HISTORICAL NOTE
Rolla Kent Beattie (1875-1960), botanist and plant pathologist, was born in
Ashland, Ohio. Beattie received his A.B. degree from Cotner University in
1895, and his B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Nebraska in 1896
and 1898, respectively. While at Nebraska, Beattie came under the influence of
Charles Edwin Bessey, and remained a disciple of the Besseyan school of botany
throughout his career.
Beattie taught high school in Colorado and
Wyoming before becoming an instructor of botany at Washington State College in
1899. At Washington State he collaborated with Charles Vancouver Piper on
researching the flora of Washington, Idaho, and the Northwest coast. In 1903
Beattie succeeded Piper as department head and botanist at the College's
Agricultural Experiment Station.
Beattie began his studies on plant
diseases while at Washington State. His studies eventually led to his working
intermittently for the Federal Horticultural Board and the Bureau of Plant
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. While working for these
federal agencies, Beattie helped establish inspection procedures for plants
and undertook the task of solving the chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease.
Beattie retired in 1945 and began a study of David Douglas, pioneer
plant explorer in the Pacific Northwest. Ill health prevented Beattie from
completing his task.
DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY
These papers consist of correspondence from Mary Agnes Chase, William Ralph
Maxon, and Egbert Hamilton Walker, Division of Plants, United States National
Museum, concerning the receipt, examination, and determination of Beattie's
Japanese ferns and grasses; correspondence concerning Merritt Lyndon Fernald's
critical remarks about government scientists; field notes taken in Washington
and Idaho, 1946; notes concerning botanical publications, bibliographies, and
explorations in China, with a list of books shelved in the Hong Kong Herbarium
Library, undated; and newspaper clippings regarding scientific research and
explorations in China and the Far East, 1928-1932.
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