Specials
Arthur Herbarium
VVKSJ I Ar AYE rIE, Ind.
A century ago this school year a
young plant researcher who was born
in the East, reared in Illinois and
Iowa, schooled in Iowa, and who later
taught m Wisconsin and Minnesota,
published his first manuscript about
plant rust.
But it was Joseph C. Arthur's
accomplishments at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., that
brought him recognition as one of the
world's foremost authorities on plant
rusts.
Rusts are among the most common and important causes of plant
disease known to plant scientists. They
attack more different kinds of cultivated and wild plants than any other
group ol fungi.
Arthur joined Purdue's faculty in
1887 During his 45-year-plus association with the university, he established
the herbarium which later was named
in his honor.
today, the Arthur Herbarium in
the Department of Botany and Plant
Pathology is one of the finest in the
world. It contains more than l()(),0(M)
specimens of rust fungi including
examples of most of those found in
the Western Hemisphere and many
from other areas of the world. Of irre-
placable value, they are insured for
more than $1.5 million.
i he collection and cataloging of
these specimens became a labor of
lo\c for Arthur, who devoted his
entire adult life to the effort.
Born at I owvillc. N. V., Jan. I I,
1850. voting Arthur lived for a time
near Sterling. 111., and then in Charles
City, Iowa, w here he attended elementary school and later graduated from
high school. He was a member of the
first class (1X72) to graduate from
Iowa State College at Ames, receiving
the bachelor of science degree. In
1877. he earned the master's degree
there and. in 1886. the doctorate from
Cornell. Later he received honorary
degrees !rom his alma mater and the
University ol Iowa. He also did graduate work at Johns Hopkins. Harvard
and Bonn.
His interest in plants dated from
childhood, and he collected many
types in Iowa, analy/ed them, and
sought their names. Asa college freshman he was deeply troubled to find no
one taught botany. With the arrival of
Prof  C. F   Bessev at Iowa State in
Recognition Day for
Arthur Herbarium
WEST LAEAYETTE, Ind.
Recognition Day for Purdue University's Arthur Herbarium will come
Eriday, Oct. 22, but for those who
work at the herbarium or use it as a
source of reference, this entire school
year has special meaning.
The reason is simple. It was 100
years ago this school year that Joseph
C. Arthur published his first manuscript on plant rusts, a group of fungi
which cause serious diseases of such
plants as wheat and apples. As a
member of Purdue's faculty from 1887
to 1916, and afterwards in retirement,
Arthur made the herbarium an international focal point for information
on rusts.
Coming to Purdue this month to
help in the Oct. 22 observance is Larry
Eittlcfield, professor in North Dakota
State University's Department of Plant
Pathology. Eittlcfield will speak at a
symposium that day, honoring the
founder of the herbarium and its curators of the past 50 years.
Eittlcfield, who once spent a sabbatical studying rust anatomy in the
Botany Department at Purdue, was a
program specialist in International
Training with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for a time. He has been a
staff member at NDS for more than
15 years and teaches mycology and
plant pathology.
He is the author of the book,
"Biology of the Plant Rusts," and coauthor of another. "Infrastructure of
Rust Fungi."
George B. Cummins, former head
of Purdue's Department of Botany
and Plant Pathology and curator of
the Arthur Herbarium from 1930 to
1968, has also been invited to participate in the program.
The Arthur Herbarium serves students and researchers not only at
Purdue but at many other institutions. It is one of the world's most
active and important information storage and retrieval centers for rust taxonomy research. The herbarium consists of nearly 100,000 specimens, associated files of literature, indexes,
and tools for microscopic examination of the specimens.
Source: Joe Hennen or John McCain
(317)494-4623
Editor:  Ed Kirkpatrick
1870. who supplied him with his first
real botanical book, the world of the
botanist took on new meaning for
Arthur.
Upon graduation, however. Arthur
found botanical positions virtually
non-existent. I urthermore. agricultural experiment stations had not come
into being, and there were no state or
national departments of agriculture.
He returned to Ames several times in
the next few years for additional work,
and in 1876 prepared an exhibit for
t h e Phil a d e I p h i a Cc n t e n n til I
Exposition.
Einally. in 1879 he succeeded i11
obtaining a botanical position at the
University of Wisconsin. In 1884. he
was named botanist at the newly
founded Agricultural Experiment Station in (ieneva, NY. I he opportunity
to do full-time research pleased him,
and his early work with pear blight
became widely recognized. While at
(ieneva. he completed work on the
doctorate at Cornell.
Arthur became professor of botany
at Purdue in 1887. A year later his title
29
was changed to professor of vegetable
physiology and pathology and botanist to the Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station. He held this position
until his formal retirement in 1915.
After retirement, he continued to reside
in Lafayette, and as a professor emeritus continued his research .t the university for many years, his wife, the
former Emily Stiles Potter of Lafayette
whom he married in 1901, died in
1935. Arthur died seven years later in
Brook.
In the October 1942 issue of Phytopathology, Arthur's work was summarized as follows: "During his earlier years at Purdue. Dr. Arthur taught
plant physiology and plant pathology.
He was much interested in designing
and building apparatus for laboratory
work in plant physiology, but he spent
most of his time on research in plant
pathology and mycology. His work
on the cereal smuts and on potato
scab was important scientifically and
valuable economically.   He was the
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