FORBES, JOHN RIPLEY.
John Ripley Forbes papers, 1913-2006
John Ripley Forbes papers, 1913-2006
Emory University
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Atlanta, GA 30322
404-727-6887
rose.library@emory.edu
Permanent link: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/v248h
Collection Stored Off-Site
All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval.
Table of Contents
Descriptive Summary
Creator: | Forbes, John Ripley. |
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Title: | John Ripley Forbes papers, 1913-2006 |
Call Number: | Manuscript Collection No. 1453 |
Extent: | 57.25 linear feet (58 boxes) |
Abstract: | Papers of naturalist and conservationist John Ripley Forbes, including museum files, organizational files, personal files, writings, and photographs. |
Language: | Materials entirely in English. |
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
Special restrictions apply: Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.
Additional Physical Form
text
Source
Gift from Ripley Forbes and Anne Spengler, 2018.
Custodial History
Ripley Forbes and Anne Spengler are the children of John Ripley Forbes. Curator of Modern Political and Historical Collections, Randy Gue, packed the materials at the Forbes home and transferred them to the Rose Library.
Citation
[after identification of item(s)], John Ripley Forbes papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Appraisal Note
Curator of Modern Political and Historical Collections, Randy Gue, acquired the collection as part of the Rose Library's holdings in Georgia activism.
Processing
Arranged and described at the collection level by Katy Lindquist, October 2019.
This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at rose.library@emory.edu.
Collection Description
Biographical Note
John Ripley Forbes (1913-2006) was an American naturalist and conservationist. He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and spent most of his early life in Massachusetts and Stamford, Connecticut. His father, Kenneth Forbes, was an Episcopal Church bishop and amateur naturalist who often took Forbes on long nature walks. In 1927, Forbes met and befriended zoologist and conservationist William T. Hornaday, who is known for founding the Bronx Zoo (New York) and developing exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.) that would eventually become the National Zoo. Forbes studied at but never graduated from the University of Iowa (Iowa City) and the Boston University School of Fine Arts (Massachusetts). From 1935-1936, Forbes attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Over fifty years later, in 1987, Bowdoin awarded Forbes an honorary doctorate. Following his year at Bowdoin, Forbes, serving in the role of ornithological collector, went on a 1937 Arctic expedition led by explorer Donald MacMillan. During World War II, Forbes served with an Army Air Force medical unit at bases in Alabama and Tennessee where he attended to returning injured airmen by taking them fishing and on nature walks. Forbes helped found hundreds of nature museums for children in over 200 communities and thirty states across the United States. His museums are known for their interactivity including live animal exhibits and animal lending libraries. In 1937, Forbes founded the William T. Hornaday Foundation for children's museums, which later became the Natural Science for Youth Foundation. Later Forbes turned his attention to preservation and in 1976 founded the conservation group the Southeast Land Preservation Trust. In 1989, Forbes saved what is now called the John Ripley Forbes Big Trees Forest Preserve in Sandy Springs, Georgia, from becoming a car dealership. Forbes was married to Margaret Sanders and had two children, E. Ripley Forbes and Anne Forbes Spengler. He died in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2006.
Biographical Source: text
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of the papers of John Ripley Forbes from 1913-2006 and includes museum files, organizational files, personal files, writings by Forbes, photographs, and negatives. Museum files include correspondence, memos, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, maps, and printed material about the museums, zoos, and nature preserves Forbes founded or with which he was affiliated over the course of his career, arranged alphabetically by state. Organizational files include correspondence, memos, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, and printed material about the youth and conservation organizations in which Forbes was involved, primarily the National Audubon Society and the Natural Science for Youth Foundation. Personal files include correspondence, newspaper clippings, awards, and files related to independent conservation projects, including Forbes' involvement in a 1937 Arctic expedition led by explorer Donald MacMillan. Writings include both published and unpublished manuscripts written by Forbes.
Arrangement Note
Arranged by record type.
Container List
Box | Folder | Content |
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1 | - | Museum files for museums located in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, and California, 1947-1989 |
2 | - | Museum files for museums located in California, 1951-1989 |
3 | - | Museum files for museums located in California, Colorado, and Connecticut, 1943-1996 |
5 | - | Museum files for museums located in Connecticut, 1958-1985 |
6 | - | Museum files for museums located in Connecticut, 1958-1994 |
7 | - | Museum files for museums located in Connecticut, 1959-2001 |
4 | - | Museum files for museums located in Connecticut, 1966-1995 |
8 | - | Museum files for museums located in Connecticut and Delaware, 1934-1990 |
10 | - | Museum files for museums located in Florida, 1945-1986 |
11 | - | Museum files for museums located in Florida, 1955-1988 |
12 | - | Museum files for museums located in Florida and Georgia, 1962-1997 |
9 | - | Museum files for museums located in Florida and Washington, D.C., 1950-1988 |
17 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia, 1944-2001 |
18 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia, 1946-1999 |
16 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia, 1962-1999 |
13 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia, 1964-2004 |
19 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, and Indiana, 1954-2004 |
15 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia including the Big Trees Forest Preserve (Sandy Springs), 1969-2003 |
14 | - | Museum files for museums located in Georgia including the Big Trees Forest Preserve (Sandy Springs), 1986-2005 |
20 | - | Museum files for museums located in Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Massachusetts, 1938-1992 |
21 | - | Museum files for museums located in Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri, 1939-1990 |
22 | - | Museum files for museums located in Missouri and New Hampshire, 1939-1990 |
27 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, 1963-1988 |
26 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, 1970-1990 |
28 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, 1975-1995 |
29 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, 1977-1995 |
30 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire and New Jersey, 1954-1996 |
23 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, including the National Audubon Society, 1965-1994 [1] |
24 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, including the National Audubon Society, 1965-1994 [2] |
25 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Hampshire, including the National Audubon Society, 1967-1990 |
31 | - | Museum files for museums located in New Jersey and New York, 1961-1995 |
32 | - | Museum files for museums located in New York and North Carolina, 1945-1990 |
33 | - | Museum files for museums located in North Carolina and Ohio, 1951-1990 |
34 | - | Museum files for museums located in Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, 1945-1992 |
35 | - | Museum files for museums located in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee, 1945-1998 |
36 | - | Museum files for museums located in Tennessee and Texas, including files on the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, 1944-1996 |
37 | - | Museum files for museums located in Texas, 1944-1997 |
38 | - | Museum files for museums located in Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, including youth museum scrapbook with printed material from many of Forbes' museums, 1945-1997 |
53 | - | Museum files, photographs, and negatives, 1971-1986 |
39 | - | Organizational files, including files from the American Association of Museums, National Audubon Society and the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1942-1996 |
43 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1938-1998 |
45 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1955-1965 |
42 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1961-1972 |
44 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1969-1976 |
41 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1971-1979 |
40 | - | Organizational files, including files from the Natural Science for Youth Foundation, 1979-1989 |
47 | - | Personal files, including awards, files on Forbes' birding expeditions, correspondence, printed material, and obituary, 1913-2006 |
48 | - | Personal files, including printed material; notes and records from personal conservation initiatives; and notes, photographs and records from the 1937 Arctic expedition, 1937-2000 |
46 | - | Personal files, including printed material, notes and records from personal conservation initiatives; and awards, 1949-2004 |
50 | - | Personal files, including World War II correspondence and publications, unpublished and published manuscripts, and printed material, 1929-1994 |
51 | - | Personal writings, 1965-1975 |
55 | - | Photographs, 1940-1959 |
56 | - | Photographs, 1947-1986 |
54 | - | Photographs, 1953-1989 |
52 | - | Photographs, negatives and printed material, 1943-1955 |
58 | - | Photographs and personal files, 1972-1975 |
57 | - | Photographs and personal files, including Arctic expedition files, 1913-1995 |
49 | - | Photographs and personal files, including Arctic expedition files, 1936-1998 |