Ernest Christian Rost Papers: Finding Aid mssRost
Gayle Richardson
The Huntington Library
October 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Note
Finding aid last updated on February 21, 2024 by Kelly Kress.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Ernest Christian Rost papers
Creator:
Rost, Ernest Christian, 1867-1940
Identifier/Call Number: mssRost
Physical Description:
7.08 Linear Feet
(7 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1918-1937
Abstract: A collection of manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs related to the life and career of American cacti specialist Ernest
Christian Rost.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Ernest Christian Rost papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Mrs. Miles E. Rost, 1968.
Biographical / Historical
Ernest Christian Rost (1867-1940) was an artist, pioneer photographer, adventurer, and botanist. He was born in Mount Vernon,
New York, son of German parents, Christian Wilhelm Rost, a renowned engraver, and Minna Rost, an embroiderer of military insignia.
Rost studied at the National Academy of Design and continued his artistic education in Europe. In the late 1890s, he turned
to photography, working in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Panama. In 1907, he married Etta N. Newbury and by
1918 he settled in California. Having failed at growing grapes in the San Joaquin Valley, he moved to Southern California
and settled in Alhambra where he devoted his life to the study of cacti. Rost traveled widely throughout the Mojave Desert,
Nevada, Mexico, and Arizona, collecting and classifying desert plants. In 1929, he became an editor of Desert, the official
publication of the American Succulent Societies. In 1931, he was elected to the German Horticultural Society. In 1933, Rost
sought to publish a book Something about cacti, but the book was never published. Rost died in Alhambra in October 1940.
Scope and Contents
A collection of 648 items from 1918 to 1937, it consists of correspondence, manuscripts, documents and photographs primarily
related to Rost's interests in cacti. Included is a typewritten manuscript of his book Something about cacti, a translation
of Alwin Berger's Kakteen (1929), and articles by Ernest N. Rost and his wife Etta Newbury Rost, who wrote under the pseudonym
Esther Norton. Correspondents in the collection include Joseph Nelson Rose, Curator of Botany at the Smithsonian Institution
and Nathaniel Lord Britton, director of the New York Botanical Gardens. The collection also contains 505 photographs, including
287 photographs of cacti and succulent plants which were to be included in Something bout cacti, 3 oversize photograph albums,
and approximately 800 uncataloged glass plate negatives.
Processing Information
Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1975. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the finding aid derived from a legacy
summary report.
Arrangement
Organized in the following series: Correspondence; Manuscripts; Photographs; Photograph albums; Glass plate negatives.
General
Former call number: mssRost papers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Botanists -- California
Botanists -- United States
Botanizers -- California
Cactus -- Photographs
Cactus -- Research -- United States
German Americans
Horticulturists -- California
Photographers -- United States
Letters (correspondence)
Personal papers -- California
Photographs
Professional papers -- California
Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859-1934
Rose, J. N. (Joseph Nelson), 1862-1928
Rost, Etta Newbury
Box 1
Correspondence; Alwin Berger manuscript
1918-1930
Box 2
Manuscripts; Ephemera
1929-1938
Box 3
Photographs coordinated with the numbers on manuscript of "Something about cacti" in Box 2
Box 4
Miscellaneous photographs, mainly of cacti and succulent plants
Box 7, Folder 1
Echinocactanae...: photograph album
approximately 1930
Box 7, Folder 2
The Home Garden...: photograph album
approximately 1930
Box 7, Folder 3
Cereus...: photograph album
approximately 1930
