Stephen T. Olney was born on Feb. 15, 1812, in Burrillville, R.I., and received his education in Providence. He started work in the counting house of Isaac B. Cooke & Co., which was probably located in Augusta, Georgia. Later he returned to the Providence area and started the Wauskuck Co., a wollens firms, with Jesse Metcalf. The business made Olney a wealthy man, and he devoted some of his wealth to the prusuit of his botanical interests. He published a catalogue of Rhode Island plants in connection with the Providence Franklin Society in 1845, with further additions in 1846-1847. He made collections of algae from 1846 to 1848 that served as the basis for his
In his later years, Olney went into a decline: W.W. Bailey wrote that he "was an invalid and incapacitated for business during the last years of his life," and Asa Gray wrote that the end of his life was "obscured and afflicted by mental trouble." Olney died a bachelor on July 27, 1878. He left his herbarium, library and correspondence to Brown University and also gave substantial sums of money toward botanical studies at Brown.
This collection contains correspndence written to and from Stephen T. Olney during 1817 and 1845-1875 with 46 other botanists regarding the study and collection of a wide variety of plants. The bulk of his correspondence is with: Michael Schuck Bebb, John Carey, Chester Dewey, and Earl Flint.
All the materials in this collection are in the public domain and available for use without restriction.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Stephen T. Olney correspondence, Ms.2017.024, Brown University Library.
The correspondence is arranged alphabetically.
These materials were transferred to the John Hay Library from the Brown University Herbarium in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2016.
To William Baldwin