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Homer Franklin Bassett (September 2, 1826 – June 28, 1902) was an American hymenopterist specializing in
Bassett worked at the Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury, Connecticut for nearly thirty years. He started work on September 1, 1872 after the resignation of W. I. Fletcher, its first librarian. The number of volumes in the library more than quadrupled in his first five years. Bassett also made a
gall wasps
Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this genera ...
. In addition, he was the librarian of Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
.
Early life and education
Bassett was born on September 2, 1826 in the town ofFlorida, Massachusetts
Florida is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is home to the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel, as well as Whitcomb Summit (elevation ), the highe ...
. His parents were Ezra and Keziah (née Witt) Bassett. In 1836 he and his father moved to Rockport, Ohio Rockport is an unincorporated community in Allen County, in the U.S. state of Ohio.
History
Rockport was plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United St ...
. He enrolled in Oberlin College in 1847, but due to poor health he had to leave the following year. He returned to New England in 1849.
Work as librarian
Bassett worked at the Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury, Connecticut for nearly thirty years. He started work on September 1, 1872 after the resignation of W. I. Fletcher, its first librarian. The number of volumes in the library more than quadrupled in his first five years. Bassett also made a card catalog
A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also c ...
of the collection's 2,800 pamphlets. He also was the librarian during the move to a new building in 1894. He also opened a children's library in 1898.
Bassett resigned from his position in 1901 due to poor health.
Work as naturalist
Over the course of his life, Bassett described 125 species of gall wasp. He became a corresponding member of the American Entomological Society in 1863 and published various papers in its ''Proceedings'' and its ''Transactions''. Basset had the largest privately-owned collection of Hymenoptera in the United States. He donated his collection of gall wasps, including his variousholotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...
s to the American Entomological Society in 1901; it contained approximately 6,300 specimens. A collection consisting of a selection of his paratype
In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). O ...
s was also donated to the American Museum of Natural History after his death. In 1887, William Harris Ashmead
William Harris Ashmead was an American entomologist born on 19 September 1855 at Philadelphia. He died 17 October 1908 at Washington D.C.
After his studies in Philadelphia, Ashmead worked for the publisher J. B. Lippincott & Co. Later, he settl ...
named the genus '' Bassettia'' after him.
Bassett was also described as "one of the best known of the early botanists" in the vicinity of Waterbury. His collection was deposited at the Mattatuck Museum's herbarium.
Death
Bassett died on June 28, 1902, at 4:20 am at the age of 75. He died in his home in Waterbury due to heart and kidney disease. His obituary appeared in '' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' and '' Entomological News'', as well as in ''The Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
''. His death was also reported in ''The American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance ...
'' and ''The Boston Sunday Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''.
References
Works cited
*Further reading
* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Homer Franklin People from Waterbury, Connecticut Hymenopterists American librarians 1826 births 1902 deaths Oberlin College alumni American entomologists