By Amy Weiss
Apr 25 2025
This is the third part of For the Duration. To start at the beginning, return to the first part here.
A type specimen serves as a permanent reference for the name of a new taxon and, together with a published description, are the foundation of how we name and understand plants. How each herbarium chooses to file these type specimens within their collection can vary and can change over time. A 1942 survey of North American herbaria found that 76 responding herbaria contained type specimens, and of those, 23 kept their types segregated from the main collections (Fosberg, 1942). Fosberg believed that “the complacency of American botanists is indeed remarkable” if the “irreplaceable” types in a majority of North American herbaria are handled every time the species they represent are taken out, since over a period of years this handling inevitably results in breakage (Fosberg, 1942). Beyond the peril of frequent handling, Fosberg also recognized the importance of disaster preparedness since he believed more collections should have taken steps to evacuate their type collections during World War II and he lamented that many collections (20 out of 76 herbaria) were held in buildings that were not fireproof (Fosberg, 1942). Even if collections were in fireproof buildings, the specimens themselves were often still susceptible to fire and pest damage since metal cabinets, and space within them, were in short supply during the war—many herbaria had to leave specimens outside of cabinets or filed in pasteboard storage boxes (Daniel, 2008; Fernald, 1944; Robbins, 1941).
In 8 of the 23 collections who reported filing their types separately in 1942, the segregation was in progress but not complete: United States National Herbarium, Gray Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden, Philadelphia Academy, Rocky Mountain Herbarium, University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina, and the University of Arizona (Fosberg, 1942). I have written about how the first three of these collections were pulling out their type specimens for safekeeping during World War II, to either evacuate or to shelter in place. The U.S. National Herbarium (Smithsonian) started segregating their type specimens from the general collection in 1918, a practice begun by Paul C. Stanley to make them easier to reference and protect them from excess handling (Ravenel, 1918; Shetler, 1973). However, the war spurred them to also pull Eastern Hemisphere type specimens from their main collection (Maxon, 9 Jun 1941), which is likely why they reported the progress as ongoing.
So it seems that World War II led some herbaria in the the United States to change how they thought about type curation when faced with a threat more urgent than the routine threats from fire, water, pests, and handling. However, other herbaria were making disaster plans that included type segregation long before this time. When Alice Eastwood was put in charge of the herbarium at the California Academy of Sciences in 1894, she found it haphazardly organized—locating type specimens was a challenge since the materials were often scattered, hard to find, or missing (Daniel, 2008). Eastwood meticulously organized the collections while also separating type specimens from the general collection. The types were placed in a lightweight case that could be lowered out of a window in the event of a fire or other emergency (Daniel, 2008). When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake hit, Eastwood found, after a careful climb up the railing of a destroyed staircase, that the case containing the type specimens had been damaged during the earthquake so could not be evacuated as planned (Daniel, 2008). However, since the types had already been segregated to one location, Eastwood was able to lower the specimens to the ground floor, with help of a friend, in a makeshift pouch (Daniel, 2008). While segregating type specimens was not a standard curatorial practice of the time, Eastwood's disaster preparedness steps saved the herbarium types from the subsequent fire that destroyed the Academy's buildings and devastated the city. Further afield, the Bureau of Science herbarium, which is now the Philippine National Herbarium, was stored in a wooden frame building that was also used for chemistry work and so the threat of fire was always present. Elmer D. Merrill, recognizing the danger, segregated all types from the general herbarium and stored them inside cases in a "practically fireproof" part of the building (Merrill, 1917). Unfortunately, these steps were not enough in the face of war and the Philippine National Herbarium was destroyed, along with all the specimens, near the end of World War II—and was rebuilt (Schultes, 1957).
Identifying type specimens in a collection can be a challenge if types are not clearly marked or labeled. Merrill, segregating types from the Bureau of Science herbarium in 1916, recognized the need for attaching type annotation labels to specimen sheets so that types were easy to distinguish. It was generally the practice at the time to just write the word “type” on the sheet or label, which is harder to spot (Merrill, 1917). In 1924, it was reported that herbaria at the British Museum, Kew, and Paris used small gum-labels with the words “Type Specimen” in either black or red type, but that only a small percentage of the types were currently annotated with these labels (Burtt Davy, 1924). Type specimens were also poorly labeled during this time at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), so when the staff starting segregating their type collection in haste in March 1942, they pulled known types along with many possible types and historically important specimens to err on the side of caution (Shetler, 1973; C. Anderson, pers. comm., 2018).
Once the type specimens returned to NYBG in October 1944, from their safe storage at West Virginia University, the types remained separate from the main herbarium collection. Frank C. MacKeever started his position as custodian of the phanerogamic herbarium (vascular plants) at NYBG in 1949 (Woodward, 1949). In annual reports from 1959 and 1960, it is mentioned that MacKeever continued his "reorganization of the type collection", which in 1960 was estimated to be around 58,000 specimens (Steere, 1960; Steere, 1961). It is likely MacKeever that started marking the type specimens at NYBG with a red letter C in the upper right corner (which you can see in a photo at the top of this story). This was probably done as a way to clearly mark specimens filed in the type collection from specimens filed in the general collection.
As to why a letter C, this might have meant confirmed type or most likely “cotype”, a suitably nebulous category (C. Anderson, pers. comm., 2018). The categories “type” and “cotype” were used for many years on specimens at NYBG; type usually meant holotype, but cotype is an obsolete term and may mean any number of currently accepted type designations (Shetler, 1973). It is unlikely that MacKeever verified the type status of the specimens he marked and, since specimens were pulled rapidly during World War II and included potential types and historical material, many specimens marked with the letter C were later determined not to be type material. Christiane Anderson had a job verifying type specimens at NYBG in the early 1970’s and recalled that, at the time, Arthur Cronquist was very reluctant to demote any sheet marked with a letter C out of the type collection. For specimens that were definitely not types, Anderson was told to cut off the C’s from the upper right corner of sheets. Since the staff didn’t want Cronquist to find the letter C’s in the wastebasket, Anderson brought the cut-off corners home with her at the end of each day (C. Anderson, pers. comm., 2018). NYBG no longer marks type specimens with the letter C, and instead relies on annotation labels—that state the type designation, scientific name, publication details, and more—to differentiate type specimens. The only additional mark we give are for type specimens being sent out on loan; these sheets are given a red dot sticker placed near the NYBG accession seal in the lower left corner. This helps us quickly determine, upon their return, which specimens were already filed as types and which are newly annotated and need to be added to the type collection. Even this practice might not be used in the future, so I’m recording it here, since our database makes it easy to check type status and track the specimens sent on loan.
While any herbarium collection in one location is at risk of localized flooding, fire, or pest outbreak, researching how herbaria have safeguarded their collections has let me see the advantage of having type specimens together and easy to evacuate whatever the emergency. It was fascinating to learn that the vascular type collections at NYBG are filed separately today because of their evacuation during World War II. Looking into how NYBG, and other herbaria, have historically curated and annotated their type collections has helped me better understand, and manage, this important collection here at the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium.
