Camp, W. H. (Wendell Holmes), 1904-1963

Wendell Holmes "Red" Camp (1904-1963) was a botanical explorer, taxonomic theorist, experimental botanist, educator, popular author and landscape photographer. He came to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in 1936 as a researcher in Vaccinium. He was named Assistant Curator in 1936 and Associate Curator in 1949. During World War II he worked with the Société haitiano américain de développement agricole to develop luffa and cryptostegia sources and the Misión de Cinchona in Ecuador where he explored the cloud forests for Cinchona. He initiated and edited the Taxonomic Index (1939-1949). He oversaw the first International Code of Nomenclature for Horticultural Plants (1952). He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1949 as Curator of Experimental Botany where he pursued work in Vaccinium, Veratrum and Hedera. He designed the Taylor Arboretum. In 1953 he accepted the Chair of the Department of Botany at the University of Connecticut. He was born in Dayton, Ohio and attended Otterbein College. He received his Ph. D. from Ohio State University in 1932. He died at Storrs, Conn. in 1954.

Wendell H. Camp, born on February 22, 1904, in Dayton, Ohio, was a Professor of Botany and Head of the Botany Department at the University of Connecticut from 1953-1963. Camp earned his Bachelor of Science at Otterbein College in 1925 and his Master of Science in 1926 as well as his Ph.D.in 1932 from Ohio University . Camp began his teaching career during his sophmore and junior years at Otterbein College where he was an assistant in Botany. During his senior year, Camp became an instructor of Geology. At Ohio University, Camp was an instructor in General Botany, Local Flora, and Plant Anatomy until he left in 1936 to join the staff of the New York Botanical Garden as Assistant Curator, where he eventually advanced to Associate Curator in 1946. In 1949, Camp moved on to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia where he took on the position of Curator of Experimental Botany and Horticulture and later became the Director of the Taylor Memorial Arboretum . While in New York and Philadelphia, Camp served on the graduate faculties of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania . In 1953, Camp came to the University of Connecticut as Department Head and Professor of Botany. At the University of Connecticut, Camp taught Introductory Botany and advanced courses in Floristics, Systematics, and Economic Botany. On February 4, 1963, Dr. Wendell H. Camp died at his home in Storrs, Connecticut, after a prolonged battle with cancer. A detailed biography and list of accomplishments is available here .

Wendell Holmes "Red" Camp (1904-1963) was a botanical explorer, taxonomic theorist, experimental botanist, educator, popular author and landscape photographer. He came to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in 1936 as a researcher in Vaccinium. He was named Assistant Curator in 1936 and Associate Curator in 1949. During World War II he worked with the Societe haitiano americain de developpement agricole to develop luffa and cryptostegia sources and the Mision de Cinchona in Ecuador where he explored the cloud forests for Cinchona.

He initiated and edited the Taxonomic Index (1939-1949). He oversaw the first International Code of Nomenclature for Horticultural Plants (1952). He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1949 as Curator of Experimental Botany where he pursued work in Vaccinium, Veratrum and Hedera. He designed the Taylor Arboretum. In 1953 he accepted the Chair of the Department of Botany at the University of Connecticut. He was born in Dayton, Ohio and attended Otterbein College. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1932. He died at Storrs, Conn. in 1954.