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Collection of 118 b&w numbered glossy photographs of flowers and trees from New Zealand, many with descriptive text hand written on verso, with an accompanying list of genus species names. Handwritten on the envelope is the text, "Flowers and Trees of New Zealand, Gov't. photos, 1929". Extensive notes accompany some photographs, for example; "113 Metrosideros tomentosa = N.Z. Xmas Tree = Maori 'Pohukatawa' . Timber hard and durable and splendid as firewood; in fact when felled or burned in bush it will blaze for months. "Pohukatawa" means "spray-sprinkled" from legend that it was last earthly land-hold when dead spirit lept from Mt. ridges into the sea at northern end of Cape Reinga." "Astelea nerosa (Lily F.) One of many N.Z. epiphytic plants with swordlike leaves growing in great tufts even in loftiest forest trees." Small photos (10): 4 1/4 x 3 1/4" , 9 with descriptive text; Medium photos (22) 5 1/2 x 3 1/2", 21 with descriptive text; Large photos (86): 6 1/4 x 4 1/2" 38 with descriptive text. The list is typewritten two pages pinned together starting with photo number 101 and ending with 232, with one small pencil notation, folded in quarters, slightly wrinkled at left edge, slt ruffle at top edge. Housed in the original manila envelope 10 x 6 1/2" addressed to Francis R. Cope, Jr. in Dimock, Penna from the Allegheny Forest Experiment Station postdated Oct 30 1943, as if Cope reused a stronger envelope to house the photos. Photos (all black and white) curled but crisp and clean. The Copes were an eminent Pennsylvania Quaker family. Francis R. Cope Jr., noted American naturalist, was deeply involved in his community. The family was active in many civic, educational and charitable projects, including the development of Fairmount Park, the City's Waterworks, the Philadelphia Zoo and Haverford College. An early supporter of the conservation of wild lands, Francis donated the tract of land that is now Woodbourne Forest & Wildlife Preserve to the Nature Conservancy, the 4th preserve established by the Nature Conservancy. Francis traveled the world with his daughter Theodora Cope, later Stanwell-Fletcher, a.k.a. Theodora Gray, then a recent graduate of Mt. Holyoke with a passion for natural history, and later a founding member of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, where she earned a Ph.D. in Vertebrate Ecology. The Copes traveled throughout New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Java and Sumatra in the late 1920's. Seller Inventory # 22216
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