NEWSOM MSS.
The Newsom mss., 1894-1923, consist of letters and papers of John Flesher Newsom, 1869-1928, mining geologist.
Career: born, September 6, 1869, at Elizabethtown, Indiana; son of Nathan and Mary (Flesher) Newsom; A.B., Indiana University, 1891; A.M., 1892, Ph.D., 1901, Leland Stanford, Jr., University; assistant geologist, Geological survey of Arkansas, 1891-1893; instructor in geology, 1895- 1896, assistant professor, 1896-1898, Indiana University; in charge of geological field work in Southern Indiana, 1896- 1897; examined phosphate deposits of Arkansas, 1897-1899; studied principal mining regions of central and western U.S., 1898; assistant professor, 1898, associate professor, 1901- 1909, professor, 1909, Leland Stanford, Jr., University; various professional examinations of mining properties, 1900- 1909; professional examinations of mining properties in South America, North America and the Orient, 1910-1924; married Adelaide Frances Perry, March 17, 1896; died, October 24, 1928.
For the period in which Newsom was associated with Indiana University the collection contains records, 1894-1897, of the Athletic Association of Indiana University of which Newsom was treasurer for part of this time and some papers, 1896- 1898, of the Indiana University Department of geology and of the Indiana University geological survey with which Newsom was connected.
The Athletic Association material consists principally of bills and receipts, 1894-1897, for athletic expenses, and copies of letters, 1896, relating in the main to the scheduling of games, but also concerned with the engaging of a coach, the captaincy of the team and the expenses of the football team. Some of the copies of letters are unbound and some are in a lettercopy book, October 23, 1894-February 8, 1898. The collection also contains letters, 1899, from Mrs. John Flesher Newsom in Bloomington to her husband at Leland Stanford, Jr., University giving news of Indiana games and enclosing newspaper clippings in some cases.
Geological material in the collection includes for the Indiana period copies of letters in the above mentioned lettercopy book, bills and receipts, 1897-1898, for the Department of geology and the Geological survey, a bound "Expense account of the Indiana University Geological survey during the summer of 1896" and letters, June-July 1897, from Newsom with the survey at New Albany and other places in Indiana to his wife.
After Newsom left Indiana for Leland Stanford, Jr., University the collection consists largely of letters from him to his wife on his way west and at Stanford, August 22- December 1, 1899; on professional business in Oroville, California, July 1-August 1, 1900; at Oruro, Bolivia, June 15, 1911; in Canada and Alaska, June 13, 1913, July-October, 1914, and June and August, 1915; at Oatman, Arizona, February-March, 1916; and in Honolulu, Yokohama, Manila, Hongkong, and Malaya in 1918-1920 and 1922-1923.
The collection also contains some correspondence, 1919- 1923, of John Branner Newsom, 1897- , son of John Flesher Newsom, with his parents.
Collection size: 273 items