Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

Biographical Note

Born on 21 May 1845 in Milton, Ohio, Charles Edwin Bessey was homeschooled by his father until the age of 17. Bessey went on to attend Michigan Agricultural College, where he was encouraged by his professors to pursue botany as his specialty. He became an instructor of botany and horticulture at Iowa State College of Agriculture at Ames beginning in 1869. Upon earning his M.S., he was promoted to professor. In 1884 he accepted an offer from the University of Nebraska to become professor of botany. Among his many achievements, Bessey developed a modern system for plant classification, which he detailed in "The phylogenetic taxonomy of flowering plants" published in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (1915, 2:109–164). Prior to creating this system, Bessey was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Iowa University in recognition for publications in his field as well as his scientific endeavors in the state of Iowa. Bessey passed away on 25 February 1915 after battling a critical illness for several weeks. Bessey's accomplishments and scientific contributions to the state of Nebraska were memorialized in 2007 when he was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

Scope and Contents Note

This collection consists mainly of Charles Edwin Bessey's handwritten notes and drafts, including a "list of flowers analyzed" (1867, 22 pp.); a freshman botany lecture (1878, 16 pp.); notes on the importance of enthusiasm in teaching botany (1914, 4 pages); and notes to his friend and renowned botanist Asa Gray (2 pp.). In addition the collection includes papers on topics, such as the phyla, classes and orders of plants; Robert W. Furman's Work on Forestry; and Filices, Equisetaceae, Lycopodiceae, Musci, Hepaticeae, Characeae and Thallophyta. Also found here are two letters (1899, 1901) appointing Bessey a collaborator in the Division of Forestry at the United States Department of Agriculture, a printed invitation (1909) to a banquet at the University of Nebraska in honor of his 40th year as a professor of botany, and other items.

Finding Aid

A finding aid for this collection is available online.

Other Resources

For information about portraits of and biographical citations for the subject, see the Hunt Institute Archives Register of Botanical Biography and Iconography database.