Introduction | Biographical chronology | Series description
Introduction
Funding
Funding for processing provided by the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
Access
The collection is open for research at the Museum of Paleontology, with permission from the Museum Director. Contact the museum for further information.
Publication rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director or the Principal Museum Scientist for forwarding. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Museum of Paleontology as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Size
Number of containers: 5 boxes, 1 carton, 5 negative boxes, 1 drawer, 4 large format print containers, 1 poster roll.
Linear feet: 6
Processed by
Robin P. Walker
Date completed
July, 2004
Preferred citation
[Identification of item], [collection name & number], University of California Museum of Paleontology
Related collections
Researchers should also note that the Bancroft Library, the Bioscience and Natural Resources Library, and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (all on the Berkeley campus) also hold some papers of Charles L. Camp.
Biographical chronology
| 1893 | Born in Jamestown, North Dakota on March 12. |
| 1895 | Camp family moved to southern California near Pasadena. |
| 1908 | Visited fossil localities in the Bridger Basin, Wyoming. |
| 1911 | Entered the University of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate in the Department of Zoology, where his studies led to nine publications on mammalogy, herpetology, and a description of fossil amphibian remains from the Rancho la Brea tar pits. |
| 1915 | Received a Bachelor’s Degree from UC Berkeley. |
| 1916 | Received an M.A. at Columbia University. |
| 1917 | Camp attended the U.S. Army School at Plattsburgh, NY, was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery, and served overseas in the American Expeditionary Forces, where he advanced to First Lieutenant. Camp was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his service. |
| 1922 | Appointed to teach comparative anatomy in the UC Berkeley Zoology Department. |
| 1923 | Wrote Classification of the Lizards. Received Ph.D. from Columbia under the tutelage of William K. Gregory and Henry Fairfield Osborn. Appointed a Director of the California Historical Society and a member of its publications committee, where he served until 1935. |
| 1924 | Married Jessie Margaret Pratt, with whom he later had four children: Charles, Nancy, Patsy, and Roderick. |
| 1930 | Appointed Director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, a position he maintained until 1949. Wrote “A Study of the phytosaurs with Description of New Material from Western North America.” |
| 1933 | Began abstracting publications to compile a bibliography of fossil vertebrates. |
| 1935-36 | Received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study vertebrate mammal-like reptiles in the Karroo region of South Africa, visit Triassic exposures in China with C.C. Young, and visit Triassic vertebrate collections in Europe. |
| 1937 | Edited The Plains and the Rockies by Henry Raup Wagner. |
| 1938 | Camp and others resurrected the miners’ organization E. Clampus vitus as a prominent historical preservation fraternity and social club. |
| 1939 | Appointed Chair of the UC Berkeley Department of Paleontology, where he served until 1949. |
| 1946 | Elected President of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology. |
| 1947-48 | Second African Expedition to Karoo with Frank E. Peabody for study of vertebrates and to visit a number of important Pleistocene sites associated with early humans. |
| 1952 | Published Earth Song: A Prelude to History. |
| 1953 | Excavated ichthyosaur fossils form the Shoshone Mountains in Nevada. Camp dedicated the next five summers to this endeavor, eventually persuading the State of Nevada to declare the site a state park (Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park). |
| 1959 | Wrote monograph on dicynodonts. |
| 1960 | Retired from teaching at UC Berkeley. Expedition to Western Australia with John Cosgriff to find Triassic vertebrates. Published James Clyman Frontiersman: The Adventures of a Trapper and Covered Wagon Emigrant as Told in His Own Reminisces and Diaries. |
| 1968 | Completed the 8-volume Bibliography of Fossil Vertebrates and related subjects: 1928-1968. |
| 1970 | Camp received the Henry R. Wagner Memorial medal, the California Historical Society’s highest honor. |
| 1971 | Jessie Camp died. |
| 1972 | Married Joanna Bilbrey. |
| 1975 | Camp died on August 14 in San Jose. |
Series description
Series 1: Correspondence, 1936-1996
| Container | Contents |
| Box 1 | Correspondence to and from Charles L. Camp arranged alphabetically, with major correspondents included in separate files. |
Series 2: Manuscripts and paleontological research notes
| Container | Contents |
| Box 2 | Research files and manuscripts arranged alphabetically. |
Series 3: Field notes
| Container | Contents | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drawer 1 | Field notes and locality files arranged chronologically. An overview is related below:
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Series 4: Miscellany
| Container | Contents |
| Box 3 | Miscellany, including newspaper clippings, fliers, and C.L. Camp obituaries. Also contains the South African diary of Dr. Camp’s son, Charles M. Camp. |
| Box 4 (26″ x 22″ x 2¾”) |
(1) Misc. W.G. Huff drawings plus two photos of artwork; (2) original Huff drawings for C.L. Camp’s 1966 book Stories of Fossils; (3) original art, primarily maps, by Owen J. Poe for C.L. Camp’s 1952 book Earth Song: A Prologue to History |
| Box 5 (26″ x 22″ x 2¾”) |
Miscellaneous illustrations, photographs, maps, documents |
| Poster roll | Oversized Huff illustrations |
Series 5: Film and photograph collection
| Container | Contents |
| Sm. boxes 1-5 | Lantern slides, unorganized |
| Carton 1 | Miscellaneous films and negatives, unorganized |
Originally created by Robin P. Walker, 7/04; update to Series 4 description by Dave Smith, 5/12