Ronald Bamford papers
Collection
0248-UA
Ronald Bamford was on the faculty of the Department of Botany at the University of Maryland from 1931 until the late 1960s. Bamford served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture for the 1949-1950 academic year, and served as Dean of the Graduate School from 1950 until 1966. His papers consist of correspondence, writings, awards and photographs. Subjects include Dr. Bamford's academic and professional careers, violet hybrids, and root tips of wheat and corn.
This collection is open for research.
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
0.50 Linear Feet
The papers of Ronald Bamford include materials dating from 1926 to 1967. The collection contains Bamford's correspondence, writings relating to his academic and professional career at the University of Maryland and other academic institutions, awards presented to Dr. Bamford by various organizations in which he participated, such as the Maryland Board of Natural Resources, and photographs.
Ronald Bamford was born on November 1, 1901, in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. In 1924, he received his B. S. from Connecticut Agricultural College, which is now the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He was a graduate student and assistant in botany at the University of Vermont at Burlington, where he received his M. S. in 1926. Between 1926 and 1929, Bamford was an instructor of botany at the University of Vermont. In September 1929, he began a fellowship in botany at Columbia University and became an assistant in botany in July 1930. He received his Ph. D. in botany from Columbia University the following year.
Dr. Bamford joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in 1931 as an assistant professor of botany, rising to associate professor in 1933 and full professor in 1939. Dr. Bamford chaired the Department of Botany from 1944 to 1963 and served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture for the 1949-1950 academic year. Dr. Bamford was the Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland from 1950 to 1966. He returned to the Department of Botany as a professor after resigning his deanship. June 1, 1966, Governor J. Millard Tawes appointed Dr. Bamford to the Maryland Board of Natural Resources. During his tenure at the University of Maryland, Dr. Bamford taught general botany, plant anatomy, history and philosophy of botany, cytology, and plant morphology. He served as president of Sigma Xi, the Washington Botanical Society, and the American Genetic Association, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Botanical Society of America. Dr. Bamford retired from the University of Maryland in the late 1960s and died in January 1981.
The collection has been divided into four series:
The papers of Ronald Bamford were originally transferred to the University of Maryland Libraries in October 1973 as part of the records of the Department of Botany. Additional materials belonging to Dr. Bamford, also part of the records of the Department of Botany, were received from Dana Thomas in July 1992. In 1996, the Department of Botany transferred materials to the University of Maryland Libraries, which were found to contain additional correspondence and academic writings of Dr. Bamford. A series of letters commemorating Dr. Bamford's retirement as department head were transferred from the records of the Botany Department in 2002. In 2009, another addendum was made, consisting of correspondence, photographs, a notebook, and academic and professional documents, and transferred to the University of Maryland Libraries by Gene Ferrick, Assistant to the Dean of Chemical and Life Sciences.
The Papers of Ronald Bamford were separated from the records of the Department of Botany and Plant Biology during processing, begun in 1996. Staples and paper clips were removed from the collection, and all materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. A 1922 edition of Nutmeg, a yearbook of Connecticut Agricultural College, was removed from the Bamford papers during processing and sent to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. An addendum was made in July 2002, which consisted of a binder of letters. The binder was disassembled, and the letters were placed in an acid-free folder and added to Series I. An addendum was made in October 2009. Photographs and a poem were removed from frames, separated and placed in acid free folders. Correspondence and Academic and Professional Careers documents were interfiled.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives