[1] His research included studies of the Okefenokee Swamp and fieldwork in the north eastern United States and in northern Canada, and authored new combinations for two species originally described by William Bartram, Garberia heterophylla[2] and Roystonea elata.
[1] Between 1917 and 1919 Harper served as a rodent control officer in France[1] with the United States Army's 79th Division.
Harper traced the Bartrams' travels in the American South and helped revive both scientific and popular interest in the Bartrams' work,[9] while keeping notebooks on his fieldworks as early as in 1912.
[11] Harper published on the mammals[12] and folklore[7] of the Okefenokee Swamp, including recordings of the local music.
[6] His papers are held in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas.