Abstract Detail

Historical Section

Barkley, Grant M. [1], Fike, Jennifer A. [2].

Joseph C. Arthur At Purdue [1887-1918]: The Rust Diseases and the Founding of the Purdue Rust Herbarium.

Joseph C. Arthur [1850-1942], after earning his Doctorate in Plant Pathology from Cornell in 1886 and working as a botanist at the NY Agricultural Experiment Station, took the position as Professor of Botany at Purdue University. The following year he became Botanist to the Agricultural Experiment Station with the title "Professor of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology". At Purdue, Arthur established his reputation as a pathologist and international authority on plant rust diseases. During the next 27 years until his retirement in 1915, Dr. Arthur focused on the productive study of the pathology of rust diseases, publishing over 152 papers and authoring three books, including the first part of the "North American Flora". Work on the "Flora" was a project which was entrusted to Arthur in 1885, to which he had devoted much time and effort over a span of 42 years. His personal herbarium of the rust fungi, was directed to the completion of this work. When Dr. Arthur retired in 1915, the Administration of the Experiment Station appointed Dr. H.S. Jackson as the Chief of Botany to replace Arthur. Strained relations between Jackson and Arthur developed as the work continued for the next two years. In 1918 relations between Arthur and the University were severe, and by June of that year the University insisted that Arthur complete his work, and maintained that the herbarium belong entirely to the University. Dr. Arthur, resorting an extreme tactic to establish his ownership, took his entire herbarium to his home to continue his work. July was a month of negotiation for Arthur and the University. On August 5, an agreement was signed which settled the matter. Arthur sold his herbarium to the University and in return the University was to establish the "Arthur Herbarium" complete with a "suitable tablet of inscription".

1 - Kent State University, Biological Sciences, 4314 Mahoning Avenue, Warren, Ohio, 44483, United States
2 - Kent State University, English, 330 University Drive NE, New Philadelphia, Ohio, 44663, United States

Keywords:
Joseph C. Arthur
herbarium
plant rusts
plant pathology.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 46-2
Location: 412/Hilton
Date: Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
Time: 9:30 AM
Abstract ID:473