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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Letter, 8 May 1886
General material designation
Parallel title
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Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on content.
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA MUA MG 1022-2-1-219-0001
Edition area
Edition statement
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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8 May 1886 (Creation)
- Creator
- Thomas, B. W. (Benjamin Walden), 1821-1905
- Place
- Chicago (Ill.)
Physical description area
Physical description
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(1821-1905)
Biographical history
Benjamin Walden Thomas was born on August 13, 1821, in Genesee County, New York.
He was a lumber merchant and microscopist. Around 1841 he moved to Chicago, where he initially worked as a shop clerk. In 1843, he took a similar position with a lumber business, which he purchased in 1844 and then expanded over the next three decades. In 1871, Thomas sold his business and devoted a considerable amount of time to microscopic investigations of life in his area of North America, with a particular focus on diatoms and freshwater sponges. He joined two local scientific societies, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and the Illinois State Microscopical Society (ISMS). Thomas served as President of the ISMS in 1881. In 1882, he joined The American Society of Microscopists and later served as its officer. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1884.
In 1848, he married Ann Augusta Wilcox (1829–1910). He died on January 1, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Letter from R.W. Thomas to John William Dawson, written from Chicago.