Clover, Elzada Urseba, 1897-1980.

Curator of the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens and professor in the Department of Botany.

From the description of Elzada U. Clover papers, 1938-1944. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34420944

A native of Auburn, Nebraska, Elzada U. Clover was a teacher from 1919 to 1927 in Texas and Nebraska public schools and supervised an Indian mission school in Texas.

After graduating from the Peru, Nebraska, State Teachers College in 1930, she received her M.S. degree in 1932 and Ph.D. degree in 1935 from the University of Michigan. She then joined the Michigan faculty, rising through the ranks to become curator in the Botanical Gardens in 1957 and professor of botany in 1960. She helped to establish the cactus and succulent collection at the Botanical Gardens and also taught at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, Mich.

During her career, Clover made frequent expeditions to the Southwest. In 1938, she was a member of the Norman Nevill party which traveled the Colorado River from Green River, Utah through Cataract and Grand canyons to Boulder Dam. Clover made the trip to catalog the flora of the Grand Canyon. She brought along Lois Jotter, a botany graduate student as her assistant. This trip, starting in July of 1938, lasted 43 days and coverred 666 miles. The trip brought publicity and recognition to Nevill not only for successfully running the entire length of the Colorado River, but by having the first women aboard ever to complete the run of the entire Grand Canyon.

Clover was a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Botanical Society of America, and Michigan Academy of Science. She retired from the University of Michigan in 1967. She died in 1980.

From the guide to the Elzada U. Clover papers, 1938-1944, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)