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Inventory
of the Papers of Ellen Trueblood MSS 94 Boise State University, Albertsons Library, Special
Collections Department Series I: Biographical and Personal Papers Several short biographical sketches of Ellen Trueblood (including an obituary) are contained in this series, along with feature newspaper articles from the 1950s and 70s profiling her mycological activities (Folder 1). Also included are some stories about her 1941 North Carolina deer hunt with the Outdoors Writers Association of America (Folder 7) and a short biographical sketch she wrote of Ted Trueblood (Folder 11). Box 1:
Biographical and Personal Papers Folder
1
Biographical clippings and notices Folder
2
References to Ellen Trueblood Folder
3
Honors and awards Folder
4
Mushroom species discovered by Ellen Trueblood Folder
5
Mushroom species named for the Truebloods Folder
6
Schooling Folder
7
Deer hunt, 1941 Folder
8
Hinkson family Folder
9
Michaelson family Folder
10
Reminiscences (Fragments) Folder
11
Ted Trueblood biographical sketch, by Ellen Trueblood Folder
12
Diary entries/Notes/Logs Folder
13
Licenses and cards
Series 2: General Correspondence
Most of the correspondence in Ellen Trueblood's general correspondence
files dates after the death of her husband.
Much of it relates to Ted Trueblood's work and writings; some
correspondence relates to Ellen's own environmental lobbying.
There is little family correspondence; just a few items in Folder 21.
Ellen kept up correspondence with Peter Barrett, her husband's friend,
even after Ted's death; letters from him are in Folder 22.
The letters back and forth between Ellen and Earl Swanson of Idaho State
College, Pocatello, concern Indian rock art and a rock shelter in Owyhee County,
Idaho.
There are two correspondence files from the 1940s, a general file (Folder
14) and a file of correspondence with Bernard Mainwaring, publisher of the
Idaho Free Press in Nampa (Folder
24). A number of letters in the
general file pertain to articles Ellen wrote for the New
York Times and This Week magazine. Her
New York Times article is found in
Series 4, Writings (Box 3, Folder 5) and the magazine article in Box 3, Folder
1.
Both files from the 1940s contain letters illustrating the opportunities
that opened up for women in the newspaper field when men went to war.
In February 1942, before Ted and Ellen decided to return to Idaho, she
applied to be editor of a local newspaper in Windsor, North Carolina.
The publisher wrote her back: "Heretofore
we have always had a man in this place. Conditions
brought about by war and other matters beyond our control have cause[d] this
post to be open. We are willing to
give a capable, hardworking, hard-headed woman a shot at it--for the duration,
at least." He invited her to
an interview. In the meantime,
however, she decided that Windsor was too far from Raleigh, where they lived.
"I am sorry I will have to pass up the opportunity of proving to you
that a woman can do the job," Ellen wrote in reply.
"I hope you find a good, capable, person for the work." (Box 1,
Folder 14) Box 1:
General Correspondence Folder
14
General Correspondence: 1940-1944 Folder
15
General Correspondence: 1982 Folder
16
General Correspondence: 1983 Folder
17
General Correspondence: 1984 Folder
18
General Correspondence: 1985 Folder
19
General Correspondence: 1986-1988 Folder
20
Address lists Folder
21
Her children Folder
22
Barrett, Peter: 1982-1987 Folder
23
Holland, Ray P.: 1961 Folder
24
Mainwaring, Bernard / Idaho Free Press:
1941-1942 Folder
25
Martuch, Leon P. and Martuch, Leon L.:
1962-1986 Folder
26
Swanson, Earl: 1960-1963 Series 3: Mycological
Correspondence
Ellen Trueblood began studying mushrooms in earnest in the 1950s.
Her files of mycological-related correspondence reflects her work as a
surveyor, collector, cultivator, and photographer of mushrooms and fungi.
She corresponded with both professional mycologists and amateurs,
and she supplied specimens, slides, and photographs to researchers and
publishers.
An exchange of letters in 1976 between Ellen Trueblood and James M.
Trappe, principal mycologist for the U.S. Forestry Sciences Laboratory at
Corvallis, Oregon, is illustrative of her work.
Ellen sent him some specimens of Sarcopshaera
she had found growing near artemisia and other shrubs in the desert in eastern
Oregon. That species was commonly
associated with conifers, so she asked if he had heard other reports of
association with the shrubs. "Your
collections of Sarcosphaera from
desert habitats astound me," Trappe wrote back, "because I, too, had
regarded it as a conifer associate. In
fact, it seemed so tied to conifers, especially pines, that I presumed it to be
an obligate mycorrhizal fungus." He
wondered if pines might not be growing nearby, for ponderosa pine roots can
extend several hundred feet away from the trunk.
Ellen wrote back assuring him the nearest pines were thirty miles away.
Trappe speculated that the Sarcosphaera
was either not a mycorrhizal
fungus after all, or a mycorrhizal that could be associated with shrubs as well
as conifers (Box 2, Folder 14).
The files of correspondence with Smith Kline & French Laboratories
relate to Ellen Trueblood's cultivation of fungi for them in search of
chemotherapeutic agents (Box 12, Folders 12 and 13).
The files contain correspondence with others relating to that work as
well as correspondence with the company itself.
"We have had some exciting times and anxious moments during the last
month while learning to manipulate and grow the first group of basidiomycete
cultures which you sent us," wrote one of the laboratory microbiologists in
May of 1973 (Box 2, Folder 13). "Currently, all are growing reasonably well and, within
the next week, we hope to begin our first experiments on permanently preserving
them by controlled rate freezing in liquid nitrogen."
Other correspondence relating to mushrooms and mycology is located in
Series 5 (Grant project files), Series 6 (Organizations), and Series 8 (Mycology
notes). There is no file of
correspondence in this series with Alexander H. Smith, who encouraged Ellen
Trueblood's early studies, although there is a file of letters exchanged with
his wife Helen and their daughter Nancy Weber, also mycologists (Box 2, Folder
11). Box 1:
Mycological Correspondence Folder
27
Mycological Correspondence: 1955-1969 Folder
28
Mycological Correspondence: 1970 Folder
29
Mycological Correspondence: 1971-1976 Folder
30
Mycological Correspondence: 1977 Folder
31
Mycological Correspondence: 1978-1979 Folder
32
Mycological Correspondence: 1980 Folder
33
Mycological Correspondence: 1981 Folder
34
Mycological Correspondence: 1982 Folder
35
Mycological Correspondence: 1983-1984 Folder
36
Mycological Correspondence: 1985-1988 Box 2:
Mycological Correspondence Folder
1
Ammirati, Joseph F. (USDA/University of Washington):
1971-1986 Folder
2
Bailey, Marie: 1978-1987 Folder
3
Bailie, Arthur S.: 1972-1976 Folder
4
Brodie, Harold J. (University of Victoria):
1967-1978 Folder
5
Lincoff, Gary (New York
Botanical Garden): 1980-1981 Folder
6
McAllister, Ruby K.: 1980-1984 Folder
7
McKnight, Kent (USDA):
1970-1985 Folder
8
Miller, Orson K. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute):
1970-1988 Folder
9
Rogerson, Clark T. (New York Botanical lGarden):
1963-1985 Folder
10
San Antonio, James P. (USDA): 1977-1980 Folder
11
Smith, Helen, and Weber, Nancy: 1971-1988 Folder
12
Smith Kline & French Laboratories:
1972-1975 Folder
13
Smith Kline & French Laboratories:
1972-1979 Folder
14
Trappe, James M. (USDA): 1972-1981
Series 4: Writings
This series contains both typescripts and printed versions of articles
and feature stories written by Ellen Trueblood.
The series includes samples of her early newspaper work (Box 3, Folder
1), her New
York Times article (Folder 5), articles from North Carolina (Folders 1, 6,
and 7), and scientific articles on fungi that appeared in
Mycologia,
McIlvainea, Studies on Higher Fungi,
and elsewhere. As a reporter
for the Nampa, Idaho, Free Press, she
covered the arrest and incarceration of Idaho author Vardis Fisher for speeding
in Nampa in 1939. That celebrated
incident (which Fisher recounted in his own newspaper column in his uniquely
acerbic style) is documented in Folder 5.
Clippings of more of Ellen Trueblood's newspaper articles from the 1930s
are found in a scrapbook in Series 9 (Box 10).
Lengthy diary-like accounts she wrote
of camping and hunting trips with her husband Ted are located in the Ted
Trueblood papers, Series VI (Field notebooks and diaries). Box 3:
Writings Folder
1
Newspaper articles: 1936-1942 Folder
2
Newswire articles: 1939 Folder
3
Newspaper articles: 1950-1965 Folder
4
Vardis Fisher article: 1939 Folder
5
High, Wild, Handsome Idaho (New York Times): 1941 Folder
6
From More's Creek Bridge to Pearl Harbor (NC):
1942 Folder
7
This Business of Being Fingerprinted (NC): 1942 Folder
8
Deer Mice Will Get You Folder
9
Ruffed Grouse Neighbor Folder 10 "1960": 1960 Folder
11
Miscellaneous Folder
12
Climate of Owyhee County Folder
13
Desert Mushrooms: 1968 Folder
14
Ecology of New and Interesting Species of Amanita: 1977 Folder
15
Forays in the Owyhee Desert: 1975 Folder
16
Fungi of Owhyee County: 1972 Folder
17
Gastrocarps from Central Idaho Folder
18
Higher Fungi of the Owyhee Mountains Folder
19
Idaho Mushrooms Attract Amateurs and Pros Folder
20
[Mushroom Collecting] Folder
21
Mushroom Collecting on the Owyhee Desert, 1962: 1962 Folder
23
[Mushrooms]: 1958 Folder
23
Notes on Fungi of the Owyhee Region: 1975 Folder
24
Notes on Fungi of the Owyhee Region: Correspondence, 1971-1976 Folder
25
Three New Species of Amanita: 1990 Series 5: Grant Project Files
In 1969, Ellen Trueblood obtained a grant from the Max C. Fleischmann
Foundation of Reno, Nevada, to survey the higher fungi of the Owyhee Mountains.
She assembled 1012 collections, representing ninety genera, at least
three species new to science, and nine species previously unknown to North
America (Box 3, Folder 29, "The Higher Fungi of the Owyhee
Mountains…"). She deposited
her collections with Dr. Alexander H. Smith at the University of Michigan
Herbarium, where they formed the core of the university's collection of fungi
from arid regions.
The grant was renewed in 1971, with additional support provided by
Alexander H. Smith out of a National Science
Foundation grant he received to study Western fungi.
In 1972, Dr. Smith's daughter, Dr. Nancy Weber, joined Mrs. Trueblood in
Idaho for a month of collecting in the Owyhees.
They camped out in the mountains, making 812 collections and drying their
fungi in the field with catalytic heaters (Box 3, Folder 31).
This short series contains reports, correspondence, and grant
applications by Mrs. Trueblood. Two
letters from Alexander H. Smith, relating chiefly to funding, are found in
Folder 30. Box 3:
Grant Project Files Folder
26
Grant projects: 1968-1969 Folder
27
Grant projects: 1969-1970 Folder
28
Grant projects: 1970 Folder
29
Grant projects: 1969-1971 Folder
30
Grant projects: 1971-1972 Folder
31
Grant projects: 1973 Folder
32
Grant projects: 1974 Folder
33
Grant projects: 1976 Folder 34 Grant projects: Desert Biome: 1971 Series 6: Organizations
These files contain correspondence, reports, newsletters, clippings, and
other papers, from organizations with which Ellen Trueblood was associated, as
well as letters by Mrs. Trueblood documenting her work with them.
Ellen Trueblood was one of the founders of the Southern Idaho Mycological
Association. The files relating to
that organization document its founding in 1976 and its first twelve years of
activity. Its first major
undertaking came in September of 1976, when it hosted the annual foray of the
North American Mycological Association in Valley County, Idaho. Box 4:
Organizations Folder
1
Boise Valley Natural History Society: 1966 Folder
2
College of Idaho, Museum of Natural History Folder
3
Idaho Academy of Science: 1962-1967 Folder
4
Idaho Conservation League: 1985-1986 Folder
5
Idaho Natural Resources Legal Foundation: 1984-1987 Folder
6
Idaho Sportsmen's Coalition: 1985 Folder
7
North American Mycological Association: 1963-1989 Folder
8
North American Mycological Association: Priest Lake Foray, 1966 Folder
9
North American Mycological Association: Valley County Foray, 1976 Folder
10
North American Mycological Association: Priest Lake Foray, 1986 Folder
11
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: 1976 Folder
12
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: 1977-1979 Folder
13
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: 1980-1984 Folder
14
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: 1985-1988 Folder
15
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: Newsletters: 1977-1983 Folder
16
Southern Idaho Mycological Association: Newsletters: 1984-1988 Series 7: Subject
Files
Ellen Trueblood's subject files contain notes and mimeographed
information sheets on a variety of nature-related topics, including several
southwestern Idaho bird censuses from 1976 (Box 5, Folder 1). The last six
folders in this series relate to wilderness issues in Idaho in the 1980s. Included are clippings documenting the public debate over
U.S. Senator James McClure's 1984 wilderness bill for Idaho, as well as
Ellen Trueblood's correspondence in opposition to it.
She opposed the bill because she believed it did not designate enough
lands for wilderness status. In a
letter to the editor published in the Idaho
Statesman on June 11, 1984, she
called it an "anti-wilderness bill."
Box 5:
Subject Files Folder
1
Birds in Idaho Folder
2
Flora Folder
3
Flora: Reynolds Creek, Idaho: 1954 Folder
4
Winter Flora: Snake River, Idaho (by
Patricia L. Packard) Folder
5
Juniper invasion Folder
6
Lichens Folder
7
Medicinal herbs Folder
8
Owyhee region Folder
9
Trees Folder
10
Jacks Creek/Jarbridge wilderness: 1984-1986 Folder
11
McClure Senate wilderness
hearings: Clippings: 1983 Folder
12
McClure Senate wilderness
hearings: Testimony: 1983 Folder
13
McClure wilderness bill:
Clippings: 1984 Folder
14
McClure wilderness bill:
Correspondence: 1984 Folder
15
Wilderness and forests Series 8: MycologyNotes
This series consists largely of notes, articles, and trial field keys for
and about various species and genera of fungi, mostly in the Pacific Northwest .
Occasionally Ellen Trueblood placed correspondence in these files as
well. At the end of the series (in
Box 8) are notes, handouts, and source materials Ellen Trubelood used in
teaching her class on "Idaho Mushrooms" at Boise State University in
1975; lists of slides and photos she sent to Alexander H. Smith at the
University of Michigan; and other notes about mushrooms and fungi.
Most of the materials in this series date from the 1970s and 80s. Box 6:
Mycology Notes Folder
1
Agaricaceae Folder
2
Agaricales Folder
3
Agarics Folder
4
Agaricus Folder
5
Agrocybe Folder
6
Amanita Folder
7
Armillaria and Catathalasma Folder
8
Ascomycetes Folder
9
Boletaceae Folder
10
Boletus and Tylopilus Folder
11
Calvatia Folder
12
Cantharellaceae Folder
13
Chroogomphus Folder
14
Clavaria Folder
15
Calvariadelphus Folder
16
Collybia Folder
17
Coprinus Folder
18
Cortinarius Folder
19
Cystoderma Folder
20
Discina Folder
21
Discomycetes Folder
22
Fischerula Folder
23
Fomes Idahoensis (Fossil) Folder
24
Gastroboletus Folder
25
Gomphidiaceae Folder
26
Comphidius Box 7:
Mycology Notes Folder
1
Gyromitra Folder
2
Hevellaceae Folder
3
Hydnaceae Folder
4
Hydnum Folder
5
Hygrophorus Folder
6
Hymenomycetes Folder
7
Inocybe Folder
8
Lactarius Folder
9
Lecinum Folder
10
Lentinus and Lentinellus Folder
11
Lepiotaceae Folder
12
Lepista Folder
13
Leucopaxillus Folder
14
Limacella Folder
15
Lycoperdales Folder
16
Lyophyllum Folder
17
Mycena Folder
18
Naemalotoma Folder
19
Neournula (Discomycete) Folder
20
Nidulariales Folder
21
Nidularaceae Folder
22
Omphalotus Folder
23
Panaeolus Folder
24
Peziales Folder
25
Phaeocollybia Folder
26
Pholiota Folder
27
Pleurotus Folder
28
Pluteus Folder
29
Polypores Folder
30
Ramaria Folder
31
Russula Folder
32
Sarcosomataceae Folder
33
Secotiaceae Folder
34
Siullus and Fuscobotetinus Folder
35
Thelephoraceae Folder
36
Tremellalles Folder
37
Tricholoma Folder
38
Tricholomopsis Folder
39
Tulostoma Folder
40
Xeromphalina Folder
41
Development of Classification of the Macrobasidomycetes Box 8:
Mycology Notes Folder
1
Boise State University course: Idaho Mushrooms: 1975 Folder
2
Fungi cultures: Notes and correspondence: 1972-1979 Folder
3
Fungi slides and photos: Lists: 1963-1978 Folder
4
Fungi slides and photos: Index cards Folder
5
Fungi note cards: Samples Folder
6
Fungi note cards: Samples Folder
7
Master list of Pacific Northwest fungi Folder
8
Mushroom identification Folder
9
Mushroom notes Folder
10
Mushroom poisoning Folder
11
Mushroom recipes Series 9: Field notebooks, scrapbook, diary, etc. The ten notebooks in this series (Box 9) contain
notes from trips and mushroom-hunting expeditions, as well as other notes.
There are diary-like entries in
Notebook 1 chronicling a camping and fishing trip Ellen and Ted Trueblood took
in June 1959 . Among the notations
was one recording the discovery of a "little scorpion in [the] paper bag
lunch had been in and another about 7" long under bag of potatoes"
(June 5). The next day she recorded
"We had blue grouse cooked in [the] Dutch oven, mashed potatoes &
gravy, tossed salad & stewed tomatoes for dinner!"
Their sons did not accompany them on this trip, so "Ted and I went
swimming in our bay tonight" (June 11).
Other writings by Ellen about their camping trips (including an account
of their unusual honeymoon) are found in the Ted Trueblood papers, Series VI
(Field Notebooks and Diaries), The scrapbook in Box 10 contains clippings of
articles Ellen wrote for the Caldwell News
Tribune, the Nampa Free Press, and
Boise Capital News in the 1930s. Box 9: Field notebooks
8 spiral-bound steno notebooks (6"x9")
2 spiral-bound pocket notebooks (3"x5") Box 10: Diary and scrapbook Diary,
1968
Scrapbook of newspaper articles, 1930s Box 11: Account book Financial
account book, 1976-1988 Series 10: Photos The
photos in this series are primarily color snapshots taken between 1975 and 1990.
Included is a small album of snapshots taken at Ted Trueblood Night in
Nampa, Idaho, in 1978, along with four 5"x7" photos taken at the same
event (Envelope 16). Also
included in this series is a photo of the mushroom Hygrophorous
ellenae, a species named after Ellen Trueblood (Envelope 6). Box 12:
Photos Envelope 1
Ted Trueblood camping, 1975 Envelope 2
Idaho Wildlife Federation awards banquet, 1983 Envelope 3
SIMA Spring foray, 1983 Envelope 4
SIMA Fall foray, 1983 Envelope 5
SIMA Fall foray, 1983: negatives Envelope 6
SIMA June foray, 1984 Envelope 7
SIMA Fall foray, 1984 Envelope 8
SIMA award, 1984 Envelope 9
Mushrooms at Cascade, Idaho, 1986 Envelope 10
Dan Trueblood, James Hobbs Envelope 11
Mary Ellen (daughter) and family Envelope 12
Amy and Becky Johnson Envelope 13
Alexander and Helen Smith (mycologists), 1984 Envelope 14
At the Trueblood home, Nampa, Idaho Envelope 15
Mushroom (5"x7") Envelope 16
Ted Trueblood night, Nampa, Idaho, 1978 (5"x7") Envelope 17
Take Pride in Idaho awards ceremony, 1990 (4 slides) Album
Ted Trueblood Night, Nampa,
Idaho, 1978
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