Lucy Adeline Briggs Cole Rawson Peckinpah Smallman

Lucy Adeline Briggs (25 August 1840 – 12 October 1920) was an American watercolor botanical artist and botanical collector.

Lucy Adeline Briggs Cole Rawson Peckinpah Smallman
Born(1840-08-25)25 August 1840[1]
Died12 October 1920(1920-10-12) (aged 80)[1]
Resting placeMountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)[1]
StyleBotanical artist
Painting of an unidentified yellow flower, signed Rawson-Peckinpah.

Life

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Born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Lucy married her first husband, James Cole, in 1860, who died due to drowning in the Mokelumne River in 1862.[2] Lucy subsequently married her second husband a year later, Julius Addison Rawson, in San Francisco.[1] Rawson then died, along with Lucy's only child, in 1877.[1] She then re-married in 1886, to Thaddeus Edgar Peckinpah. They lived near the Napa Valley, where Peckinpah had purchased 91 acres of land.[3] Later, she married James Knight Smallman in 1912.[1][4]

In the botanical literature, she is often referred to simply as Mrs. Peckinpah,[5][6] or Mrs. L.A. Rawson Peckinpah.[7]

According to the History of Solano and Napa Counties, California, published 1912, "as a close student of nature [Lucy] has made a deep study of botany.... Her painted collection of California wild flowers numbers over three hundred."[3] Lucy also taught painting at the Young Ladies' Seminary of Benicia.[3] Her artwork was exhibited with the San Francisco Art Association and the Arriola Relief Fund in 1872, and the California State Fair in 1878.[8]

Basket collecting

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History of Solano and Napa Counties, California noted that Mrs Peckinpah possessed "a fine collection of Indian baskets and curios," of which a portion are now held at the National Museum of the American Indian, that had been acquired by Homer Earle Sargent, Jr. after her death.[3][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] In 1917, she had gifted a portion of the basket collection, and other items, to the Oakland Museum of California.[16][17][18][19]

Botanical legacy

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The History of Solano and Napa Counties, California notes that Lucy collected type material for multiple Californian species, two of which eponymise one of her married names: Rawson.[3] These are:

Species collected by Lucy are today held by the Steere Herbarium, New York Botanical Gardens,[25] the Greene-Nieuwland Herbarium at the University of Notre Dame,[26] and the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Yerger, Rebecca (18 June 2011). "Three women found their muses in the flora of Napa County". Napa Valley Register. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  2. ^ Michael L. Charters (2005–2021). "California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations. A Dictionary of Botanical and Biographical Etymology". Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gregory, Thomas Jefferson (1912). History of Solano and Napa counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time. Los Angeles, California: Historic record company. p. 429. hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t8md04f63.
  4. ^ "rawsonia'na/rawsonia'nus". California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations. Michael L. Charters. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  5. ^ Jepson, Willis Linn (1901). A flora of western middle California. Berkeley, California: Encina Pub. Co. p. 434.
  6. ^ Greene, E.L. (1900). "Studies in the Cruciferae-iii". Pittonia. 4: 191.
  7. ^ Greene, E.L. (1900). "New or Noteworthy Species". Pittonia. 2: 166.
  8. ^ Hughes, Edan Milton (2002). Artists in California, 1786-1940: L-Z. California: Crocker Art Museum. p. 915. ISBN 9781884038082.
  9. ^ Galban, Maria (14 January 2020). "Spotlight on Collections: Expanding Both What We Know and What's Available Online". Smithsonian Voices. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022. The Western Mono coiled basket jar shown above entered the collections of the Museum of the American Indian in 1929 as a gift from Homer E. Sargent Jr. (1875–1957). The original catalog card includes only Sargent's name as the collector and donor. However, Sargent's original catalog information, which sat elsewhere in our archives, indicates that this basket was made by Mary Burkhead, a Western Mono woman from North Fork, California, and acquired from her around 1900. The basket was part of the collection of Lucy A. Peckinpah (1840–1920) of Napa, California, until Sargent purchased it from her estate in 1921. With this additional information, two previously unknown individuals are now associated with this basket, including the Native artist.
  10. ^ "Winnowing basket". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Basket bowl". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Basket bowl". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Basket bowl". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Basket bowl". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  15. ^ "Basket jar". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Bayberry tallow, Gift of Mrs. Lucy A. Smallman H23.1727A". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Chukchansi, Yokuts basket tray, Gift of Mrs. Lucy A. Smallman H16.2981". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Mary ~ basketmaker, Southern Miwok basket bowl, Gift of Mrs. Lucy A. Smallman H16.2979". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  19. ^ "platter 1827, Gift of Mrs. Lucy A. Smallman H23.1736". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Arabis rectissima Greene". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. 1900. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Nemophila venosa Jeps". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. 1901. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Collomia rawsoniana Greene". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. 1888. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Senecio rawsonianus Greene". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. 1891. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Viola anodonta Greene". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. 1902. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Specimen List - the William & Lynda Steere Herbarium".
  26. ^ "JSTOR Global Plants: Search Results".
  27. ^ "Partners".