Early Development of Wood Collection
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A day after the formal opening of the Forest Products Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, in June 1910, Eloise Gerry reported to work and the wood anatomy unit, along with the wood collection at Madison (MADw), was born. Gerry was specifically hired to prepare microscope slides and photomicrographs for wood anatomical study. She held both bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University's Radcliffe College for women and was hired because of her experience in wood anatomy and tree physiology. Her master's thesis was entitled Distribution of "Bars of Sanio" in the Coniferales. In her personal notes (Gerry 1961), Gerry states, "I must admit the Forest Service did not want a woman, but as it happened there wasn't any man willing to come and do the work." Her statement reflects some of the politics at the time, but this did not stop Gerry, the first female scientist in the Forest Service. (For more information, see Nelson 1971.)
The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) did not have a wood collection nor did it have much equipment for wood anatomy research. In the summer of 1910, the University of Wisconsin provided a microscope and quarters in Science Hall for Gerry, and she borrowed a microtome from Edward C. Jeffery, her major professor at Harvard. Initially, most samples came from expositions and fairs as well as a small collection brought to FPL by Harry Tiemann, Gerry's first supervisor and head of the Timber Physics section. Although some of these samples are still in the FPL collection, if there was herbarium material documentation associated with them, it has since been lost or at least disassociated from the wood samples. Collectors listed on some of these early samples include C. D. Mell, co-author with S. J. Record of the Timbers of Tropical America (1924), George Sudworth, Dendrologist for the Forest Service, and others who were apparently foresters working on the national forests.
In 1914, Arthur Koehler (Fig. 2) joined the Timber Physics unit at FPL to handle wood identifications. He had entered the Forest Service in Washington, D.C., in 1911 with a new bachelor of forestry degree from the University of Michigan. When Koehler arrived at FPL, he brought a small wood collection in beautiful walnut cabinets that he had maintained in Washington. This may have been part of Tiemann's collection since Tiemann was also in Washington at that time, and records suggest that Tiemann maintained a collection there as early as 1910.
In 1920, Koehler was made head of a new FPL division, Wood Technology, which almost became a division of biological science because of strong feelings that a closer relationship should be developed between the living forest and wood products. At this time, the FPL wood collection was still in its infancy and perhaps only a few thousand samples had been accumulated. Most of these samples were native woods, and only a small percentage were tropical in origin.
In early 1945, Bohumil Francis Kukachka (Fig. 3), known as Kuky by
nearly everyone, accepted the position of wood anatomist after
earning his bachelor of science degree in 1937 and doctorate degree
in 1942 in wood technology from the University of Minnesota. His
Ph.D. thesis was entitled Systematic Anatomy of the Woods of the
Tiliaceae (Kukachka 1944). Kukachka began his career at FPL on August
18, 1945 (Miller and Mori 1984).
Reorganization of Collection