Winona H. Welch Papers (PP)


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Collectors: Welch, Winona H. (Winona Hazel)
Title: Winona H. Welch Papers (PP)
Dates: 1879-1997
Dates: bulk, 1922-1987
Quantity: 17.6 linear feet; 17 boxes
Call Phrase: Welch (PP)

Biography of Winona H. Welch

Winona H. Welch (1896-1990) was a bryologist, specializing in Fontinalaceae and later, the Hookeriaceae at DePauw University, Greencastle Indiana. Welch and Truman G. Yuncker were responsible for the development of the herbarium at DePauw. In 1987, Welch donated that herbarium, which she had named the Truman Yuncker Herbarium on his death in 1964 to the New York Botanical Garden in 1987. On the occasion of her 92nd birthday, a Winona H. Welch Festschrift was published in Brittonia 40 (2), 5 May, 1988.

Winona Welch was born on a farm in Jasper County, Indiana, three miles northeast of the town of Goodland. She had decided to go to DePauw as a child because she liked the name.

But first she had to earn the money. She went for teacher training to Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute and the College at Winona Lake, Indiana. She taught at the Wildasin, Hancock and Brook public schools during World War I.

In 1919, she entered the freshman class of DePauw. She wanted to major in chemistry but was discouraged from doing so by the head of the department. She turned to biology and from there a concentration in botany under Truman G. Yuncker. As his assistant in the herbarium, she helped mount 4000 specimens collected by Earl Grimes from an area around Russellville, IN.

Yuncker encouraged her to go to graduate school at the University of Illinois where she studied plant taxonomy under William Trelease and plant ecology under W.B. MacDougall. Her masters thesis was an enumeration of the plants in her home, Jasper County.

Dr. Welch began to specialize in bryophytes, she says, because she felt sorry for them--they were being studied less frequently than the vascular plants. She was given a major bryophyte research project by Charles Deam, the noted Indiana botanist. He invited her to produce a volume on mosses to accompany his Flora of Indiana. This was not published until 1957.

She received her Ph.D. in 1928 from Indiana University. Her dissertation was a study of the growth of Vaccinium in the limestone soil of Monroe County, a sponsored fellowship. After spending the next two years at I.U. T.G. Yuncker invited her to return to DePauw as an assistant professor of botany.

She stayed in Greencastle for the rest of her life. Her association with Truman Yuncker extended past the Botany Dept. and Welch effectively became a member of the Yuncker family. The Yuncker daughters, Betty-Jane and Barbara, remembered Welch as a kindly aunt who babysat them over the years and accompanied the family on vacations and field collections.

At DePauw, the team of Yuncker and Welch developed the herbarium founded by Lucien Underwood in 1891. Welch was curator of the Cryptogamic Herbarium while Yuncker concentrated on the vascular plants. By the time it was turned over to NYBG it had grown to 133, 500 collections and was termed "the most significant acquisition made by the Garden since 1945".

Welch was considered one of the outstanding teachers at DePauw, inspiring her students to love nature. She taught comparative morphology and evolution, histology and microtechnique, some systematics, ecology, mycology, plant pathology and laboratory sections of general botany. She was made a full professor in 1939. In 1956 when Yuncker retired from teaching, she was named department head. When Yuncker died in 1964 and Welch was named curator of the Herbarium, she named it in his honor. She served from 1964-1981 and as Curator Emeritus from 1981-1987. It was Welch who contacted the NYBG when she realized that DePauw would be unable to allocated resources to maintain and expand their lifework.

Welch showed the same grace and equanimity over the delayed publication of her monographs on Indiana Mosses and the Fontinalaceae. Although her first work on Fontinalaceae was published in A.J. Grout's 1934 Moss Flora of North America North of Mexico and the entire monograph was complete by 1949, it had to wait until 1960 when a grant from the National Science Foundation supplied enough money to subsidize its publication. It is considered one of the best monographs ever written in bryology. Likewise the Indiana Mosses, although completed in 1930's did not appear until 1957.

Aside from her teaching and research, Welch was an active participant in professional and social organizations. She was a charter member of the American and International Societies of Plant Taxonomists and held every executive office of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society among the many world's scientific organizations to which she belonged. In Greencastle, she belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution, Professional Women's Club and attended the Women's Club with Mrs. Yuncker.

No biography of Winona Welch is complete without mention of her deep religious faith. This sustained her from her childhood and she was an active member of the Presbyterian Church in Greencastle. During her retirement she organized a bible class at the retirement community where she lived with her sister.

As a woman scientist, Welch held her share of firsts; first woman head of a department at DePauw and first woman President of the Indiana Academy of Science among them.

She was also active in the conservation field. In 1969 an area in Putnam County, IN was named the Winona Welch Botanical Area to honor her contributions.

Although she lived her whole life in Indiana, she collected in all 50 states, almost all of the provinces of Canada, Panama, the West Indies and in the South Pacific. In 1938 she spent six months in European herbariums studying Fontinalaceae for her monograph. She was an active participant in bryological forays where she met scientists such as Howard Crum, William Steere, George Nichols, Margaret Fulford, the Dailys, Lewis Anderson and dozens more--all of whom became life long friends.

Her last years were spent in a retirement community, Asbury Towers, overlooking the DePauw campus. It was there that her many friends feted her life and work on the publication of the Brittonia Festschrift. She died on January 16, 1990.


Scope and Content

The Winona Welch Papers (1879-1987) documents Welch's Fontinalaceae and Hookeriaceae research and her career as curator of the Truman G. Yuncker Herbarium at DePauw University. Additionally it documents the transfer of the herbarium to NYBG in 1987 and the issue of Brittonia published as a Festschrift in Welch's honor. It contains photocopies, manuscripts, correspondence, postcards, notes, index cards, photographs, negatives, illustrations, slides. The collection is arranged into 15 series.


Arrangement

The collection is organized into fifteen series:
Series 1: Correspondence. 1921-1988. Arranged alphabetically.
Series 2: DePauw Herbarium. 1879-1987. Arranged by subject.
Series 3: Welch Library. n.d. Arranged alphabetically.
Series 4: Biographical Information. 1928-1982. Arranged by subject.
Series 5: Professional Associations. 1907-1991. Arranged by subject.
Series 6: Personal Files. 1904-1988. Arranged by subject.
Series 7: Festschrift. 1987-1988. Arranged by subject.
Series 8: Mss. & Publications. 1924-1977. Arranged chronologically.
Series 9: Historic Trees. 1922-1986. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Series 10: Research Files. 1876-1987. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Series 11: Fontinalaceae Literature. n.d. Arranged by subject.
Series 12: Hookeriaceae Literature. n.d. Arranged by subject.
Series 13: Photographs. 1924-1987. Arranged by subject.
Series 14: Slides. ca. 1942. Arranged by subject.
Series 15: Negatives. 1987.


Restrictions

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.

Copyright

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.


Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Cryotogamia.
DePauw University. Truman G. Huncker Herbarium -- History -- Sources.
Fontinalaceae -- Classification.
Historic trees -- Indiana.
Hookeriaceae -- Classification.
New York Botanical Garden Archives.
Welch, Winona H. (Winona Hazel) -- Archives.
Women botanists.


Related Material

New York Botanical Garden

The William Steere Collection

The Patricia Holmgren Collection

The Truman Yuncker Collection

DePauw University Archives

The Winona H. Welch Collection

The Truman G.Yuncker Collection

Cornell University

The Albert Leroy Andrews Collection


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Winona H. Welch Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden.

Acquisition Information

The Winona H. Welch Collection was acquired as part of the purchase of the DePauw University Herbarium in 1987 and as photocopies of materials in the DePauw University Archives used for the preparation of Brittonia 40(2), May 5, 1988 Festschrift in Welch's honor.

Processing Information

Originally processed by Laura Zelasnic, Project Archivist, February 2000, with grant funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities. (NEH-PA 23141-98). Converted to EAD in August 2006 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH-PA 50678-04).


Container List

 

Series 1. Correspondence.

Scope and Content:

This series contains Welch's professional correspondence generated through her research, teaching, professional associations . Other correspondence is found in Series 2: DePauw Herbarium and Series 7: Festschrift. The Festschrift correspondence contains solicitations and tributes used to compile the Festschift. Welch's personal correspondence including congratualatory letters on the occasion of the Festscrift is found in Series 6: Personal Files.

Folder Title Date
1.1 A 1933-1983
1.2 B 1933-1965
1.3 C 1932-1977
1.4 DePauw University 1930-1980
1.5 Deams, Charles 1921-1939
1.6 D 1935-1977
1.7 E 1935-1955
1.8 F 1933-1968
1.9 Grout, A.J. 1931-1946
1.10 G 1936-1968
1.11 H 1933-1977
1.12 I-J 1933-1974
1.13 K-L 1937-1972
1.14 M 1933-1970
1.15 New York Botanical Garden 1964-1988
1.16 N-O 1934-1967
1.17 P 1933-1967
1.18 R 1933-1972
1.19 Steere, William 1935-1980
1.20 S 1934-1969
1.21 T-V 1932-1973
1.22 W-Z 1930-1967

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Series 2. DePauw Herbarium.

Scope and Content:

This series contains records of herbaria incorporated into the DePauw herbarium during Welch's stewardship. The list of contributors is contained in an index file arranged alphabetically. Welch's own cryptogamic collections are independtly cited. Other independent herbariums found in the DePauw collection are the Mary Haines and Lucy Dickerson Grose collections. Also found here are the original plant accession logs and visitors book for the DePauw Herbarium. Correspondence in this series relates to incoming and outgoing loans and determinations. Photographs of the transfer of the herbarium are found in Series 13: Photographs. At the same time the DePauw Herbarium was transferred, the Wabash College Herbarium was also moved. Photographs and slides documenting this transfer are found in Series 13: Photographs.

Folder Title Date
1.23 Botany Dept. Newsletter 1939-1979
1.24 Guest Log ca. 1940-1979
1.25-31 Plant Accession Book 1923-1981
1.32 Mary P. Haines Herbarium 1879-1975
1.33 Lucy Dickerson Grose Herbarium 1889-1971
1.34 Welch Cryptogamic Herbarium 1958-1974
1.35 Emil J. Grimes Plant Collections in Indiana 1910
1.36 Collectors of Algae in the DePauw Herbarium n.d.
1.37 Enumeration of the Vascular Flora of Jasper City, Ind. 1923-1925
1.38 Fungus Exsiccati Containing Materials from the Americas 1966
1.39 Collections 1980-1989
1.40 Herbarium Reference Material n.d.
1.41 Historical Data 1961-1980
1.42 Important Data ca. 1987
1.43 NYBG Collection Integration 1988-1991
1.44 Insecticide Research 1968
1.45 Index to Collectors Represented in the Vascular Plant Collections 1991
1.46 New York Botanical Garden Acquisition 1964-1990
1.47 New York Botanical Garden/NSF Processing Grant 1988
1.48 NYBG DePauw/Wabash Acquisition 1987-1990
Box Title Date
2 Contributors A-D ca. 1879-1987
3 Contributors F-Mc ca. 1879-1987
4 Contributors M-S ca. 1879-1987
5 Contributors S-Z ca. 1879-1987
Folder Title Date
6.1 Correspondence, Belgium 1956
6.2 Correspondence, Canada 1958-1973
6.3 Correspondence, Costa Rica 1968
6.4 Correspondence, Cowan, Richard 1979-1985
6.5 Correspondence, Denmark 1961-1972
6.6 Correspondence, England 1959-1973
6.7 Correspondence, Finland 1967-1971
6.8 Correspondence, France 1964-1973
6.9 Correspondence, Germany 1958-1961
6.10 Correspondence, Jamaica 1968-1970
6.11 Correspondence, Japan 1961
6.12 Correspondence, Netherlands 1970
6.13 Correspondence, New York Botanical Garden 1951-1979
6.14 Correspondence, New Zealand 1954
6.15 Correspondence, Scotland 1970
6.16 Correspondence, South America 1962
6.17 Correspondence, Sweden 1961-1967
6.18 Correspondence, Switzerland 1959-1972
6.19 Correspondence, USA 1943-1979

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Series 3. Welch Library.

Scope and Content:

This series contains articles and books in Welch's personal library arranged alphabetically on index cards.

Box Title Date
5 Index cards n.d.

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Series 4. Biographical Information.

Scope and Content:

Biographical clippings, including a newspaper obituary and a resume comprise this series. Also found here are an autobiography related to Dr. Welch's childhood and adolescence and memorabilia associated with her academic career. Photographs, most of which were used in the Festschrift, are found in Series 7: Festschrift.

Folder Title Date
6.20 Academic Memorabilia 1928-1982
6.21 Autobiography n.d.
6.22 Biographical Clippings 1931-1982
6.23 Resume 1960
6.24 Truman G. Yuncker Herbarium 1964-1970
6.25 Necrology 1990-1991

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Series 5. Professional Associations.

Scope and Content:

This series contains printed matter documenting the activities in the many scientific associations in which Dr. Welch was active. Determinations made by Dr. Welch for Elizabeth Britton are contained in the Sullivant Moss Society folder.

Folder Title Date
6.26 American Bryological Society 1958-1980
6.27 American Society of Plant Taxonomists 1967-1974
6.28 Botanical Society of America 1933-1974
6.29 British Bryological Society 1976
6.30 Greencastle Business and Professional Women's Club 1966-1969
6.31 Indiana Academy of Science 1907-1991
6.32 Indiana Bryological and Lichenological Society Foray 1970
6.33 Phi Beta Kappa 1968
6.34 Sigma Delta Epsilon 1966-1970
6.35 Sigma Xi 1960-1970
6.36 Sullivant Moss Society ca. 1925

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Series 6. Personal Files.

Scope and Content:

Materials in this series relate to Dr. Welch's personal life including her activities in the Asbury Towers retirement community, the Presbyterian Church and the social clubs to which she belongs. Included here, as well, are personal materials related to her early mentors Henry S. Conard and William Trealease. Correspondence in this series consists of congratulatory notes on the Festschrift and letters from former students. Memorabilia includes covers from her personal guest logs.

Folder Title Date
6.37 Asbury Towers 1968
6.38 Clippings 1926-1984
6.39 Conard, Henry S. 1946-1971
6.40 Correspondence 1929-1988
6.41 Correspondence, Degener 1930-1987
6.42 Correspondence, Festschrift 1988-1989
6.43 Correspondence, Holmgren, Pat 1987-1989
6.44 Correspondence, Yuncker 1924-1953
6.45 Presbyterian Church 1961-1968
6.46 Social Clubs 1969
6.47 Trelease 1904-1945
15.1 Guestbook 1964-1989
15.2 Guestbook Cover 1936
15.3 Guest Log Cover n.d.

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Series 7. Festschrift.

Scope and Content:

This series consists of manuscripts used in the 1988 Festschrift and the correspondence soliciting them. Other materials related to the Festschrift found in this series are photocopies of the photo layouts and captions in the volume and photocopies of biographical information and clippings sent by the DePauw University archives.

Folder Title Date
6.48 Transmission Documents 1987-1997
6.49 Biographical Information n.d.
6.50 Biographical Clippings 1935-1988
6.51 Editorial Correspondence n.d.
6.52 Photos and Captions n.d.
6.53 Tributes n.d.
6.54 NYBG/ DePauw Memorial Trees 1988
Box Title Date
16 Photocollage Page 1988

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Series 8. Mss. & Publications.

Scope and Content:

Found here are manuscripts and reprints of Welch's botanical research.

Folder Title Date
6.55 Bibliography 1926-1977
6.56 Enumeration of the Vascular Flora of Jasper County, Indiana 1925-1931
6.57 Jasper County Plants by Charles Deam 1924
6.58 The Rectors ca. 1930
6.59 DePauw University Arboretum 1932
6.60 Boreal Plant Relics in Indiana 1935
6.61 Rijksherbarium Report [1938]
6.62 Mosses of Indiana Corrections 1957
6.63 Mosses of Indiana, figures 1957
6.64 Mosses of Indiana, figures 1957
6.65 Lucien Marcus Underwood and Fern Cliffs 1960
6.66 Mosses Previously Unrecorded for Panama 1963
6.67 Fontinalaceae 1963
6.68 Hookeriaceae of Mexico 1966
6.69 Hookeriaceae Species & Distribution in North and Central America & West Indies 1968
6.70 Hookeriaceae Species & Distribution in S. America 1969
6.71 Hookeriaceae of Cuba 1969
6.72 Recent Cryptogamic Collections in Barbados 1969
6.73 Hookeriacae Species and Distribution in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania 1970
6.74 Recent Cryptogamic Collections in the West Indies 1970
6.75 Hookeriaceae of Jamaica,Hispaniola & Puerto Rico 1971
6.76 McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology 1971
6.77 Lepidopilum, Subtortifolium Bartr. in North America: Mexico 1971
6.78 Henry S. Conard 1972
6.79 Hookeriaceae: North America and West Indies, Additions and Appendix 1972
6.80 Hookeriaceae of the Lesser Antilles 1972
6.81 Studies in Indiana Bryophytes, xiv, xv 1972
6.82 Hookeriaceae of Central America 1974
6.83 Hookeriaceae 1976
6.84 T.G. Yuncker Bibliography 1977
6.85 Some Conspicuous Roadside Flowers of Autumn n.d.
16 Fontinalaceae figures 1934, 1960

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Series 9. Historic Trees.

Scope and Content:

Another of Welch's interest was historic and large trees, primarily in Indiana but also in the United States. This series contains her reference files assembled on this subject.

Folder Title Date
6.86 Ginkos 1959-1986
6.87 Historic and Noteworthy Trees of Indiana ca. 1936
6.88 Historic and Noteworthy Trees of Indiana and U.S. 1935-1958
6.89 List of Campus Trees 1936
6.90 Notes 1922-1967

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Series 10. Research Files.

Scope and Content:

This series contains files assembled by Dr. Welch on topics outside her dedicated field. Especially noteworthy here is the documentation of areas in Indiana included in the Natural Heritage Program.

Folder Title Date
6.91 Annales de L'ACFAS Extraits 1954-1955
6.92 Aquilegia n.d.
6.93 Bishop Museum n.d.
6.94 Blashka Glass 1932-1963
6.95 Botanical Gardens 1930-1970
6.96 4 Mile Portage Map, Mn. n.d.
6.97 Indiana Musci 1876-1939
6.98 Indiana Natural Heritage Program 1936-1987
6.99 Indian Natural Heritage Program, Registry of Scientific and Natural Areas 1970
6.100 Japanese Botanical Papers n.d.
6.101 Marvels of Fern Life n.d.

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Series 11. Fontinalaceae Literature .

Scope and Content:

This series consists of photocopies of the literature used by Dr. Welch, and notes and correspondence related to her monograph on Fontinalaceae.

Box Title Date
7 Fontinalaceae Literature n.d.
8 Fontinalaceae Literature n.d.
9 Fontinalaceae Literature n.d.

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Series 12. Hookeriaceae Literature.

Scope and Content:

This series consists of photocopies of the literature used by Dr. Welch, correspondence and notes for her resesearch on Hookeriaceae.

Box Title Date
10 Hookeriaceae Literature n.d.
11 Hookeriaceae Literature n.d.
12 Hookeriaceae Literature n.d.
13 Hookeriaceae Literature n.d.
14 Hookeriaceae Literature n.d.

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Series 13. Photographs.

Scope and Content:

This series contains photos documenting Welch's life, most of which were included in the Festschrift volume. Here also are photgraphs documenting the transfer of the DePauw and Wabash College herbariums to NYBG. Other photos are a series of views of the Grand Canyon probably purchased in 1931. Negatives have been removed and are found in the negative series.

Folder Title Date
15.4 Festschrift photos 1987
15.5 Festschrift photos 1987
15.6 Welch Portraits 1928-1987
15.7 Welch Snapshots 1987-1991
15.8 DePauw Herbarium Move 1987
15.9 Wabash College Herbarium Move 1987
15.10 Portraits of Botanists 1924-1936
15.11 Grand Canyon Views 1931

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Series 14. Slides.

Scope and Content:

These are slides of Cryptogams and Angiosperms made by Earl Harger and given to Dr. Welch in 1942. Also here are slides documenting the 1987 Herbarium move.

Folder Title Date
15.12 Slides ca. 1942
Box Title Date
17 Cryptogams & Angiosperms by Earl Harger ca. 1942
17 Catalog of Slides ca. 1942

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Series 15. Negatives.

Scope and Content:

This series contains negatives used in the production of the 1988 Festschrift honoring Dr. Welch.

Folder Title Date
15.13 Negatives 1987

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