All or part of this collection is stored offsite. Please make an appointment prior to visiting.
Transfer from Donna Ford-Werntz, Professor and Herbarium Curator, Department of Biology, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 2022 September 01.
Scrapbooks are arranged in boxes alphabetically by type of plant/biological specimen--filed under their botanical/scientific name.
John E. Reed (1884-1959) was born in Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He worked with his family on their farm and after high school, he worked as a teacher. After some time, he moved to the Pittsburgh area and worked at the United States Steel Corporation until his retirement in 1958. In his free time, he liked to collect pictures and articles about different types of plants. He maintained this hobby throughout most of his life and compiled 153 scrapbooks/volumes featuring clippings about various plants. His magazines and other paper clippings about various plants came from across the world, including South Africa, India, New Zealand, Austria, England, Mexico, Canada, and Germany.
The collection was originally donated by the children of John E. Reed, Kenneth Reed and Lois M. (Reed) Miller, in November 1967 to West Virginia University (according to note on inside cover of scrapbooks). It was then transferred from the Department of Biology to the West Virginia and Regional History Center by Donna Ford-Werntz, Professor and Herbarium Curator, Department of Biology, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 2022/09/01.
Some of the scrapbooks have fragile bindings that are peeling or are coming undone--handle with care.
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], John E. Reed Plant Encyclopedic Scrapbooks, A&M 4560, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
This collection includes 153 handmade scrapbooks in which John E. Reed gathered and pasted newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets, pictures, definitions, and handwritten notes about different plants. These scrapbooks are alphabetized by the botanical/scientific names of each plant, and the collection also includes four index books for reference. It also includes copies of two pages of correspondence between John Reed and William H. Witte with background about the scrapbooks (Box 1).
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.