Gustav Wilhelm Belfrage Papers, 1866-1882

Introduction

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Descriptive Entry

These papers consist of letters from entomologists throughout the United States and Europe regarding purchase and exchange of specimens, especially insects of Texas, and include correspondence from Austria, England, France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, the United States, and Mexico; and a commission of 1866 from the Swedish Academy of Sciences for Belfrage's collecting in Texas.

Historical Note

Gustav Wilhelm Belfrage (1834-1882), born in Sweden, came to America in 1860 or 1861 and for the next twenty years made his living in large measure by selling insect specimens to entomologists throughout the world. He had known Carl Heinrich Boheman and Carl Stal in Sweden, and maintained contact with them after coming to America. Soon after arriving, he went to Chicago, and in 1866 he began his plan to collect in Texas. He corresponded with many American entomologists and with their encouragement and that of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, went on a collecting trip to Texas in 1867. Many of his specimens are in collections throughout the world, but his own collections, among which are most types of the new species of Hymenoptera described by Cresson, are in the National Museum of Natural History. He collected in many areas of Texas, especially in Bosque and McLennan counties.