DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY, FISHERIES, AND WILDLIFE A.C. Hodson • College of Agriculture • Agricultural ExperimentStation •UniversityofMinnesota Agriculture • A.C. Hodson•College of Contents Page Preface .........................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................ii Otto Lugger Era: 1888-1901 .......................................................................................2 Frederick L. Washburn Era: 1902-18 ..........................................................................4 William A. Riley Era: 1918-25 .....................................................................................6 1930-44 .....................................................................................13 Royal N. Chapman Era: 1926-30 ................................................................................9 Clarence E. Mickel Era: 1945-60 ..............................................................................19 Alexander C. Hodson Era: 1960-74 ..........................................................................26 Appendix A--Biographical Sketches ........................................................................A-1 Appendix B--Development of the Department Teaching Program ........................ A-11 Appendix C--Highlights of Department Research Activities ..................................A-21 Appendix D--Additional Comments on Certain Topics and Events ........................A-29 The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal ac- cess to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex, or national origin. Preface Alexander Carlton Hodson was an employee of the University of Minnesota during 47 of the 87 years of this historical account. This near half-century of his tenure was an important period in the development of the Department of Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife, as the reader will be immediately aware. But what may not also be clear is the fact that A. C. Hodson himself, particularly in the post-World War II decades of such rapid changes, played significant roles not only in shaping the history of the Department about which he writes but, indeed, in influencing to an important degree the history of the University of Minnesota as a whole. He was born June 17, 1906, in Reading, Massachusetts; his family was in the house- painting business, and Alec joined the enterprise as a young man. Later he attended the University of Massachusetts (B.S., 1928), and then the University of Minnesota (M.A., 1931, and Ph.D., 1935). During this graduate student period, he also attended the University of Washington’s Puget Sound Biological Station in the summer of 1930, where he studied marine ecology under the tutelage of Victor E. Shelford, an experience which was to have a profound influence upon his later career. He studied and worked as a Teaching Assistant, and later as an Instructor, while a graduate student in the Departments of Zoology, and Entomology and Economic Zoology. Through his career in the latter Department, he moved up through academic ranks to Professor, and finally to Head of the Department in 1960. In 1962, he was instrumental in changing the Department’s name to Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife. In 1974, at the age of 68, he retired. Such are the bare-bones vitae of Dr. A. C. Hodson’s professional career: the beginning, the preparations, the progression in academic position, the retirement--with dates and places. But omitted from this brief paragraph are details of his accomplishments and professional activities that would require, not only additional paragraphs, but many pages. His professorial activities include a long period of undergraduate and graduate teaching, primarily in animal ecology and forest entomology. A literal parade of graduate students - more than 70 - passed under his guidance. He published widely in the areas of forest insects, pest problems of fruit and field crops, and the interrelationships of insects and micro-organisms in stored grain. His emphasis was always on the organisms’ population dynamics. He was quick to point out not only where insect pest control was required, but also circumstances when, because of the insect’s natural history or population development characteristics, the application of insecticides would be unnecessary or even detrimental. Among his major scientific contributions were his studies on the population dynamics of the forest tent caterpillar, such that predictions could be made of defoliation damage well in advance; similar predictions were made possible for the apple maggot, as the result of his studies on the population ecology of this species. His basic approach to entomological problems was through an understanding of the insect’s ecology and its dynamic relationship to the rest of the ecosystem. Dr. Hodson’s list of professional society associations, public service special assignments, and administrative and academic committee responsibilities is long and detailed. The diversity of his interests and abilities is legion: he counseled University presidents on problems of great import, as well as a neighbor child with a butterfly collection; he chaired numerous selection committees for deans and vice-presidents, served on the St. Paul Campus landscaping committee, and edited a newsletter to staff in the armed forces in World War II. One of his best-liked assignments was as a member of the University of Minnesota Press advisory committee. He also served on advisory committees for the University’s field stations at Itasca and Cedar Creek, and for two periods of several years each as a member of the University Faculty Consultative Committee. He was instrumental in obtaining approval and funding - and seeing the final construction - of the department’s new building, completed in 1968. Perhaps his favorite special project was the collection of phenological data each year - recording the times of natural events as seasons progressed - now for 35 years a continuous record, and still proceeding. Even this list is far from complete. Through all he maintained a close relationship to students and to staff in his Department, with boundless great energy and a never-flagging sense of good humor. He received many honors: Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Distinguished Service Award from the Minnesota Academy of Science and the Society of Sigma Xi, Award of Merit from Gamma Sigma Delta, and elected officerships in the Ecological Society of America and the Entomological Society of America. The A. C. Hodson Ecology Lecture series, held in 1975 at the University, was a testament to his impact both in research and upon his students, and included presentations from his former advisees now making their own scientific contributions; the series was published as “Insect Ecology, Papers Presented in the A. C. Hodson Ecology of Lectures,” in 1977. On the sunny, springtime morning of May 27, 1976, the new building that houses the Department of Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife was renamed in his honor - Hodson Hall. At the brief outdoor ceremony, representatives of the University administration, faculty, secretarial staff, family and many of his former students, gathered to honor A. C. Hodson and wish him well. Today he lives in St. Paul with his wife, Audrey Jane, in their home of long standing, where they garden and house-paint. He retains an emeritus office in Hodson Hall, where he continues to work productively, assembling further research reports on forest insect studies for publication. Thomas F. Waters St. Paul, Minnesota October 1976 Acknowledgements The author wishes to express his deep appreciation to Mrs. Maxine Clapp and her associates in the University Archives for the superb job done in organizing the Department historical correspondence and other documents, and more particularly for the assistance and many courtesies extended to their visitor. The author also is very grateful to Beth McDuffie for the conscientious care in typing the original and revised manuscripts. The Department of Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife 1888-1974 (Chronological and Somewhat Anecdotal) A. C. Hodson The earliest record of the presence of an entomologist in Minnesota dates back to 1823 in an account of Thomas Say’s expedition to the source of the St. Peter’s River, long since renamed the Minnesota River. A little more than 50 years later, in 1876, a man by the name of Allan Whitman was appointed by Cyrus Thomas of the U. S. Entomological Commission to report on the Rocky Mountain locust in Minnesota. His account can be found in the first report of the Commission, published in 1878. Probably the first person to teach entomology in Minnesota was O. W. Oestlund. He had served as entomologist with the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey from 1885 to 1890, and later taught entomology in the University’s Department of Animal Biology (Zoology) from 1891 until his retirement in 1926. However, instruction in entomology was announced as early as 1871. In the first edition of the “Minnesota University Almanac,” which preceded bulletins, it was stated that there were 4 faculty members in the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, and that agriculture is to be conducted along the following lines: Chemistry - Geology and Minerology