History

The Colorado State University Herbarium was probably first established by Dr. James Cassidy in 1883, the year he became Professor of Botany & Horticulture. A number of collections made by him are in the herbarium and the 1888-1889 College Catalog indicated the availability of "A Herbarium of native and foreign plants . . . for study.". Dr. Cassidy was succeeded by Dr. Charles S. Crandall. Dr. Crandall spent a considerable amount of fieldwork collecting specimens of native and naturalized plants. Some of his original collections are in the CSU Herbarium and many duplicates (including some by Cassidy) are in the Rocky Mountain Herbarium (University of Wyoming)(RM) and the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. Several native species were first discovered by both Cassidy and Crandall and were described in the literature by either them or by other Botanists.

From 1895 to 1898, Jacob Cowan, a post-graduate student, served as Dr. Crandall's assistant and aided in the early surveys of poorly known regions of the state. The collections made by Cassidy, Crandall, and Cowan became the focus of an intensive effort by Dr. Per Axel Rydberg of the New York Botanical Garden in the preparation of the first manual of vascular plants in Colorado (Flora of Colorado, 1906, Agricultural Experimental Station Bulletin 100). In the preface to the latter, Dr. L. G. Carpenter, Director of the Experiment Station, wrote "that while our own collection numbered about 1400 plants, this Flora includes 2912 [species]." This suggests that the herbarium collections numbered at least 1400 by 1905.

By 1924, the herbarium included over 14,000 specimens, and by 1929, the size was estimated at about 20,000 specimens. The most notable contributors to the herbarium's collections during the 1930's and 1940's were Dr. E. C. Smith and his successor, Dr. Harold D. Harrington. By the late 1940's, the herbarium included approximately 40,000 specimens, which formed the basis for Harrington's Manual of the Plants of Colorado, published in 1954. At the time of publication, 2794 species of vascular plants were known to occur in Colorado, but a number of regions in the state remained very poorly known or explored.

Relatively few specimens were accessioned during the 1950's and 1960's. In 1964 and 1965, under direction by Dr. William Klein, the herbarium was reorganized and many duplicate collections were transferred to herbaria at other institutions, including the New York Botanical Garden and Rancho Santa Botanic Garden (Claremont Graduate School, California). When Dr. Klein resigned as Professor and Curator ex officio in 1972, the herbarium included 44,315 specimens. In 1973, Dr. Dieter Wilken assumed responsibility for curation of the herbarium. Beginning in 1981, the herbarium has been a major depository (with the University of Colorado Museum) of collections made by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, The Nature Conservancy, the Colorado Natural Areas Program, and the National Park Service units in Colorado.

Dr. David A. Steingraeber was the acting curator during the time periods of 1990 - 1992 when D. Wilken took a leave of absence and 1993 - 1995 after D. Wilken moved to Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. In 1995, Dr. Jun Wen was appointed as the curator of the herbarium.
[This section was taken largely from "A brief history of the Colorado State University Herbarium" by H.D. Harrington in 1980, revised by D. Wilken in 1990.