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William Earl Rumsey was born September 9, 1865 near VanEtten, Chemung County, New York. He attended Cornell University in the late 1880s and earned a B.S. in Agriculture in 1891. He remained there until 1893 when he came to the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, where he soon became the Assistant Entomologist. During his tenure at West Virginia University, he took many photographs of his work, among other subjects. Rumsey became the West Virginia state entomologist in 1912, and as of 1929 was still in that position. He passed away February 16, 1938.
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], William Earle Rumsey, Entomologist and Photographer, Papers, A&M 2935, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Papers of William Rumsey, WVU Agricultural Experiment Station entomologist and photographer. Initial acquisition includes correspondence from a friend at Cornell University, Rumsey's student essays and diaries (1880-1925) and family photographs. There are also glass plate negatives, and lantern slides of West Virginia University subjects, and other subjects as well.
Addendum includes photographs, correspondence, financial and legal papers such as deeds, clippings, printed material, artifacts, and other materials. Photograph formats include glass plate negatives and positives, lantern slides, cabinet cards, prints, negatives, postcards, and mounted photos. Some of the people and places in the photos are identified, but many are not. The personal papers and publications include material on entomology, botany, genealogy, and more.
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