Remembrances from the days when William Campbell Steere was Director of The N e w York Botanical Garden DOROTHY

OSBORNE

STEERE

Steere, D. O. (205 Boulder Trail, Bronxville, NY 10708, U.S.A.). Remembrances from the days when William Campbell Steere was Director of The New York Botanical Garden. Brittonia 48: 362-364. 1996.--Dorothy O. Steere, widow of William C. Steere, remembers people and events during the period 1958-1972, when her husband was Director of The New York Botanical Garden.

W h e n W i l l i a m C a m p b e l l Steere (Fig. 1) c a m e to T h e N e w York Botanical Garden, he left behind a post he e n j o y e d as Dean o f the G r a d u a t e Division at S t a n f o r d University, but h e n e v e r hesitated in m a k i n g the choice, for in m a n y ways it was a h o m e c o m i n g for him. F o r years he had s p e n t all available free time w o r k i n g in the Library a n d H e r b a r i u m and e n j o y i n g the association with staff m e m b e r s as well as w i t h the c o m p a n y o f o t h e r visiting scholars, w h o were d r a w n to the G a r d e n just as he was. A n o t h e r attraction was the a s s o c i a t i o n with C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y . It was i m p o r t a n t to h i m and he c a r e d a great deal that the j o b carried an a d j u n c t p r o f e s s o r s h i p . H e felt t h a t h e h a d w o r k e d h a r d for his rank and was r e l u c t a n t to give it up. H e was distressed in later years w h e n the D e p a r t m e n t o f B o t a n y at C o l u m b i a d e c i d e d that, due to a c h a n g e in direction, it n o l o n g e r had a n y t h i n g to offer the G a r d e n ' s students and could no l o n g e r c o n t i n u e to grant t h e m degrees. He w o u l d b e glad to k n o w that the G a r d e n o n c e more has a f o r m a l link to C o l u m b i a t h r o u g h its participation in j o i n t e n v i r o n m e n t a l research. A b o u t the G a r d e n h e once wrote, " T h e Garden is m a n y things to m a n y people b e c a u s e of the multiple f u n c t i o n s expressed in the f o u n d i n g act, b e c a u s e o f its excellent library, its m a g n i f icent collection o f living and dried plants, its m a n y e x c e l l e n t t e c h n i c a l publications, a n d its o u t s t a n d i n g scientific staff." T h a t aspect o f the G a r d e n h e u n d e r s t o o d very well, but there was a great deal m o r e that he had to learn a b o u t his new responsibilities, the cast o f characters, a n d the part e a c h played.

In writing an a c c o u n t of h o w t h i n g s were in 1958, I h a v e f o u n d it helpful to b r o w s e t h r o u g h the " N e w s N o t e s a n d C o m m e n t s " c o l u m n o f the old Garden Journal. It m a k e s m e feel a little as t h o u g h I h a d b e g u n to read a story b y b e g i n n i n g with the last chapter. I r e m e m b e r the f r i e n d s h i p s and the t r i u m p h s a n d the d i s a p p o i n t m e n t s . I already k n o w h o w it all turned out as well as h o w it all began. I k n o w , too, that the c o m m i t m e n t to botanical r e s e a r c h was as c o n s u m i n g then as it is now. In 1958, w h e n we c a m e to the G a r d e n , William R o b b i n s had b e e n retired for a year and D a v i d K e c k was A c t i n g Director and H e a d Curator, with H e n r y de la M o n t a g n e s e r v i n g as Assistant Director. T h o m a s Everett was C u r a t o r o f E d u c a t i o n a n d Horticulture. Harold Rickett was Bibliographer, Bassett M a g u i r e was C u r a t o r and C o o r d i n a t o r o f Tropical Research, a n d E l i z a b e t h Hall was Librarian. A u g u s t P f a n d e r was Business M a n a g e r with special responsibility for relations with the City. J o s e p h S w a n was P r e s i d e n t o f the B o a r d o f M a n a g e r s . R o b e r t W a g n e r was M a y o r o f the City o f N e w York, and R o b e r t M o ses was P a r k s C o m m i s s i o n e r . I r e m e m b e r the first c o m m u n i c a t i o n Bill h a d f r o m R o b e r t M o ses: it b e g a n , " S t e e r e - - - W h o in the hell do you t h i n k you a r e ! " Bill n e v e r did d i s c o v e r w h a t he h a d done to give offense. It was a t i m e also w h e n B r e n d a n Gill and G e o f f r e y H e l l m a n w r o t e the " T a l k o f the T o w n " c o l u m n for the N e w Yorker, a n d the g o i n g s - o n o f the G a r d e n were m u c h in t h e i r pages. By 1961 m u c h h a d changed. C h a r l e s H a r d i n g was n o w P r e s i d e n t o f the B o a r d o f M a n a g e r s ,

Brittonia, 48(3), 1996, pp. 362-364. @ 1996, by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126

ISSUED: 16 Oct 1996

1996]

D . O . STEERE: REMEMBRANCES OF W. C. STEERE

FIG. 1. William C. Steere, Director and President of The New York Botanical Garden, 1958-1972. and David Keck, who in 1959 had taken leave of absence to become Program Director for Systematic Biology for the National Science Foundation, decided, at NSF's invitation, to stay on as a permanent staff member. Harold Rickett, who had been filling Keck's position while he was on leave, became Bibliographer and Senior Curator of the Library. Bassett Maguire became Head Curator and Nathaniel Lord Britton Distinguished Senior Curator and Coordinator of Tropical Botany. Harry de la Montagne retired after 27 years of service to the Garden, but he stayed on as a volunteer and was of great service to Bill. He knew not only the staff but also the board members and many of the friends of the Garden. He was of enormous help to Bill as he set about getting a retirement arrangement for the city-line employees. August Pfander also retired, and Robert Kolkebeck, formerly with the Educational Testing Services at Princeton, was appointed Business Manager and Assistant Director to assume the financial responsibilities previously handled by them both. When Pierre Dansereau joined the staff as Assistant Director

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in April 1961, and with Thomas Everett as Assistant Director and Director of Horticulture, Bill's administrative staff was in place and ready to get to work. In those early years the visionaries who were planning the Flora Neotropica project were still in the process of defining what they felt should be the geographical boundaries of the area they planned to study. Arthur Cronquist, visiting Russia, began what was to be a long and important relationship with the V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute in Leningrad and with Director Armen Takhtajan and his staff. Bassett and Celia Maguire, accompanied by John Wurdack and with the support of a fiveyear grant from the National Science Foundation, were off to begin a plant survey of the Guayana region of South America. Harold Rickett, often in the company of Frans Stafleu, was spending a great deal of time in the botanical libraries of Europe working on a revision of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature with special attention to the list of conserved names. David Rogers, in cooperation with Taffe Tanamoto of IBM, was working on a pilot study of a classification technique using the 704 computer to assist in taxonomic research. One news item of special interest to me also involved David Rogers. Economic botanists held a two-day conference at the Garden to discuss means whereby further uses of plants as medicine and in industry might be developed. As an outgrowth of the conference, David Rogers, Quenten Jones of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and P. G. Nickell of Pfizer and Company were appointed as a committee to take steps toward organizing a society of economic botanists. Today the Institute of Economic Botany at the Garden is embarked on a three-year research collaboration with Pfizer to collect, study, and analyze the chemical components of plants within the United States as potential sources of new medicines. The association with the pharmaceutical companies goes back a long way and is now much broader in scope, as evidenced by the fact that my son, William C. Steere Jr., is now CEO of Pfizer as well as an active member of the Board of Directors of the Garden. On 24 October 1956, appropriate ceremonies were held to celebrate the opening of the new laboratory and to honor William Robbins, whose

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dream it h a d been. T h e original l a b o r a t o r y staff a s s e m b l e d b y 1958 consisted o f M a r j o r i e A n chel, A l m a Barksdale, and A n n e t t e H e r v e y , to be j o i n e d soon by W i l l i a m Silverton. T h e staff grew quickly, and W i l l i a m R o b b i n s , as Director Emeritus, c o n t i n u e d to carry on the b i o c h e m i c a l research that he h a d b e g u n in the old l a b o r a t o r y in the M u s e u m Building. Elliott Averett, a m e m b e r o f the Board, was c h a i r m a n o f the G a r d e n ' s 25-year D e v e l o p m e n t Program, a goal that was e x c e e d e d b y 1968. He had the assistance o f a r e m a r k a b l e w o m a n , Mrs. Harold Pratt. All m a j o r projects had her support and g e n e r o u s financial assistance. She was responsible for b r i n g i n g about the r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f the S n u f f Mill into its present useful f o r m as well as the n e w l a b o r a t o r y and the new library wing. P l a n s for a n e w library w i n g were ann o u n c e d in 1959, a n d A n g e l a Place, a m e m b e r of the board, u n d e r t o o k to raise the n e c e s s a r y funds. T h e n e w w i n g was to be fire p r o o f and air-conditioned and was estimated to cost a b o u t a million dollars. M i s s Hall, then Librarian, was r e s p o n s i b l e for e s t i m a t i n g the a m o u n t o f s h e l f space that w o u l d b e needed. Bill s u g g e s t e d that she do it in miles a n d was startled to find that she had t a k e n h i m seriously. T h e b u i l d i n g was finally c o m p l e t e d by 1965, and J o h n Reed, as Curator o f the L i b r a r y , had the a w e s o m e task o f m o v i n g the b o o k collection into the n e w facility. D u r i n g the t w o - y e a r period it took to c o m p l e t e the move, J o h n and his assistants shelf-read the entire library, restoring it to proper order and at the same t i m e c l e a n i n g away the a c c u m u l a t e d grime o f years. As soon as the n e w library wing was opened, g r o u n d was b r o k e n for the W a t s o n A d m i n i s t r a tive Building, a n d b y 1972 it was finished a n d ready to be occupied. At the e n d o f that year, Bill retired f r o m his executive responsibilities and m o v e d to his laboratory, w h i c h was (as he had p l a n n e d it) directly a b o v e the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e office. A c r o s s the

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hall were Bassett and Celia Maguire. D o w n the hall across f r o m the elevator was T h o m a s Everett, w h o h a d not s p o k e n to Bill since they h a d disagreed a b o u t Everett's r e t i r e m e n t arrangements. However, E v e r e t t and I were on s p e a k i n g terms, w h i c h p r e s e n t e d a p r o b l e m w h e n e v e r Bill and I a p p e a r e d together. Bill, as P r e s i d e n t Emeritus, S e n i o r Scientist, and P r o f e s s o r E m e r i t u s , settled d o w n for the rest o f his days to d e v o t e all his attention to mosses. In 1979 Bill B u c k arrived from the U n i v e r s i t y of M i c h i g a n to be Curator o f B r y o p h y t e s . A t A n n A r b o r he had b e e n a student o f H o w a r d C r u m , w h o in turn had been a student o f Bill Steere. It was a very close tie, but n o n e o f us k n e w in a d v a n c e that he would a s s u m e responsibility for the Steeres as well as for the m o s s e s - - b u t this he did, to the great g o o d fortune o f the G a r d e n a n d the Steeres. B a c k w h e n Bill Steere was the n e w l y appointed Director o f T h e N e w York B o t a n i c a l G a r d e n , and Harold Taylor was the newly a p p o i n t e d Director of the R o y a l Botanic G a r d e n s at Kew, H e n r y Du Pont, o f our Board of M a n a g e r s , invited us to s p e n d a w e e k e n d t o g e t h e r at W i t h erthur. T h e m e e t i n g of the two m e n at that stage o f their a d m i n i s t r a t i v e careers was fortuitous. T h e historic b o n d s b e t w e e n the two great institutions were s t r e n g t h e n e d and r e m a i n strong today. M o r e recently, w h e n Ghillean P r a n c e was the newly a p p o i n t e d Director o f Kew, he was o n e o f the guests at the party for the o c c a s i o n o f m y 80th birthday. M y c h i l d r e n had a r r a n g e d a splendid party for m e a b o a r d a luxury yacht. We cruised the rivers and harbors a r o u n d N e w York as we celebrated. A l t h o u g h Iain was there, A n n e Prance h a d already gone on ahead to b e g i n m a k ing a r r a n g e m e n t s to settle the family in t h e i r new home. Iain s u g g e s t e d to m e that we m i g h t celebrate m y 90th birthday in a similar f a s h i o n on the T h a m e s . I h o p e that it has not slipped Sir G h i l l e a n ' s mind.