Section of Botany

CMNH - Section of Botany

~History~

The Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History has approximately 500,000 plant specimens from all over the world and from all of the major plant groups. The herbarium houses approximately 3000 type and isotype specimens including sheets from Elmer, H.H. Smith and Palmer and Pringle expeditions. There are over 1200 institutions in the United States with herbaria and Carnegie’s collection ranks 18th in size, making it one of the country’s largest collections. The collection contains numerous specimens from the upper Alleghenies and Western Pennsylvania regions therefore making this collection the only available documentation for the past and present flora of this region. Outside of the immediate region, the greatest number of specimens are from the rest of North America (especially the arctic Canada, Southeastern U.S. and Western U.S.), followed by Latin America and Asia.

The Section of Botany was founded at the turn of the century when Carnegie Museum of Natural History was first organized and expanded, both the Section and herbarium were begun through the local efforts and support of the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Additional plant specimens, including many old and unique sets were acquired directly through purchases, gifts, and exchanges. The collection expanded rapidly in this early period and had an international dimension to its growth.

Five generations of scientific staff have curated the collections and managed its growth. The first caretaker was John Shafer, who did extensive collection in Cuba in conjunction with Dr. N. L. Britton, who later became the Director of the New York Botanical Garden. The curatorship of Shafer was followed by overlapping periods of service by Dr. Otto E. Jennings, Dr. Edward H. Graham, Dr. LeRoy K. Henry, Mrs. Dorothy L. Pearth, Dr. Fred Utech, and Dr. Sue Thompson. Dr. Jennings also served as Director of the Museum and Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. During the mid-seventies Dr. F. Utech became the Sections curator and expanded the library and established the first wet lab in the museum. Currently the Section is staffed by an Associate Curator, Dr. Cynthia M. Morton and a Collection Manager, Ms. Bonnie Isaac.

The collection houses valuable historic specimens the oldest dating back to 1728 by the Englishman William Paine. Today the herbarium serves as a repository for plants collected by the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Wild Resource Conservation Fund, The Western PA Conservancy among others.

Within the section there is a library containing over 10,000 botanical volumes and periodicals. Additional 60,000 reprints dealing with plants are kept within the Section. Books from the 18th century, including those of Linnaeus, and hundreds from the 19th century, are housed in the section. Although these early volumes are important, the volumes of the 20th century far outnumber those in the preceding two centuries.

The herbarium serves as a vital resource for teaching and research. Botanists and interested students visit the facility each month to answer questions about plant identification, check actual collections or review records in the database. It serves local colleges and universities, government agencies, as well as wildflower societies that have an interest in the local or regional southeastern flora.