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Cook, Orator F. Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title
Cook, Orator F. Papers
Dates
1889-1898
Language
Documents in English
Size
3.5 linear ft. (7 boxes)
Repository
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
Abstract
Orator F. Cook, botanist. The Orator F. Cook Papers consist of materials pertaining to Cook's activities in Liberia from 1889 to 1898 including correspondence, clippings, business records and photographs. The collection also includes biographical materials about Cook.

Information on Use

Access

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Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Cook, Orator F. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Orator F. Cook was an American botanist who specialized in cotton and rubber plants, as well as in the classification of palms. Born in 1867 in Clyde, New York, Cook graduated from Syracuse University in 1890, where he stayed on as an instructor for one year. He traveled extensively in many parts of the world collecting botanical specimens, and from 1891 to 1898 he was employed as a special agent of the New York State Colonization Society. He spent much of his time in Liberia, and in 1896, Cook was elected president of Liberia College, a position, which he held until 1898. From 1898 he served as a plant scientist with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, where he became Principal Botanist. He published almost four hundred books and articles during his life, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science by Syracuse University in 1930.

Scope Note

The collection has been divided into six series. Series I, General Correspondence includes exchanges related to Cook's work in Liberia and with his scientific colleagues. Series II, Personal Correspondence, primarily contains letters between Cook and Alice Carter, who he married in 1892. Series III contains documents related to Liberia, as does Series VI (oversize materials.) Series IV includes photographs of Liberia and the Canary Islands. Series V is a biographical calendar of Cook's life, prepared by his daughter Helen Newman.

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Processing Information note

This collection was surveyed as part of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium's Survey Initiative on 2010 January 27 by Lisa Calahan and Bergis Jules.

Indexed Terms

INVENTORY

Series I: General Correspondence
Scope and Content

These letters are organized alphabetically, and include correspondence from J. Braman of the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, Charles Geyer of the New York Colonization Society, and Reverend George Goll of the Board of Foreign Missions, as well as letters from colleagues who participated in his survey of Mount Coffee, Liberia, such as botanists Guy Collins and Fred Straub. There is extensive correspondence with Lucien M. Underwood, Cook's teacher at Syracuse University.

Box 1
Folder 1
Title
Allen - Agassiz
Box 1
Folder 2
Title
Barclay - Buchanan
Box 1
Folder 3
Title
Cheeseman - Coleman
Box 1
Folder 4
Title
Collins, Guy
Box 1
Folder 5
Title
Cook - Currie
Box 1
Folder 6
Title
Daly - Ennis
Box 1
Folder 7
Title
Fair - Frisell
Box 1
Folder 8
Title
Geyer, Charles (New York State Colonization Society)
Box 1
Folder 9
Title
Gibson - Goll
Box 1
Folder 10
Title
Goode - Goche
Box 1
Folder 11
Title
Hartzell - Hookway
Box 1
Folder 12
Title
Houghton
Box 1
Folder 13
Title
Houghton - Locke
Box 1
Folder 14
Title
McCabe - Merrill
Box 1
Folder 15
Title
Merrick - Morgan
Box 1
Folder 16
Title
New York Age - Osborne
Box 1
Folder 17
Title
Page - Public Opinion Company
Box 2
Folder 1
Title
Richardson - Sevier
Box 2
Folder 2
Title
Sharp
Box 2
Folder 3
Title
Sharp - Stewart
Box 2
Folder 4
Title
Straub, Fred
Box 2
Folder 5
Title
Straub, cont.
Box 2
Folder 6
Title
Straub, cont.
Box 2
Folder 7
Title
Taylor - Thompson
Box 2
Folder 8
Title
Trio Club - True
Box 2
Folder 9
Title
Underwood, Lucien
Box 2
Folder 10
Title
Underwood, cont.
Box 2
Folder 11
Title
Underwood, cont.
Box 2
Folder 12
Title
Underwood - Verdoorn
Box 2
Folder 13
Title
Walrath - Wood
Box 2
Folder 14
Title
Miscellaneous
Series II: Personal Correspondence
Scope and Content

This series primarily consists of correspondence between Orator Cook and Alice Carter, who he married in 1892. These letters highlight their private interests and concerns, but also contain information pertaining to Cook's whereabouts during his travels and his general plans. Miscellaneous letters from other family members also appear in this series, as well as some of Alice's letters to friends at Mount Holyoke College where she taught botany.

Box 2
Folder 15
Title
Family correspondence of Alice Carter Cook
Box 2
Folder 16
Title
Correspondence of Alice and Orator Cook with Edith and Eliza Cook
Box 3
Folder 1
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, October 1888 - August 1891
Box 3
Folder 2
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, September 1892
Box 3
Folder 3
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, October 1891 - November 1891
Box 3
Folder 4
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, December 1891 - May 1892
Box 3
Folder 5
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, June 1892 - September 1892
Box 3
Folder 6
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, December 1893 - January 1894
Box 3
Folder 7
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, February 1894 - April 1894
Box 3
Folder 8
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, May 1894 - December 1895
Box 3
Folder 9
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, July 1896 - August 1897
Box 3
Folder 10
Title
Alice Carter to Orator Cook, October 1897 - November 1897
Box 3
Folder 11
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, June 1891 - July 1891
Box 3
Folder 12
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, August 1891 - September 1891
Box 3
Folder 13
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, October 1891 - December 1891
Box 3
Folder 14
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, January 1892 - June 1892
Box 3
Folder 15
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, July 1892 - October 1892
Box 3
Folder 16
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, April 1893 - March 1894
Box 4
Folder 1
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, March 1894 - November 1895
Box 4
Folder 2
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, December 1895
Box 4
Folder 3
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, January 1896 - July 1896
Box 4
Folder 4
Title
Orator Cook to Alice Carter, November 1896 - November 1897
Series III: Liberian Documents
Scope and Content

These documents include articles and clippings on Liberia, information on Liberian folklore, articles on botany, and miscellaneous business material.

Box 4
Folder 5
Title
Liberia (magazine of the American Colonization Society), February 1898 and November 1898, including articles by Cook; clippings on colonization
Box 4
Folder 6
Title
Charter, Constitution, By laws and Financial Report of the New York Colonization Society, 1891; Third Report of the Board of Managers of the New York Colonization Society, New York: 1896; Report of O. F. Cook to the Board of Managers, New York: 1892
Box 4
Folder 7
Title
African Planter, 1894-1895 (incomplete run)
Box 4
Folder 8
Title
Newspaper clippings and pamphlets on lynching and racial conflicts in the United States, 1890s-1900s
Box 4
Folder 9
Title
Newspaper clippings and pamphlets on lynching and racial conflicts in the United States, cont.
Box 4
Folder 10
Title
Clippings and articles on Liberia
Box 4
Folder 11
Title
Drafts of official documents related to Liberian interests, 1890s; typescript drafts of articles on colonization by Cook; typescript "Report upon Collections made in Liberia, West Africa, February to March 1897," by Rolla P. Currie
Box 4
Folder 12
Title
Notes on Liberian folklore
Box 5
Folder 1
Title
Lucien M. Underwood and other authors, off-prints dealing with botanical subjects, 1890s-1900s
Box 5
Folder 2
Title
Guy Collins, obituary (off-print, with original photograph attached); remarks by the Secretary of Agriculture for the presentation of the Meyer Medal to "David Fairchild, Plant Explorer," 1939
Box 5
Folder 3
Title
Miscellaneous Programs
Box 5
Folder 4
Title
Invoice statements relating to research and expedition supplies, 1891-1892
Box 5
Folder 5
Title
Invoice statements relating to research and expedition supplies, 1893-1894
Box 5
Folder 6
Title
Invoice statements relating to research and expedition supplies, 1895-1896
Box 5
Folder 7
Title
Orator Cook's personal account book and general log, regarding work for the New York State Colonization Society and others
Box 5
Folder 8
Title
Miscellaneous documents related to international trade
Series IV: Photographs
Scope and Content

These are black and white photographs of the people and landscape of Liberia and the Canary Islands, 1890s-1900s, in various formats. Some of the photographs are identified on the verso.

Box 5
Folder 9
Title
Canary Islands
Box 5
Folder 10
Title
Canary Islands
Box 5
Folder 11
Title
Liberia
Box 5
Folder 12
Title
Liberia
Box 5
Folder 13
Title
Liberia, views of "The Farm"
Series V: Biographical Materials
Scope and Content

These documents are a general biographical calendar. This calendar description of Cook's life spans 1891-1897. It was prepared by his daughter, Helen Newman.

Box 6
Folder 1
Title
Biographical calendar of Cook's life, March 1891-December 1892
Box 6
Folder 2
Title
Biographical calendar of Cook's life, January 1893-1897
Box 6
Folder 3
Title
Orator Cook and Guy Collins, Economic Plants of Porto [sic] Rico, Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institution, 1903, 269 p.
Box 6
Folder 4
Title
Pamphlets bound together into one volume
Note
  • Act Incorporating Liberia College, Monrovia, 1864
  • The Laws of Liberia College, Cambridge, 1883
  • Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New York State Colonization Society, New York, 1864
  • Charter, Constitution and By-Laws of the New York State Colonization Society, New York, 1891
  • A Statement of the Condition of Liberia College, Monrovia, 1894
  • Acts Passed by the Legislature of the Republic of Liberia, Monrovia, 1894
  • Report of the Dr. Charles E. Thomson and Prof. Guy N. Collins to the Board of Managers of the New York State Colonization Society, 1892
  • Reports of Prof. O.F. Cook to the Board of Managers..., New York, 1892
  • Second Report of Prof. O.F. Cook to the Board of Managers..., New York, 1894; with notes, tipped in, and holograph annotations
Series VI: Oversize Materials
Scope and Content

This series primarily holds newspapers and other printed material from Liberia.

Box 7
Folder 1
Title
Liberia Gazette, 1894-1985 (incomplete run)
Box 7
Folder 2
Title
Lagos Weekly Record, 1894-1895 (incomplete run)
Box 7
Folder 3
Title
Publications
Note
  • Voice of Missions (Atlanta, George) March 1897
  • The colored American (Washington, D.C.) August 20, 1898
  • The New York Age, December 19, 1895
Box 7
Folder 4
Title
Orator Cook, Memorial to the People and Government of Liberia, January 17, 1896 (2 copies)
Box 7
Folder 5
Title
Afrikanische Dampfschiffs-Actien-Gesellschaft, Woermann-Linnie (shipping passenger boat time-table, Hamburg to West Africa route), July to September 1894; and Woermann-Linie, 1896, both schedule annotated with the names of the captains