Albert N. Steward Papers, 1940-1991

Title: Albert N. Steward Papers, 1940-1991

Predominant Dates: 1951-1958

ID: MSS Steward

Primary Creator: Steward, Albert Newton (1897-)

Extent: 0.25 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Albert N. Steward Papers consist of correspondence, course materials, and related documents created and assembled by Steward. The bulk of the materials reflect his work at Oregon State College in the 1950s. The correspondence documents his role as Herbarium Curator; plant identification, especially of pine tree varieties; his participation in professional associations; and advising of graduate students from China.

The course materials include examinations, quizzes, and class handouts for courses taught (and perhaps taken) by Steward. Lecture notes, student papers, and literature reviews written by students are also part of the collection, as well as records of the botany seminar series in 1956-1957. A text, Principles of Plant Classification, written by Helen M. Gilkey and Frank H. Smith for the Field Botany course (Botany 203) is included.

The Papers also include meeting notices for the Oregon State chapter of Sigma Xi; newspaper clippings, including a 1991 obituary for Steward's widow, Celia Belle Steward; and an obituary for Steward written by Helen M. Gilkey and published in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club.

Albert N. Steward was appointed by Oregon State College as Associate Professor of Botany, Herbarium Curator, and Associate Botanist for the Agricultural Experiment Station in 1951. He held these positions until his death in 1959. He specialized in systematic, economic, and geographic botany, the flora of central China, and aquatic plants of northwestern America.

Steward attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1917-1918 and 1919-1920 and earned a BS in Agriculture in 1921. In 1921, he became a faculty member in botany at the University of Nanking in Nanking, China, and he and his wife, Celia Belle Speak Steward, were appointed as educational missionaries by the Methodist Board of Missions. He returned to the United States for several years in the late 1920s to complete AM and PhD degrees in biology at Harvard University. Steward spent most of the 1930s and 1940s in China and was interned at Chapei Camp in Shangai from 1943 to 1945. He returned to the United States permanently in 1950.

More Extent Information: 1 box

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were transferred from the Botany and Plant Pathology Department in 2004 and donated by Steward's daughter in 2005.

Related Materials:

The OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC) includes additional information about Steward in the "MC-Steward, A.N." file. The Herbarium Records (RG 117) and Herbarium Photographs (P 093) include extensive materials pertaining to the Herbarium. In addition, the Special Collections and Archives Research Center holdings include the Helen M. Gilkey Papers (MSS GilkeyH), the Botany and Plant Pathology Department Records (RG 054), and the Botany and Plant Pathology Department Photograph Collection (P 075).

The Center also holds the papers of several Oregon State botany faculty, including the Harold J. Evans Papers (MSS EvansHJ), Henry Paul Hansen Papers (MSS HansenHP), William Evans Lawrence Papers (MSS Lawrence), Harry K. Phinney Papers (MSS Phinney), and the Donald B. ZobePapers (MSS Zobel).

The Albert and Celia Steward Papers, held by the Yale University Divinity Library Special Collections, document the Stewards' missionary work, daily activities, and political and social conditions in China.

Preferred Citation: Albert N. Steward Papers (MSS Steward), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Steward, Albert Newton (1897-)
Gilkey, Helen M. (1886-1972)
Oregon State College. Department of Botany
Oregon State College. Herbarium
Smith, Frank H.

Botany--Research--Northwest, Pacific.
Botany--Study and teaching (Higher)--Oregon--Corvallis.
Herbaria--Oregon--Corvallis.
Natural Resources
Steward, Albert Newton, 1897-
Students, Foreign--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History