Biographies of Putnam Museum Herbarium Collectors

A boring, but accurate lead-in. The Putnam Museum and Science Center's dried plant collection, a herbarium of 18,000-plus specimens, was digitized. In other words, a complete specimen inventory was assembled, all available label data for each specimen were recorded, and the resulting database was posted online. That long-term project put previously hard-to-get information at the fingertips of any internet connected person on planet Earth and is available as part of the Northern Great Plains Herbaria section of the SEINet database.

Sharing the above description without generating a glassy-eyed stare, is a lot like trying to leap tall buildings in a single bound. However, by becoming something of a carnival barker, drifting off topic just a bit, and sharing the feats, feelings, and foibles of the people who collected the specimens in the database, that once stale story becomes (or can become) a provocative account. The glassy-eyed listener becomes a willing audience and perhaps even an engaged participant.

P.T. Barnum found success by piquing the interest of the inquisitive public. Similarly, the desire to provide a hook-and-lure to appeal to the reader's (or listener's) sense of curiosity in order to make the database and its importance more intriguing, led to this series of biographies.

Of the nearly 400 plant collectors represented in the Putnam Museum herbarium, sufficient online information was available for 288 people and a biographical sketch for each of them can be found on the following pages. The lives of the remaining plant collectors were too poorly chronicled, at least via digital documents, to allow for the construction of a life summary.

Among the individuals responsible for the plants in the Putnam Museum herbarium are civil war veterans, one-time prisoners-of-war, and conscientious objectors; doctors, lawyers, and judges; gun makers, teachers, and patent holders; professional botanists and amateurs; men and women; missionaries and ministers; students and professors; good people and jerks.

From a gender perspective, 76 collectors were women, but only 46 of them were well enough documented online to make a biography possible. All of them (save perhaps two - Ms. Seaman and Ms. Nicholson) were born before 1900. Similarly, only 16 of the male collectors were born during the 20th century and seven had birth dates prior to 1800.

The vast majority of the collectors lived in the United States. Apart from the majority, a few like Jean Louis Berlandier (France & Mexico), Clarence Bicknell (France & Italy), Axel Blytt (Norway), William Griffith (India & Afghanistan), lived and botanized outside the U.S.

George Washington Carver was the only Putnam collector that was a one-time slave.

William Allan (1st principal of McDonogh School, Baltimore, Maryland) and James B. Grant, (3rd governor of Colorado) served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. J.G. Lemmon, W.W. Calkins, and J.P. Couthouy of the Union Army, were held as Confederate prisoners. Dr. A.W. Chapman risked his life to help repatriate escaped Northern soldiers.

The preceding snippets were gleaned from the life stories of plant collectors represented in the Putnam Museum herbarium. Among the biographies are many remarkable narratives worthy of your time. Enjoy!