America's First Female Botany Ph.D
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FROM THE ARCHIVES America’s First Female Botany Ph.D. Celebrating the legacy of the first woman with a botany doctorate degree in America: Dr. Alice Carter Cook By Meily de León; Amelia Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Ph.D.; Isabel Francisco-Ortega, Ph.D.; Arnoldo Santos-Guerra, Ph.D.; Javier Francisco-Ortega, Ph.D. Portrait of Dr. Alice r. Alice Our studies have focused on documents, herbarium Carter Cook, probably taken in 1887. Carter Cook specimens, and photos housed in three institutions: Photo copyright Mount (1868–1943) the United States National Herbarium in the Holyoke College. Dwas the first Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; American woman to Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University; earn a Ph.D. in botany. and the Special Collections Research Center of the Her degree was awarded University of Chicago Library. by Syracuse University (New York) in 1888, This research stems from a larger project that we are and her career serves working on, regarding contributions made by North as a role model for us. American naturalists to the floristic studies of the Cook’s legacy has largely Canary Islands and their relatively adjacent volcanic remained obscure; we archipelagos of Azores, Madeira, Cabo Verde, and think this is the case primarily because, until relatively Selvagens. These islands are collectively known as the recently, plant research and exploration have been Macaronesian Region. fields dominated by male naturalists. We discovered that Cook was also a pioneer in the As part of our botanical history studies targeting botanical history of these Atlantic islands. She was relevant archives across the nation, we now want to the first female naturalist who collected plant material commemorate Cook’s life and achievements as one of in any of these four archipelagos, ever; and the the pioneer professional American female botanists. first female scientist to publish floristic accounts for Rather than provide a full bibliographic account of these islands. In addition, Cook was the first North Cook, we aim to enthusiastically share recent novel American naturalist to collect herbarium specimens research we conducted into her scholarly trajectory. in the Canary Islands. Furthermore, as evidence of her We found an outstanding botanist who, like Dr. David well-rounded humanities background, she was the first Fairchild, combined plant exploration with a genuine woman and first U.S. scholar to publish an extensive interest in the history and social aspects of the places review of the human populations inhabiting the that she visited. Canaries prior to the arrival of the first European settlers during the 15th century. 22 THE TROPICAL GARDEN ABOVE (L-R) There are no extensive biographies on Cook, and The Cooks in Liberia Archeological site showing pre-European granaries in the notes we have included about her life are based Of relevance to our research, between 1895 and the island of Gran Canaria, mostly on scattered sources. Nonetheless, these Canary Islands. Dr. Orator F. 1899 Orator Cook worked in tropical Africa, where Cook stands near one of the sources provide us with enough insight on how her he was president of Liberia College. In Liberia, the granaries. Unknown date. work was developed over time and the reasons for Photo copyright University couple collected herbarium material that we have of Chicago Library. her travels to the Canary Islands. encountered during our studies. Alice Carter Cook Cover page of the two articles also published in anthropological journals based Born in New York on April 8, 1868, Cook earned written on the Canary Island on the livelihoods of the native people in Liberia, flora by Dr. Alice Carter Cook her bachelor’s degree at Mount Holyoke College Top: Courtesy of the Missouri Botanical and produced smaller works, such as poems and Garden, also available in botanicus.org. in Massachusetts, then earned her doctorate at Bottom: Courtesy of the Mount Holyoke excerpts. At the end of their work in Africa, the College, also available in archive.org. Syracuse University in 1888. In addition to botanical couple returned to the United States to live in research, she published several outreach articles for Washington, D.C. Popular Science Monthly and Ladies’ Home Journal. Between 1888 and 1891, Cook taught botany at The Canaries Mount Holyoke College. During the years of their recorded stay in Liberia, It appears that the then Alice Carter met Orator Alice and Orator made their two expeditions to the Fuller Cook (1867-1949) during her time teaching at Canary Islands: one between November 1893 and Mount Holyoke; a fellow college professor, Orator January 1894, and the second between February and became her husband in 1892. He was a botanist as October 1897. Alice Cook explored two islands, Gran well, and became a relatively important plant science Canaria and Tenerife, but most of her collections are figure in the United States. As a specialist in cotton from the former. There is a high probability that she and palm trees, he also worked for programs in Haiti traveled to these islands from Liberia, although we involving the development of the rubber tree. have not found details pertinent to the actual route that she followed to and from this archipelago. The studied documents and photos support that she visited the Canary Islands with her husband. THE TROPICAL GARDEN 23 ABOVE (L-R) The Canary Islands support a rich flora with In 1898, four years after Cook finished her second View of the town of Santa Brigida, Gran approximately 620 endemic species, and over and final voyage to the Canaries, she produced two Canaria. the years they have been a magnet for botanists works with descriptions for the Canary Islands flora Photo by the Cooks during their trip to the Canaries. Photo and plant enthusiasts worldwide. The archipelago that were published in the Bulletin of the Torrey copyright University of Chicago Library. comprises seven islands that are only 62 miles Botanical Club and Popular Science Monthly. These Photo by Arnoldo Santos-Guerra, from the Western Sahara desert. Interestingly, Dr. papers have a total of nine photos that depict July 2019. Fairchild explored the Canaries four times (in 1903, endemic plants, landscapes, and traditional uses of 1925, 1926, and 1927. See Winter 2012 issue of plants; however, during our archival research we did The Tropical Garden). Following the tradition of Dr. not locate the original versions of these pictures. Fairchild, in July 2014 our director of collections, Dr. Brett Jestrow, led an expedition to these islands The Anthropological and to collect plant material for the Garden’s herbarium Archaeological Contributions and living collections (see Winter 2015 issue of The The Special Collections Research Center of the Tropical Garden). Since 1999, Garden researchers University of Chicago Library houses a small collection and graduate students have been actively involved in of 21 photos that were taken during Cook’s visits to plant research in the Canaries. different locations on the island of Gran Canaria. These photos are part of the archives of Cook’s husband; thus Regarding Cook’s expeditions to this archipelago, far we have not been able to find her own photograph the core of her collections and her field notes collections. The photos focus on sites situated in Gran are housed in the U.S. National Herbarium in the Canaria, predominantly in the Guía-Gáldar-Agaete Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. area, which is located on the northwestern corner of Additional herbarium collections are at the Academy this island. There are no photographs of plants, but of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (formerly the the few available pictures provide a unique perspective Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia). Our on daily life in the Canaries—with images of a cattle initial estimates suggest that she made more than market, a grain mill, a goat shepherd, local churches, 900 different collections. There are specimens for town streets, a rural school, a local pond with a native endemic species, such as Canarina canariensis, waterfall, pre-historic sites, and family gatherings. Kleinia neriifolia, and Pinus canariensis; for native non-endemic species such as Asteriscus aquaticus, Two of the pictures appear to show Orator Cook, but Echium plantagineum, and Wahlenbergia lobelioides; there are no photos of Alice Cook. In 1900, Alice Cook and also for exotic introduced species, such as published another paper based on her two visits to Ageratina adenophora, Bidens pilosa, and Datura the Canary archipelago; however, this long publication stramonium. Cook collected in all of the major (42 pages in the prestigious research journal American Canarian ecosystems, with the exception of the high- Anthropologist) focused on the pre-European inhabitants altitude desert of Tenerife. Therefore, she visited the of the island, mostly reviewing well-known works that cloud forests, coastal open shrubs, pine forests, and were published prior to her journeys to the Canaries. pre-montane lowland open forests. 24 THE TROPICAL GARDEN FIU undergraduate students conducting botanical history research at the Garden. (L-R) Raquel Chavarria, Meily de León, and María Camas standing at the baobab tree planted by David Fairchild during the Garden’s dedication ceremony Future Directions in March 1938. This article is just an overview of the initial results of Photo by Alina Camas. our current research related to Cook’s expeditions to the Canaries. We are still cataloging and studying Women in Science: her herbarium collections and field notebook. Once we complete our study of this material, we will be Undergraduate able to reconstruct the itinerary that she followed Students Research in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Furthermore, we are analyzing the archival material within the historical Botanical History and anthropological framework of these islands at the As part of the Garden’s botanical history end of the 19th century.