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Collectors of the UNC Herbarium
Henry Roland Totten
(1892-1974)
Henry Roland
Totten was born in Matthews, North Carolina on November 6, 1892.
He graduated from the Yadkin Collegiate Institute in 1909 and
received his A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill in 1913. He completed his graduate work under Dr.
William Chambers Coker and promptly joined the Botany Department
as a faculty member, teaching general botany, dendrology, pharmacognosy,
and plant taxonomy.
His name is especially
associated for most people with the woody flora of the southeastern
United States, and his book on this topic (co-authored with Dr.
Coker) is still an excellent guide to the trees in our area.
Dr. Totten also wrote the
section on the Fagaceae (the oak and beech family) for the Manual
of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, a challenging job
in our oak-rich region. |
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A hybrid oak, Quercus totteni,
was named in his honor and a specimen currently grows near the
front entrance to the Totten Center, which houses the offices
of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Dr. Totten was instrumental
in founding the garden and also served as director of the Coker
Arboretum. He died in Chapel Hill on February 9, 1974, only
three weeks after the death of his wife.
Reliquiae Totteniana
Two samples of Dr. Totten's
handwriting are below. One is a letter from Dr. Totten to Alma
Holland Beers, a research assistant in the Botany department.
The other sample is a page from one of Totten's field notebooks,
noting collections of some trees from UNC campus. Both may be
clicked upon to view a larger image.
The manuscript materials on
this page are from the archives of the Herbarium at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and are used with permission.
Further materials are located
in the Coker papers
in the Southern
Historical Collection, Manuscript Department, Wilson Library,
and in the papers of the
UNC Botany Department.
A bibliography
of Totten's theses and publications has been assembled by Rhonda
Teague Rogers and emended by William R. Burk. The best published
source of biographical information on Totten is a memorial piece
which appeared in the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific
Society, vol. 89, pp. 262-263.
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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