Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of William M. Fontaine, Accession #1459, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

Archival transfer: Geology School; University of Virginia; 1942 June 18.

Biographical/Historical Information

William M. Fontaine, son of James Fontaine and Juliet C. Morris. Born 1835 in Hanover County, Virginia, died 1913 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Professor of geology at the University of Virginia, hired at the University of Virginia in 1878 as the first professor of natural history, with a $50,000 endowment from Washington philanthropist W. W. Corcoran.

Scope and Content

Included are numerous reports, notebooks, and lecture notes by UVA Professor William Fontaine and others on the natural sciences including geology, botany, and paleontology in Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon, Maryland and elsewhere. Also included is correspondence to Jedediah Hotchkiss of the United States Geological Survey on topics concerning geology in Georgia, Virginia, and Washington State as well as a diary kept by Maury Fontaine at Rochelle Farm for the period 1883-1886.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into unbound and bound volumes, with unbound materials stored first. Within the two series, materials are arranged alphabetically.