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These papers represent B. W. (Bertram Whittier) Wells's research interests, publications, and honors as well as Wells's personal life and pursuits, his first wife, Edna Metz Wells, his second wife, Maude Barnes Wells, and his household at Rockcliff Farm, a property on the Neuse River in North Carolina that Wells acquired before his retirement in 1954. In writing his biography of Wells, Prof. James R. Troyer amassed the majority of the materials comprising series 1 of these papers. Series 2 is composed of papers left behind by B. W. and Maude Barnes Wells at Rockcliff Farm, now part of the Falls Lake State Recreation Area in Wake Forest, North Carolina. A third series, Additional Artifacts and Books, has been added to the collection since the conclusion of an exhibit on Wells in 2007. Bertram Whittier Wells is most widely known for his study and preservation of North Carolina's natural environment. Wells headed North Carolina State College's (later North Carolina State University) Botany Department from 1919 to 1949 and remained on the faculty until 1954. One of the first to rightly be called an ecologist, he wrote on many topics: the insect galls of plants, the effects of salt on coastal vegetation, Bald Head Island, and the formation of the Carolina Bays. However, his most extensive work focused on savannah and pocosin vegetation. First published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1932, Wells's popular book, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina, remains in print. Wells also advocated for modern scientific instruction methods, including the teaching of evolution in the 1920s. During Wells's long retirement, he became seriously interested in painting. Less

Biographical information, publications, oral histories, and electronic word documents of various prominent North Carolina botanists, including: Donald B. Anderson; H.B. Croom; C.W. Hyams; Mordecai E. Hyams; and, Gerald McCarthy. The material was assembled by North Carolina State University Professor, James R. Troyer, during his research and production of articles about each of the individuals represented here. North Carolina State University Professor of Botany James R. Troyer has written biographical articles about several North Carolina botanists, as well as Nature's Champion : B.W. Wells, Tar Heel Ecologist. Less

Recollections and other material documenting the life and career of L. A. (Larry Alston) Whitford. These include original class notes, 1921-1925, for North Carolina State College courses in botany, agriculture, anatomy, and physics. Also included are materials collected by James R. Troyer when he wrote a biographical article about Whitford. L. A. (Larry Alston) Whitford (1902-1995) was associated with North Carolina State University through most of his higher education and career. Whitford earned an undergraduate degree in biology from North Carolina State College in 1925 and an M.S. in 1929. He went on to serve as a botany professor from 1926 to 1968, specializing in the study of phycology. Less