Importance of Kenneth Edward Caster (1908–1992) Personal Correspondence and Field Notebooks to the Brazilian Paleontological Heritage

Abstract

The aim of this work is to value Kenneth E. Caster’s correspondence and field notebooks as Brazilian paleontological heritage. These data are usually underestimated in the Geosciences, although they have been used in the development of an inventory of the most valuable occurrences of Devonian fossils in NE Brazil. During his academic career, Kenneth E. Caster (1908–1992) worked in several universities, including the University of Sao Paulo (USP, Brazil), where he was a visiting professor from 1945 to 1947. We analyze more than 2000 documents of his personal correspondence (from 1937 to 1984) and three field notebooks. These documents allow the recovery of historical, educational, and scientific information. They represent an important source of historical value to identify Caster’s personal and professional relationships as well as to understand his contribution to establish and improve the first Brazilian institutions related to Paleontology (National Department of Mineral Production; Paranaense Museum; Cultural Center “Euclides da Cunha”; Brazilian Geological Society; Brazilian Paleontological Society; National Petroleum Council). These documents also have educational value, related to the beginning of Paleontology in the Brazilian universities (USP) and the formation of its teaching collections. In the same way, they are an important source of scientific value to current geological and paleontological research, resulting in the discovery of new fossil localities and additional fossiliferous levels at previously known sites from the Parnaiba and Parana basins.