William J. Baerg Collection

Collection

Identifier: MC 953

Staff Only
Select files to request

Scope and Content Note

The material has been divided into four series: Collection of literature on arachnids, research and teaching papers (including reprints, typescripts, notes, and correspondence), personal papers, and pictures (mostly photographs of arachnids and birds).

Dates

1890-1984

Creator

Baerg, William J., 1885-1980 (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

Some material in Series 2 is restricted according to the student records policy of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (U. S. Code).

Researchers desiring access to the material should consult with the Director of Special Collections.

Negatives are restricted.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

A graduate of Cornell University, Baerg joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas in 1918 as acting head of the department of entomology. He returned to Cornell for his PhD (1922) and began to specialize in spiders. In 1930, Baerg married Eloise Farris of Fort Smith, a graduate of the University of Arkansas. They had two children. Through his friend Charles J. Finger, Baerg met many literary figures of his day. He also became interested in birds and taught ornithology. He retired in 1951, but continued research on spiders and insects for many years, receiving a Fulbright Grant to study in Jamaica (1951-1952) and a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Mexico (1954-1955).

Extent

8 Linear Feet (9 Boxes)

Additional Description

Arrangement of the Papers

Materials arranged by format.

Collection of literature on arachnids
Teaching and research papers
Personal papers
Pictures

Acquisition Information

Papers pertaining to William J. Baerg (1885-1980), from a variety of sources donated from 1970 through 1990, were consolidated into one collection. It includes material from Accession 953 (from Lloyd Warren, January 1970 and March 1989), Accession 1147 (from Lloyd Warren, January 1987 - September 1990), Accession 783 (from his widow, Eloise Baerg King, June 1987), and photographs from Baerg's office brought to Special Collections by Joe Neal (August 1990).

Separated Material

Baerg collected reprints of articles, almost all on spiders and other arachnids, which were previously bound in 37 volumes as the "William J. Baerg Collection of Entomological Literature." A few additional reprints (including many by Baerg himself) have been added to this group. The articles are arranged, within each group, alphabetically by author's name.

Volumes 1-20. "Papers on Spiders," including miscellaneous papers on spiders by Pierre Bonnet (1927-1961), Nathan Banks (1901-1932), Ralph V. Chamberlin (1908-1947, many with Wilton Ivie; see Vol. 6 for original description of new species Aphonopelma baergi Chamberlin, 1940), Arthur M. Chickering (1936-1959), Harriet Exline (1934-1965), Ulrich Gerhardt (1928-1933), W. J. Gertsch (1934-1955), B. J. Kaston (1935-1955), George W. and Elizabeth G. Peckham (1890), and Alexander Petrunkevitch (1925-1946). For each author, papers are arranged by date.

Volumes 21-24. "Papers on Scorpions," including paper by Stanley C. Williams and Neil F. Hadley, 1967, describing new species, Vejovis baergi.

Volume 25. "Papers on Solpugidae" by Martin H. Muma (1951-1967).

Volumes 1-11. "Addendum to Papers on Spiders," including papers by Chamberlin and Ivie (1942-1955), Chickering (1940-1963), Gertsch (1939-1961), Kaston (1936-1964), Herbert W. Levi (1951-1968), and Petrunkevitch (1922-1963). Some papers are duplicates of those in Volumes 1-20. For each author, papers are arranged alphabetically by title.

Volume 1. "Addendum 2." Annuaire des Arachnologistes Mondiaux (Acarologistes Exceptes), 1974, Centre International de Documentation Arachnologique, Paris.

William J. Baerg Collection of Entomological Literature