Sayre, Geneva

Geneva Sayre - teacher, scholar, bryologist, bibliographer, and town historian - was born on June 12, 1911 in Guthrie, Iowa. She attended Grinnell College (1929-1933) where she studied botany with her teacher, Henry Conard. She earned her M.A. degree at the University of Wyoming in 1935 and her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado in 1938. Following a brief instructorship at the University of Colorado, GS moved east to Russell Sage College in 1940 and served on the faculty for thirty-two years until her early retirement in 1972 with the title Professor Emeritus. In 1972, GS became a Research Associate at the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard University. Sayre's primary scholarly work involved bryophytes, a group in which she became an expert on the moss genus Grimmia.