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Orra White Hitchcock Classroom Drawings

 Collection
Identifier: MA.01020
Digital Collection: Orra White Hitchcock Classroom Drawings
Digital Collection: Orra White Hitchcock Classroom Drawings

Scope and Contents

Sixty-one drawings created by Orra White Hitchcock for use in Professor Edward Hitchcock's classes on geology and natural history. These teaching aids, created with pen and ink on oiled or unoiled linen, depict geological formations, strata, fossils, extinct mammals, and dinosaur footprints.

Dates

  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1828 - 1840

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

There is no restriction on access to the collection for research use. Particularly large or fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

All requests for materials from this collection must be made in advance. Contact archives@amherst.edu to arrange access.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.

Biographical / Historical

Orra White [Hitchcock] was born March 8, 1796 to Jarib and Ruth Sherman White in South Amherst. Orra became assistant principal of Deerfield Academy in 1813 and an instructor at Amherst Academy in 1818. In May 1821, Orra White married Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864). Together, they set out on many scientific expeditions. A talented artist, Orra sketched in the field and illustrated many of Edward Hitchcock’s printed works. When Edward became a professor of natural sciences at Amherst College in 1825, Orra illustrated instructional charts to accompany his classroom lectures.

Edward and Orra White Hitchcock had eight children. Orra White Hitchcock died in 1863.

Extent

61 items (9 mapcase drawers, 20 rolled storage tubes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Sixty-one drawings created by Orra White Hitchcock for use in Professor Edward Hitchcock's classes on geology and natural history.

Arrangement

The majority of the classroom charts in the collection have original chart numbers painted on the front. The original numbers fall into two series, the first running 1 to 50 and the second 23-31; in addition there are five unnumbered charts. During conservation work undertaken in 2012, a new numbering scheme was applied to the collection: charts in the first series were assigned the number painted on the textile (#1-50), charts in the second series and unnumbered charts were assigned sequential numbers (#51-63). There are no charts numbered 3 or 35 and so those numbers were left unassigned. These assigned numbers are used for the item number or tube number of each chart.

Existence and Location of Copies

This collection has been digitized and is available in the Amherst College Digital Collection: https://acdc.amherst.edu/browse/partOf/Orra+White+Hitchcock+Classroom+Drawings

Related Materials

Additional material created by or about Orra White Hitchcock can be found in the Edward and Orra White Hitchcock Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College.

Additional artwork by Orra White Hitchcock is held in the collection of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College.

Author
Chris Barber
Date
2019
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
61 Quadrangle Drive
Amherst MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2299