Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

Biographical Note

Truman George Yuncker (1891–1964) was a taxonomist and authority on Cuscuta Linnaeus and Piperaceae. He served as professor of botany and bacteriology (1919–1956) and as curator of the herbarium (1919–1964) at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

Scope and Contents Note

This collection consists of letters to Yuncker, many requesting determination of Cuscuta and exchange of specimens. Some letters concern his work on the genus for the North American Flora (New York, New York Botanical Garden, 1921); publication of his dissertation, Revision of the North American and West Indian Species of Cuscuta (Urbana, Illinois, University of Illinois, 1921, Illinois Biological Monographs 6[2–3]); and other writings. A very small amount of correspondence relates to Piperaceae. Also included are an 1833 letter from S. S. Weldin of Wheeling, Virginia, to the botanist Jonathan Roberts Paddock (1803–1878) of Worthington, Ohio; two letters from Charles Sprague Sargent (1841–1927) at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, to Wilhelm Miller (1869–1968) in New York, discussing cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus libani A. Richard) and recommending Alfred Rehder (1863–1949) for an Arnold Arboretum department; and handwritten excerpts by an unknown person from published works concerning Cuscuta. See the full list of correspondents and dates of letters in the correspondence inventory.

Finding Aid

A finding aid for this collection is available online.

Other Resources

For information about portraits of and biographical citations for the subject, see the Hunt Institute Archives Register of Botanical Biography and Iconography database.