Homer Franklin Bassett

Homer Franklin Bassett (September 2, 1826 – June 28, 1902) was an American hymenopterist specializing in gall wasps. In addition, he was the librarian of Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Homer Franklin Bassett
Born	September 2, 1826 Florida, Massachusetts
Died	June 28, 1902 (aged 75) Waterbury, Connecticut
Occupation	Librarian
Known for	Research on Cynipidae
Spouse(s)	Sarah A. Tomlinson[1] ​ ​ (m. 1848; died 1848)​ Lovina Alcott[1] ​ ​ (m. 1855; died 1880)​ Margaret D. Judd[1] ​ ​ (m. 1884⁠–⁠1902)​
Children	3
Signature

Early life and education

Bassett was born on September 2, 1826 in the town of Florida, Massachusetts. His parents were Ezra and Keziah (née Witt) Bassett. In 1836 he and his father moved to Rockport, Ohio. 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.[2]

Work as librarian

Silas Bronson Library, prior to move

Architectural sketch of the new library, designed by Cady, Berg & See

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.[3] The number of volumes in the library more than quadrupled in his first five years.[2] Bassett also made a card catalog of the collection's 2,800 pamphlets.[4] He also was the librarian during the move to a new building in 1894.[2] He also opened a children's library in 1898.[5]

Bassett resigned from his position in 1901 due to poor health.[5]

Work as naturalist

Over the course of his life, Bassett described 125 species of gall wasp.[6] He became a corresponding member of the American Entomological Society in 1863 and published various papers in its Proceedings and its Transactions.[7] Basset had the largest privately-owned collection of Hymenoptera in the United States.[8] He donated his collection of gall wasps, including his various holotypes to the American Entomological Society in 1901;[6] it contained approximately 6,300 specimens.[9] A collection consisting of a selection of his paratypes was also donated to the American Museum of Natural History after his death.[10] In 1887, William Harris Ashmead named the genus Bassettia after him.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13] His obituary appeared in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine[14] and Entomological News,[13] as well as in The Hartford Courant.[15] His death was also reported in The American Naturalist[16] and The Boston Sunday Globe[17]

References

1. Burton, Richard, ed. (1898). "Bassett, Homer Franklin". Men of Progress: Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life and of the State of Connecticut. Boston: New England Magazine. pp. 7–8.
2. Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Bassett, Homer Franklin". The Biographical Dictionary of America. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 242.
3. Mitchell 1966, p. 62.
4. Mitchell 1966, p. 65.
5. Mitchell 1966, p. 75.
6. Cresson, Jr., E. T. (1922). "The Bassett Types of Cynipidae (Hymenoptera)". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 48 (3): 197–203. JSTOR 25077070.
7. Bradley, J. Chester (1959). "The Influence of the American Entomological Society upon the Study of Hymenoptera". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 85 (4): 281. JSTOR 25077786.
8. Rehn, James A. G. (1959). "The Insect Collections of the American Entomological Society". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 85 (4): 328–330. JSTOR 25077790.
9. Skinner, Henry (1901). "Report of the Entomological Section". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 53 (3): 771–772. JSTOR 4062797.
10. Beutenmüller, William (1904). "The types of Cynipidae in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 20 (3): 23–28. hdl:2246/682.
11. Ashmead, William H. (1887). "On the Cynipidous Galls of Florida, with Descriptions of New Species and Synopses of the Described Species of North America". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 14: 146. JSTOR 25076487.
12. Blewitt, Arthur Edmund (1926). "Preface". Flora of Waterbury, Conn. and Vicinity. Lancaster, PA: The Science Press. pp. 9–10.
13. Skinner, Henry, ed. (1902). "H. F. Bassett". Obituary. Entomological News. 13 (7): 203–205; Pl. 10.
14. Barrett, C. G.; et al., eds. (1902). "Homer Franklin Bassett". Obituary. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 38 (463): 289.
15. "Recent Deaths: Homer Franklin Bassett". The Hartford Courant. 66 (156). June 30, 1902. p. 13. ProQuest 555074062.
16. Allen, J. A.; et al., eds. (1903). "Quarterly Record of Gifts, Appointments, Retirements, and Deaths". The American Naturalist. 37 (434): 151. doi:10.1086/278271. JSTOR 2454871.
17. "Homer F. Bassett Dead". The Boston Sunday Globe. 61 (180). June 29, 1902. p. 1. ProQuest 499684585.

Works cited

• Mitchell, Minnie W. (1966). "19th Century Developments of the Administration of Homer F. Bassett". A Historical Study of the Silas Bronson Library of Waterbury, Connecticut (Thesis). Southern Connecticut State College. pp. 62–77. ProQuest 302253931.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Anderson, Joseph (1896). "Poets and Prose Writers". In Anderson, Joseph (ed.). The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five. 3. New Haven: Price & Lee. p. 966.
• Bassett, Homer F.; Kimball, Arthur Reed; et al. (1896). "Libraries, Book-Stores, Literary Societies". In Anderson, Joseph (ed.). The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five. 3. New Haven: Price & Lee. pp. 1009, 1013, 1016–1018, 1023, 1027.
• Chapin, Charles F.; Anderson, Joseph; Abbott, Anson F.; et al. (1896). "Charity, Philanthropy and Reform". In Anderson, Joseph (ed.). The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five. 3. New Haven: Price & Lee. pp. 916–917.
• Herringshaw, Thomas William, ed. (1898). "Bassett, Homer Franklin". Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century. Chicago: American Publishers' Association. p. 88.
• Kingsbury, Charles Denison; Abbott, Anson F.; Anderson, Joseph; et al. (1896). "Banking and Insurance". In Anderson, Joseph (ed.). The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five. 2. New Haven: Price & Lee. p. 183.
• Kingsbury, Charles Denison; Anderson, Joseph; Jackson, Mrs. Charles A.; et al. (1896). "Private Schools Since 1800". In Anderson, Joseph (ed.). The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five. 2. New Haven: Price & Lee. pp. 529, 534.
• White, James T., ed. (1896). "Bassett, Homer Franklin". The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. 6. New York: James T. White. p. 481.