A note on the correspondence between F.F. Laidlaw and E.B. Williamson, 1903-1932

After reading the beautifully written biography of Dr F.F. Laidlaw by Dr E. PINHEY (1983, Odonalologica 12:315-330), 1 looked in the E, B. Williamson correspondence file in the Insect Diyision, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, and located letters from Dr Laidlaw there which may be of further interest. Apparently Mr Williamson wrote to Mr Laidlaw soon after receiving a Concilium Bibliographicum card giving a reference to one of Laidlaw’s early papers on Odonata. The first of Laidlaw’s letters is dated April 20, 1903; the next is a postcard postmarked May 19, 1903. Friendly letters followed at irregular intervals, ending with the last one of July 15,1932, prior to Mr Williamson's death in February 1933. The letters deal with odonatological subjects and contain much the same information concerning his personal life as recorded by Dr Pinhey. All of the three cards and 91 letters are handwritten and many give the date only for the day and month, and some are without date. The only carbon copies of letters to Dr Laidlaw are for two written after Mr Williamson came to Michigan in 1929, dated December 8, 1931 and November 9, 1932.