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George Hill Mathewson Lawrence

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George Hill Mathewson Lawrence
Born(1910-06-19)June 19, 1910
East Greenwich, Rhode Island
DiedJune 10, 1978(1978-06-10) (aged 67)
East Greenwich
NationalityAmerican
BildungLockwood High School
Alma materUniversity of Rhode Island, Cornell University
Known forTaxonomy
Botany
SpouseMiriam Boothby
Awardshonorary Doctor of Science degree (1952), Foreign Honorary Fellow of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Academic advisorsLiberty Hyde Bailey
Author abbrev. (botany)G.H.M.Lawr.

George Hill Mathewson Lawrence, (19 June 1910 - 10 June 1978) was a United States botanist and Professor of Botany

Lawrence, George Hill Mathewson (1910-1978)

Biography

George Hill Mathewson Lawrence, a native of Rhode Island, was for many years one of the preeminent botanists in the world. Born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island on June 19, 1910, he was the son of Dana and Anna (Mathewson) Lawrence. He attended local schools, graduating from Lockwood High School in Warwick in 1928. Remaining in his native state, Lawrence received both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the then Rhode Island State College in 1932 and 1933 respectively. He also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from his Alma Mater in 1952.

In 1934, he married Miriam Boothby of Westbrook, Maine. After serving as Superintendent of Greenhouses and Grounds at Rhode Island State Hospital from 1934 to 1936, Lawrence left Rhode Island to study for his doctorate at Cornell University. There, as a student of the renowned botanist/ horticulturalist Liberty Hyde Bailey, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in botany in 1939. After receiving the doctorate, Lawrence remained as Bailey's assistant in the Bailey Hortorium until World War II military service interrupted his career in 1943. After the war, in 1946, Lawrence returned to Cornell and the Bailey Hortorium as a Professor of Botany. In 1951, he was named Director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium and in that same year, he published his seminal botany textbook, 'Taxonomy of Vascular Plants'. In 1954, he assumed the editorship of the Bailey Hortorium journal, Baileya.

After nearly twenty-one years as a student and staff member at the Bailey Hortorium, Lawrence left in 1960 to assume the position of director of the newly established Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library at the then Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University). With the collection of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt (of the American Aluminum Company (Alcoa) Hunts) as a cornerstone, Lawrence developed the Hunt Botanical Library into one of the finest of its kind in the world. One of his major accomplishments was the acquisition for the Library of a 4000 item collection of Linnaeus materials from the private library of Dr. Birger Strandell of Sweden, a direct descendant of Linnaeus. In the ten years after its acquisition, the Linnaeana collection doubled in size.

Due in part to ill health, Lawrence stepped down as Director of the Hunt Botanical Library at the end of 1970 and returned to his native Rhode Island. He remained on the staff of the Hunt Botanical as a Research Associate and Consultant, however, in order to complete an annotated catalogue of its Linnaeus collection. Working with the donor of the collection, Dr. Birger Strandell, Lawrence devoted the remaining seven and one half years of his life to the completion of the Linnaeus Catalogue. Due to many problems, including several with its computer generated format, the Catalogue was never completed.

In addition to his lifelong interest in botany, Lawrence was also a student of local history and an avid bibliophile and collector of rare books. He combined his vocation and his avocations in accumulating a fine library of botanical works, general rare books, and books of Rhode Island history in his East Greenwich home. Many of these books, in particular those on Rhode Island history, were donated to the University of Rhode Island Library by his widow, Miriam Lawrence. This donation broadened both the Library's Rhode Island Collection and its rare book collection. George Lawrence died in East Greenwich on June 10, 1978.[1]

In 1935, Liberty Bailey gave his herbarium (consisting of 125,000 sheets), a building and his library of books (consisting over 3,000 books) to Cornell University. This became the basis for the 'Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium'. He was it's unsalaried director, his daughter Ethel Bailey was the curator. George became its director when Bailey retired in 1951.[2]

In 1954, he was given a Guggenheim Fellowship Award, in the field of Plant Sciences.[3]

Professor George M. Lawrence died just before the Society's AGM. He had died on 11 June at his home on Rhode Island not long after returning from a trip to London and Uppsala in connection with the Linnean bicentennial commemorations. He was born on 19 June 1910 at East Greenwich, Rhode Island and was educated at Rhode Island and New York State (Cornell University). After a service in the Navy, he became assistant at the Bailey Hortorium Herbarium at Cornell in 1950 and then finally its director. In 1960, Lawrence was appointed director of the Hunt Botanical Library at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania, now called the Carnegie Mellon University, where he remained until his retiral. He was the author of 'Taxonomy of vascular plants', but he also founded in 1954, the periodical 'Baileya' and also helped to prepare the revised edition of 'Manual of Cultivated Plants' (1 Dec. 1949) with Liberty Hyde Bailey. He was a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.[4]

George H. M. Lawrence became the second Director of the Bailey Hortorium following the resignation of L. H. Bailey in 1951. In addition to his administrative duties, Lawrence was also a dedicated plant taxonomist. George H. M. Lawrence attended the University of Rhode Island where he received both a bachelor's degree and master's degree. He received his doctorate degree from Cornell University and then joined the Bailey Hortorium staff. Lawrence was Professor of Botany from 1946-1951 at which time he became Director of the Hortorium. He served in that role until 1960, when he left to become the Director of the Hunt Botanical Library at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a plant taxonomist, Lawrence studied Armeria (commonly known as Sea pinks, in addition to other plants, and contributed many articles to the Hortorium's journals, Baileya and 'Gentes Herbarum'. It was under Lawrence's supervision that the journal, 'Baileya', was first conceived. His most notable reference works were Introduction to Plant Taxonomy and Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. The latter is still a standard text for students of systematic botany today.

George Lawrence oversaw the transition of the Bailey Hortorium from its long-time home at Sage Place to its new facilities in Mann Library. The move occurred in 1954 and provided the Hortorium with a centrally located space on campus. [5]

[6]


Area of Interest: Spermatophytes

Example of Name Published: Lapeirousia denticulata (Lam.) G.H.M.Lawr. in Baileya 3: 134 in 1955.[7] Which is now a synonym of Lapeirousia fabricii subsp. fabricii.[8]

Bibliography

'An Introduction to Plant Taxonomy' George Hill Mathewson Lawrence Macmillan, 1955 - Botany - 179 pages[9]

A Reclassification of the Genus Iris George Hill Mathewson Lawrence 1953 - Irises (Plants) - 26 pages [10]

Major Groups Within the Genus Iris George Hill Mathewson Lawrence éditeur non identifié, 1953[11]

"The Night Before Christmas" An Exhibition Catalogue Compiled by George H. M. Lawrence. Foreword by Anne Lyon Haight Lawrence, George H. M., compiler; Anne Lyon Haight, collector Pittsburgh PA: The Pittsburgh Bibliophiles, 1964.[12]

Legacy

George H.M. Lawrence Memorial Award Commemorating Dr. George H.M. Lawrence, founding Director of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University, the annual Award of $2000 is made to an outstanding doctoral candidate for travel in support of dissertation research in systematic botany or horticulture, or the history of the plant sciences, including literature and exploration. This award, presented by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, is used to support travel for dissertation research of a doctoral candidate in systematic botany or horticulture, or the history of the plant sciences.

Award Recipients:

  • 2014-2020 - No George H.M. Lawrence Awards were awarded between 2014-2020.
  • 2013 - Aleksandar Radosavljevic, student of Dr. Patrick Herendeen of the Chicago Botanical Garden and Northwestern University. The proceeds of the award will help support his travel for field and collections-based work in integrative research study of the genus Cynometra.
  • 2011 - Mr. Brian Sidoti, student of Dr. Kenneth Cameron of the University of Wisconsin.
  • 2010 - Ms. Christine D. Bacon, a student of Professor Mark P. Simmons at Colorado State University. The proceeds of the award will help support her travel for field and collections-based work in an integrative research study of the genus Pritchardia.
  • 2008 - Mr. Dylan O. Burge, a student of Professor Paul Manos at Duke University. The proceeds of the award will help support his travel for field and collections-based work in an integrative research study of the genus Ceanothus.
  • 2007 - Mr. Jimmy K. Triplett, a student of Dr. Lynn G. Clark at Iowa State University. For his dissertation research, Mr. Triplett has undertaken study of woody bamboo genus Pleioblastus. The proceeds of the Award will help support his travel to Japan for field work and herbarium research.
  • 2006 - Eric Schuettplez, a student of Dr. Kathleen M. Pryer at Duke University. For his dissertation research, Mr. Schuettpelzhas undertaken a study of understanding the origin of diversification of fern epiphytes.. The proceeds of the Award will help support her travel to Southeast Asia, for field research.
  • 2002 - Andrew L. Hipp, University of Wisconsin Madison

A student of Paul E. Berry, Mr. Hipp has undertaken a phylogenetic and taxonomic study of Carex section Ovales. He will use the proceeds of the Award to support his field studies of the Carex microptera complex.

  • 2000 - Anne Katherine Hansen, University of Texas at Austin

A student of Professor Robert K. Jansen, for her dissertation research, Ms. Hansen has undertaken a study of the genus Passiflora with a special emphasis on the large group of species with a basic chromosome number of 9. The proceeds of the Award will help support her travel in Brazil for field research.

  • 1990 - Chester E. Wilson, State University of New York at Stony Brook

A student of James Thomson, Mr. Wilson has undertaken a study of secondary sex characteristics in dioecious species of Polytrichaceae. The proceeds of the award will help support his travel in the U.S. and Europe for herbarium research.[13][14]

The standard author abbreviation G.H.M.Lawr. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Lawrence, George H. M. (George Hill Mathewson), 1910-1978 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  2. ^ Office of the Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs: Volume 64, Volume 64 (1994), p. 25, at Google Books
  3. ^ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | George H. M. Lawrence". Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  4. ^ Watling, Roy (1978). "Obituary; Professor George M. Lawrence". Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 43 (1): 66. doi:10.1080/03746607808685338.
  5. ^ Obituary. 1978. News Release, Carnegie-Mellon University, #87-78.
  6. ^ Bailey, Liberty H. (1 December 1949). "Manual of Cultivated Plants". Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Lawrence, George Hill Mathewson | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Lapeirousia denticulata (Lam.) G.H.M.Lawr. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  9. ^ George Hill Mathewson Lawrence Introduction to Plant Taxonomy xJdfVbrRutwC at Google Books
  10. ^ https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_Reclassification_of_the_Genus_Iris.html?id=tLdgGwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
  11. ^ https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Major_Groups_Within_the_Genus_Iris.html?id=DG7HuQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
  12. ^ "The Night Before Christmas An Exhibition Catalogue Compiled by George H. M. Lawrence. Foreword by Anne Lyon Haight by George H. M. Lawrence, compiler, collector Anne Lyon on Bolerium Books". Bolerium Books. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  13. ^ "George H.M. Lawrence Memorial Award". botany.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  14. ^ "George H.M. Lawrence Memorial Award | Instrumentl". www.instrumentl.com. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  15. ^ International Plant Names Index.  G.H.M.Lawr.

Other sources

  • Biogr. details incl. portr. in Rheedea, 20(1): 28 (2010)



;Category:1910 births ;Category:University of Rhode Island alumni ;Category:British academics ;Category:British botanists ;Category:People from Rhode Island

;Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London ;Category:1978 deaths

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