Edward Drinker Cope papers

The Edward Drinker Cope Papers collection is comprised of 9 boxes of documents and materials related to well-known paleontologist and naturalist Edward Drinker Cope. The collection includes letters and correspondence between E.D. Cope and his family and colleagues (a mixture of Xerox copies, typewritten copies, photocopies, and originals), as well as specimen lists, photographs, illustrations, a scrapbook, and Xerox copies of his field diaries.

Boxes 1 to 3 contain Xerox copies of letters related to Cope from 1846 – 1903, including correspondence between Cope and H.F. Osborn, as well as some letters written after his death in 1897. Original materials from which these copies were made were deposited in the AMNH Main Library (Rare Books) on October 14, 1975 by Bobb Schaeffer (a curator in DVP at the time).

Boxes 4 to 5 contain Xerox copies of his field diaries from 1872 to 1893, photocopied at the request of G.G. Simpson by the American Philosophical Society Philadelphia, as well as a photocopy of Paris Journal and copies of notes by Frank Hazard, one of Cope’s collectors. Cope’s original field diaries were deposited in the AMNH Main Library on January 22, 1975 by Bobb Schaeffer.

Boxes 6 to 9 contain correspondence and letters (a mixture of typewritten copies, photocopies, and originals), specimen lists, photos, and illustrations, from 1847 to 1924. Of note: in Box 7 are rare photographs of E.D. Cope’s childhood, which were mailed to H.F. Osborn in 1924 by Cope’s sister Elizabeth W. Garrett; in Box 6 there is a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings of the Cope-Marsh “Bone Wars” dispute.

Box 1

Correspondence: Xerox copies of Cope letters, 1846 – 1875

Box 2

Correspondence: Xerox copies of Cope letters, 1876 – 1888

Box 3

Correspondence: Xerox copies of Cope letters, 1882 – 1903

Box 4

Field Diaries: Xerox copies, 1872 – 1975

Box 5

Field Diaries; Paris Journal; Frank Hazard notes: Xerox copies (1883 – 1891)

Box 6

Correspondence (mix of typewritten copies and originals), 1872 – 1908

Box 7

Correspondence (mix of typewritten copies, photocopies, and originals) & specimen lists, 1874 – 1924

Box 8

Specimen lists, correspondence, sketches, 1877 – 1909

Box 9

Specimen Lists & correspondence (typescript copies), 1847 – 1897