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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 3.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2000 items) |
| Abstract | Henry Ashby Rankin was born in Fayetteville, N.C., and spent most of his life as the owner of a sawmill and plywood business in Cumberland County, N.C. After retirement, he ran a nursery that specialized in native plants of North Carolina. He was an avid amateur botanist and corresponded regularly with members of the botanical community, with whom he exchanged specimens. Two of his botanical achievements were the discovery of a new species of Gelsemium and the re-discovery of a plant first collected and described by the French botanist Andre Michaux and then lost for 125 years. He was a long-time member of the Gray Memorial Botanical Association. He died in 1947. The collection contains correspondence, Rankin's writings and notes on plants, papers pertaining to Rankin's plant nursery, printed materials pertaining to flora, clippings of garden columns and other articles, and copies of the Gray Memorial Botanical Association Bulletin, 1933-1944. Correspondence is chiefly between Rankin and fellow botanists such as W. C. Coker, John K. Small, and William Lanier Hunt; his children; nursery owners with whom he did business; and others. |
| Creator | Rankin, Henry Ashby, 1872-1947. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical
Information
Henry Ashby Rankin was born on 15 June 1872 in Fayetteville, N.C., to Samuel Rankin and Mattie Thomas. He spent most of his life as the owner of a sawmill and plywood business Cumberland County, N.C. After retirement, he ran a nursery that specialized in native plants of North Carolina. He was an avid amateur botanist and corresponded regularly with members of the botanical community, with whom he exchanged specimens. Two of his major achievements as a botanist were the discovery of a new species of Gelsemium, Gelsemium rankinii, and the re-discovery of a plant first collected and described by the French botanist Andre Michaux, and then lost for 125 years, the Carolina Grass-of Parnassus, or Parnassia caroliniana. Rankin was a long-time member of the Gray Memorial Botanical Association, at one point serving as president and at another as editor of the Association's bulletin. He died on 21 June 1947.
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Scope and Content
The collection contains Cumberland County, N.C., businessman and botanist Henry Ashby Rankin's correspondence; writings and notes on plants; papers pertaining to his plant nursery; printed materials pertaining to flora; clippings of garden columns and other articles; and copies of the bulleting of the Gray Memorial Botanical Association, 1933-1944. Correspondence is chiefly between Rankin and fellow botanists such as W. C. Coker, John K. Small, and William Lanier Hunt; his children; nursery owners with whom he did business; and others.
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Papers, 1920s-1940s.
Arrangement: by type of material.
The original arrangement of the correspondence files, along with original file labels, has been maintained.
Processed by: Margaret Dickson, July 2007
Encoded by: Margaret Dickson, July 2007
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