Figure 1
Partial view of a list of specimens with handwriting by Robertson (black ink and pencil) and E. T. Cresson (red ink). Charles Robertson Papers, Box 1, Folder: General Correspondence, Record series 43/5/21, University of Illinois Archives.
Table 1
Robertson’s correspondents. *Acknowledged in Flowers and Insects (Robertson, 1928a).
| CORRESPONDENT NAME | ITEM TYPES | DATE RANGE | DURATION (YEARS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aldrich, John Merton (1866–1934)* | letter, list | 1919 | 1 |
| Ashmead, William Harris (1855–1908)* | letter, list | 1892–1901 | 10 |
| Banks, Nathan (1868–1953)* | letter, list | 1919 | 1 |
| Beamer, Raymond Hill (1889–1957) | letter, list | 1927 | 1 |
| Coquillett, Daniel William (1856–1911)* | letter, list | 1891–1901 | 11 |
| Crawford, James Chamberlain (1880–1950)* | letter, list | 1927–1928 | 2 |
| Cresson, Ezra Townsend (1838–1926)* | letter, list | 1887–1888 | 2 |
| Curran, Charles Howard (1894–1972) | letter, list | 1923 | 1 |
| Cushman, Robert Asa (1880–1957)* | letter, list, publication | 1920 | 1 |
| Fox, William Joseph (1872–1947)* | letter, list | 1892–1896 | 5 |
| French, George Hazen (1841–1935)* | list | 1892 | 1 |
| Frost, Charles Albert (1872–1962)* | letter, list | 1919–1921 | 3 |
| Henshaw, Samuel (1852–1941)* | list, postcard | 1888 | 1 |
| Howard, Leland Ossian (1857–1950)* | letter | 1893 | 1 |
| Hungerford, Herbert Barker (1885–1963) | letter | 1927 | 1 |
| Johnson, Charles Willison (1863–1932)* | list | 1895 | 1 |
| Liebeck, Charles K. (1863–1947)* | list | 1896 | 1 |
| Malloch, John Russell (1875–1963)* | letter, postcard | 1917–1928 | 12 |
| McAtee, Waldo Lee (1883–1962) | letter, publication | 1916–1920 | 5 |
| Osborn, Herbert (1856–1954) | list | 1890 | 1 |
| Parker, Ralph R. (1888–1949)* | letter, list | 1919 | 1 |
| Parshley, Howard Madison (1884–1953)* | letter, list | 1919 | 1 |
| Rohwer, Sievert Allen (1887–1951)* | letter, list, publication | 1918–1920 | 3 |
| Sandhouse, Grace Adelbert (1896–1940) | letter | 1925 | 1 |
| Skinner, Henry (1861–1926) | list | 1896 | 1 |
| Townsend, Charles Henry Tyler (1863–1944)* | letter, list, postcard | 1891–1907 | 17 |
| Viereck, Henry Lorenz (1881–1931) | letter | 1905 | 1 |
| Williston, Samuel Wendell (1851–1918)* | letter, list | 1887–1889 | 3 |
Figure 2
Correspondence timeline. Dots represent years for which there are named and dated correspondence and/or lists of specimens sent. There is a relative lack of records dated between 1901 and 1916. Little is known of Robertson’s life at this time except that he was chair of biology at Blackburn from 1898 through 1909 (Walker, 1911).
Figure 3
Unique specimen numbers per order.
Figure 4
Number of correspondents specimens were sent to. Most specimens (75%) were sent to a single correspondent (square 1), but 25% were sent to two or more correspondents (squares 2–5). Specimens counted by specimen identification number. Specific counts and percentages provided in Table 2.
Table 2
Specimens sent per order. Although the correspondence references 3,205 specimen numbers, 15 of those were assigned to two different orders, bringing the total by order to 3,220. A table of those 15 is provided in the published dataset.
| ORDERS | SENT TO 1 | SENT TO 2 | SENT TO 3 | SENT TO 4 | SENT TO 5 | DISTINCT SPECIMENS | TOTAL SENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diptera | 1,161 | 503 | 41 | 6 | 1 | 1,712 | 2,319 |
| Hymenoptera | 1,152 | 194 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 1,383 | 1,683 |
| Coleoptera | 72 | 31 | – | – | – | 103 | 134 |
| Hemiptera | 12 | – | – | – | – | 12 | 12 |
| Lepidoptera | 10 | – | – | – | – | 10 | 10 |
| Total | 2,407 | 728 | 57 | 16 | 12 | 3,220 | 4,158 |
| Percentage | 74.75% | 22.61% | 1.77% | 0.50% | 0.37% |
Figure 5
Specimens to correspondents sankey diagram. Totals represent count of specimen numbers. Specimen numbers are counted once per correspondent. Specimens are counted more than once per order if they were sent to multiple correspondents.