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<dl><dd>John Torrey Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden</dd>
<dd>Correspondence from Carl Bogenhard to John Torrey, dated 1852-1853. Bogenhard's first letter to Torrey, writing on the recommendation of Asa Gray, introduces him as a desperate case. Recently arrived in America from Germany, he entered into an apothecary business in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with an unscrupulous partner-- one Buchholz-- who has since absconded with Bogenhard's money. Bogenhard appeals for help. In subsequent missives he forwards a letter of recommendation from his colleague Karl Reichenbach in Germany, and gradually describes the events that led up to his emigrating to America-- a fire that destroyed all his possessions, including his herbarium, and a chemistry experiment involving silver nitrate and alcohol that nearly lost him his eyesight. He thanks Torrey regularly and profusely for his assistance-- professional referrals, apothecary supplies, coal, and other gifts, including a New Testament, which Bogenhard relates has proved a great comfort to his wife. He apologizes for the imposition and for his imperfect English just as frequently. He offers the services of his wife, who has also been cheated by an unscrupulous employer, for mounting herbarium specimens; he himself offers to do translating and copying jobs for Torrey and his acquaintances. In one despairing letter he describes himself as "a martyr of the science." Bogenhard died in 1853. Also included in the collection is an unaddressed letter in German, possibly a draft, and another in English, which may have been meant for Asa Gray</dd>
<dd>Digitized under grant #PW-234827-16 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)</dd>
<dd>Finding aid for the John Torrey papers available from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden and online</dd>
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<dd>Correspondence from Carl Bogenhard to John Torrey, dated 1852-1853. Bogenhard's first letter to Torrey, writing on the recommendation of Asa Gray, introduces him as a desperate case. Recently arrived in America from Germany, he entered into an apothecary business in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with an unscrupulous partner-- one Buchholz-- who has since absconded with Bogenhard's money. Bogenhard appeals for help. In subsequent missives he forwards a letter of recommendation from his colleague H.G. Reichenbach in Germany, and gradually describes the events that led up to his emigrating to America-- a fire that destroyed all his possessions, including his herbarium, and a chemistry experiment involving silver nitrate and alcohol that nearly lost him his eyesight. He thanks Torrey regularly and profusely for his assistance-- professional referrals, apothecary supplies, coal, and other gifts, including a New Testament, which Bogenhard relates has proved a great comfort to his wife. He apologizes for the imposition and for his imperfect English just as frequently. He offers the services of his wife, who has also been cheated by an unscrupulous employer, for mounting herbarium specimens; he himself offers to do translating and copying jobs for Torrey and his acquaintances. In one despairing letter he describes himself as "a martyr of the science." Bogenhard died in 1853. Also included in the collection is an unaddressed letter in German, possibly a draft, and another in English, which may have been meant for Asa Gray</dd></dl><br>Subjects: Drugstores; Botanical specimens; Chemistry; Bogenhard, Carl, 1811-1853; Torrey, John, 1796-1873; Gray, Asa, 1810-1888; Bogenhard, Carl, 1811-1853 -- Correspondence; Bogenhard, Carl, 1811-1853. Taschenbuch der flora von Jena; Torrey, John, 1796-1873 -- Correspondence; Reichenbach, H. G., (Heinrich Gustav), 1824-1889; Drugstores -- New York (State) -- New York</div>
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Bogenhard, Carl, 1811-1853</div>
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