University of Minnesota. Department of Botany

Botany was first introduced as an academic subject at the University of Minnesota in 1873 under the direction of Newton Horace Winchell as part of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey. The Department of Botany was established in 1889 as a result of the division of the Department of Biology into Botany and Animal Biology. Conway MacMillan was appointed as the first chair in 1891. In 1895 the Botany Department hired the first female faculty member at the University of Minnesota - Josephine Tilden. Tilden was an 1895 graduate of the University and became a world renowned expert on algae. She was instrumental in founding the Minnesota Seaside Station at Port Renfrew, Vancouver. The station was used to train botany students in salt water algae during the summer months.

Plants and their relation to the environment was the focus of Frederic E. Clements’ research when he joined the Botany faculty in 1907. In 1915 he was joined by William S. Cooper who later became well known for his work to preserve natural areas such as Glacier Bay, Alaska and his studies of the Anoka Sand Plain and other dune areas. The third notable ecologist, Donald B. Lawrence, joined the department in 1937. For years he taught a popular class, Plants Useful to Man, and was a principle promoter in the University acquisition of the Cedar Creek Natural History Area.

The Botany Department moved into its own building, the Botany Building, in 1926. Planning for this building and move are fully detailed in the collection. The Botany Department was never able to establish a fully satisfactory botanical garden due to inroads into the space on the part of the University. These problems as well as development of the Botany Greenhouse are documented in the collection.

Botany instruction during summer sessions at the Lake Itasca Biological Station was the responsibility of the department. Although faculty taught at the station, a tradition of inviting visiting faculty to teach at the station was also practiced.

Until 1963 the department was under the administration of the Dean of the College of Science, Literature and the Arts. In 1960 discussion of the formation of a College of Biological Sciences was initiated. Under the heading of Reorganization of the biological sciences, departmental consideration of the proposal is covered. In 1965 the College of Biological Sciences was formed and in 1972 the department moved to a new facility on the St. Paul Campus.

In 1978, the Department of Botany became admistratively responsible for plant physiology program. In 1988, the Department of Botany was renamed the Department of Plant Biology.

From the guide to the Department of Botany records, 1893-1989, (bulk 1921-1982), (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])