Alfred Traverse (1925–2015) papers
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 13 boxes of materials including ephemera (including programs, circulars, meeting agendas, paper abstracts, and field trip guides) and manuscripts from societies and meetings Traverse was involved with, correspondence, biographical materials, and photographs.
The collection is organized according to the date the materials were received. The collection was arranged into 4 series: societies and meetings; photographs; biographical materials; scientific correspondence. Series notes throughout the finding aid further describe the series content and provenance.
The group photographs and individual portraits that were donated with this collection have been incorporated into the HI Portrait Collection. Photocopies of the transferred photographs and any additional photographs can be found in the folders in series 1 and 2.
Dates
- Creation: 1948–2001
Biographical / Historical
Alfred Traverse was a noted palynologist, professor, and priest, who participated in many scientific organizations and received multiple awards. He was born on 7 September 1925 in Port Hill, Prince Edward Island, Canada to a priest and a school teacher. He was an accomplished scholar, studying primarily at Harvard University through undergraduate and graduate degrees, culminating in a Ph.D. after his "The pollen and spores of the Brandon Lignite: a coal in Vermont of lower Tertiary age" dissertation (Riding et al. 2016).
He held many professional positions throughout his career, including roles at the United States Bureau of Mines, Shell Development Company, and as on-board scientist on the Glomar Challenger. He also obtained a Master of Divinity degree in 1965, serving in multiple roles in the Episcopal Church. In 1966 he became associate professor of geology at Pennsylvania State University, and would teach there until his retirement in 1995. Despite his retirement, he served as Adjunct Curator of the Penn State Herbarium until his death on 15 September 2015 (Riding et al. 2016).
Traverse’s most well-known work is his publication of two editions of the textbook Paleopalynology (1988 & 2007), based on his teachings at Penn State. He was also highly active in the scientific community, participating in many societies and serving as a founding member of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists (AASP). In 1991 he was awarded the International Medal by the Palaeobotanical Society of India for his “outstanding contributions to palynology,” and in 2001 he received the AASP Medal for Excellence in Education.
References
This information comes primarily from folder 49 of this collection (Alfred Traverse (1925–2015) papers, HIBDARC-0324), Biographical Materials – vita, list of publications, biographical sketch.
Additional information from:
Riding, J. B., W. G. Chaloner FRS, M. B. Farley, F. J. Rich & P. K. Strother. 2016. A biography and obituary of Alfred Traverse (1925–2015). Palynology, 40(2), iii–xi. Taylor & Francis Online https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2016.1164980 (6 March 2016).
Extent
11 Linear Feet (13 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
- Title
- Guide to the Alfred Traverse (1925–2015) papers
- Author
- Adapted from Jamie Shriver's work and placed online by Christi Thomas
- Date
- 10 March 2005, adapted and put online 3 March 2026
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Archives Repository