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Collectors of the UNC Herbarium
Harry E. Ahles
(1924-1981)
| Harry
Ahles was among the last botanists to gain his position through
pure knowledge of plants rather than through the usual system
of academic advancement. He gained his first professional position
as herbarium curator at the University of Illinois, with only
a high school diploma (and a recently acquired one at that).
Oswald Tippo, in his obituary
of Ahles (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 109(1): 84-6), tells a
story of how Ahles was confronted by the police while collecting
weeds in New York City (he was serving as a gardener at the New
York Botanical Garden). When the officers realized that he was
a botanist, they took him to a plot of alleged "tomatoes"
which Harry determined to be marijuana. His unusual "field
work" in the city resulted in a publication: "Interesting
Weeds of New York City" (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 78:
266-274).
Ahles served as herbarium
curator at UNC - Chapel Hill for ten years, having followed Ritchie
Bell to North Carolina to work on a major floristic study of that
state. This work resulted in the Manual of the Vascular Flora
of the Carolinas (UNC Press, 1964), which still serves as
the primary flora of this area and as the basic text for students
of systematic botany at UNC. |
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During his years at UNC, Ahles added over
200,000 plant specimens to the herbarium. Similar vast gains in
the collection were made while he occupied his later position
at Amherst. Ahles's departure from UNC was unusual, to say the
least. According to Tippo, who he contacted about the possibility
of a job at the University of Massachusetts, Ahles left UNC because
they had provided the herbarium with air conditioning and "I
will not work in an air-conditioned laboratory."
His love of nature and his dislike of modern
"conveniences" was also evident in his choice of residence.
While at Amherst, he lived in a log cabin which he built on the
top of Horse Mountain. His only companion was his dog, Montana.
Reliquiae
Shown below are the cover of a memorial
volume from the Department of Botany at the University of Massachusetts
as well as a letter from Ahles to Ritchie Bell. The letter may
be clicked on to view a larger image.
 
The memorial volume is composed of Oswald
Tippo's article which appeared in Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical
Club, as well as remembrances by Joe Pratt (a student of Ahles)
and a collection of quotes from students at Amherst regarding
Ahles as a teacher, assembled by Susanna Von Oettingen. Despite
his shyness, he was very popular with students. Some quotations
from the "Remembrances" are given below.
"He had the keenest eye of any individual,
Professional botanist or otherwise that I've ever met."—Albert
Radford
"He shared his knowledge of Plant
material in a selfless and inspiring way; in brief, he was a
great teacher and a great man."—Joe Pratt
"I have never known a more intelligent
and enthusiastic naturalist than Harry. He had a special way
of expressing his vast knowledge; a shy modest manner."—Sharyn
Goldstein
"To us, he was a teacher not only
of plants, but of life. He captivated us so, and we wanted to
'grow up' to be just like Harry."—Tom Rawinski
The materials used for this page are housed in the archives
of the UNC Herbarium and are used with permission. Other materials
of interest are located in the papers of the
UNC Botany Department in the University Archives.
This page was constructed by Ron Gilmour with
the assistance of Mr. Bill Burk, Mrs. Mary Felton,
Dr. Jim Massey, and Mr. Jim Murphy. Additional information and
corrections are welcome.
  
Curriculum North Carolina UNC
In Ecology Botanical Garden Biology Department
University of North Carolina
Herbarium
CB# 3280, Coker Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280
phone: (919) 962-6931
fax: (919) 962-6930
email: herbarium@bio.unc.edu
Last Updated: 7 June
2004
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