travel record, R. Bacigalupi, Forester, E. C. W., October 1933

Item 3: Field diary and travel record, R. Bacigalupi and F. Hunzinger, 6 June-6 July 1934

Item 4: Field diary and travel record. R. Bacigalupi, Forester, E. C. W., August 1934