8 collections related to Botany -- Study and teaching -- North Carolina

The Benjamin Warfield Smith Papers are primarily made up of correspondence between Smith and various parties written during the first ten years (1939 to 1949) of Smith's tenure as professor of agronomy at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University). The majority of the letters are written to or from the various professional organizations Smith was part of: the American Genetic Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, the Genetics Society of America, the North Carolina Academy of Science, the Raleigh Natural History Club, Sigma Xi, and the Virginia Academy of Science. Also included is correspondence with the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel and the United States War Manpower Commission, regarding Smith's Selective Service status during World War II. Benjamin Warfield Smith (1913-1981) taught botany and genetics in the Agronomy Department of North Carolina State University from 1939 to 1978. He received his B.S. in 1934 and M.S. in 1936 from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in 1939 from the University of Wisconsin. During his tenure at NC State University he was very active in professional organizations such as the American Genetic Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, the Genetics Society of America, the North Carolina Academy of Science, the Raleigh Natural History Club, and Sigma Xi. Less

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

The Donald E. Moreland Papers consist of presentations, reprints, faculty activity reports, visual aids, project descriptions, lecture notes, and laboratory procedures related to crop science, botany, toxicology, and plant physiology. Major topics include microsomes, plant and rat liver mitochondria, and herbicides. Moreland presented many of the materials at conferences, including conferences of the Weed Science Society of America. North Carolina State University Professor Emeritus Donald E. Moreland (1919-2010) served as a faculty member at North Carolina State for more than fifty years, teaching crop science, botany, forestry, and toxicology. During this time, he also worked on several projects for the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Raleigh, N.C. In 1995, he became a Professor Emeritus. 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

The collection consists of records describing the administrative function of and research projects undertaken by the North Carolina State University Department of Plant Biology. In addition, there are also items regarding departmental seminars, reviews, a study guide, and a history of the department written by L. A. (Larry Alston) Whitford in 1970. The collection is arranged in five series: Administrative Records, Research and Development, Maps, and Artifacts, Web Contents. The Administrative Records series contains correspondence, course material, and departmental review items. The Research and Development series contains project proposals and reports concerning research in botany. Most of the projects contained in the latter series were federally sponsored by such agencies as NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Maps series contains a small group of field maps used by botany faculty and/or students. The Artifacts series contains a lantern used by B.W. Wells while doing fieldwork. Botanical work at North Carolina State began in concert with the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, which was established in the 1870s and later became part of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (later North Carolina State University). The first courses were offered at the college in 1889. Botany appears to have been a part of biology instruction until approximately 1912, when the two disciplines were separated. In 1945, a Plant Pathology section was created within the School of Agriculture, resulting in a new Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. With the creation of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1950, the two sections were split, creating two separate departments. Both operated under the administration of the Division of Biological Sciences. The division was abolished in 1958, and the Department of Botany and Bacteriology was established from those two curricula. In 1962 the Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS) was created, with Botany becoming one of five departments under its aegis. The IBS was dissolved in 1971. In the meantime, in 1966 the bacteriology program was split off from Botany, becoming the Department of Microbiology. In 2006 the Department of Botany changed its name to Plant Biology. In 2013 it became the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Less

The University Archives Photograph Collection, B. W. Wells Lantern Slides, 1920-1953, is comprised of glass lantern slides created by B. W. Wells with a 4 x 5-inch Graflex single-lens reflex camera for use in his research, instruction, and public presentations. The slides measure 3.25 inches by 4 inches. There are 551 slides, including 57 duplicates. Most of the slides are black-and-white, but 132 of them are color, hand-tinted by Wells himself. The slides show landscapes and plants from various regions of North Carolina, as well as maps, graphs, and diagrams that Wells reproduced from publications to illustrate points he made in his lectures and writings. At least 41 of the slides show landscapes in other parts of North America. Upon Wells' retirement in 1954, he left the slides in the Department of Botany, where they were housed in a wooden cabinet and used by the faculty and students. The slides were stored this way until they were transferred to the University Archives in 2005-2006. B. W. (Bertram Whittier) Wells (1884-1978) is most widely known for his study and preservation of North Carolina's natural environment. Wells headed North Carolina State College's Botany and Plant Pathology Department (later the Department of Plant Biology of North Carolina State University) from 1919 to 1949 and remained on the faculty until 1954. An early ecologist, Wells wrote on many topics: the insect galls of plants, the effects of salt on coastal vegetation, the origins of grassy balds in the Appalachian mountains, the plant communities of the Big Savannah of Pender County, North Carolina, and the possible formation by meteorites of the Carolina Bays in the eastern part of the state. However, Wells' most extensive work focused on savanna and pocosin vegetation. Wells traveled around North Carolina studying plants in their native environments. His work reached a wider audience through public lectures and the 1932 publication of his book, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina, reprinted in 1967 and 2002. Wells continued his advocacy and educational work during his retirement, and his legacy lives on in the B.W. Wells Association, formed after his death in December 1978. Less