Paul Bigelow Sears Collection,1832-1969 (bulk 1930-1966)
MS 455
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Paul Bigelow Sears Collection,1832-1969 (bulk 1930-1966)
MS 455
Collection Number: MS 455
Creator:
Sears, Paul B. (Paul Bigelow), 1891-1990
Title:
Paul Bigelow Sears Collection
Inclusive Dates:
1832-1969
Bulk Dates:
1930-1966 (bulk)
Quantity:
6.5 Linear Feet
Abstract:
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, grant proposals, reports, photographs,
subject files, field notes, pollen samples and data relating to desert ecology which document Paul Sear's career as a botanist,
ecologist and educator. The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence between Sears and other researchers.
Ecology was the central interest of Paul B. Sears' professional life. Understanding an ecosystem includes understanding
its history. Sears used pollen analysis data of bog sediments as a tool, as a means to reconstruct past vegetation and to
infer climate which is included in this collection.
Identification:
Collection Number: MS 455
Language:
English.
Repository:
Special Collections, University Libraries
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
Biographical Note
Paul Bigelow Sears, educator, botanist, ecologist and conservationist was born on December 17, 1891, in Bucyrus, Ohio, to
Rufus Victor and Sallie Harris Sears. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University, receiving a B.S. degree in 1913 and a B.A.
in 1914. From there he went to the University of Nebraska and received an M.A. in 1915, after which he studied at the
University of Chicago, earning his Ph.D. in botany in 1922. Sears married Marjorie Lea McCutcheon on June 22, 1917, and
served in the United States Army from 1917-1918. The Sears’ had three children, Paul McCutcheon, Catherine Louise (Mrs. Arthur Frazer),
and Sallie Harris Sears.
Sears began his teaching career as an instructor in botany at Ohio State University (1915-1919). He then served as assistant and
associate professor of botany at the University of Nebraska (1919-1927). From 1928 to 1938 Sears taught at the University of Oklahoma
and was head of the Botany Department. He also served as a botanist for the State Biological Survey of Oklahoma. His books from these
years presented issues in the study of ecology to the public. These included Deserts On The March (1935), for which Sears received
a Book of the Month award, This Is Our World (1937), and Who Are These Americans (1939). Sears also produced ecology study guides and
textbooks for science teachers and their students.
From 1938 until 1950, Sears served as professor of botany at Oberlin College. In Ohio, Sears was active in local conservation groups
and was instrumental in the founding of Friends of the Land in Ohio. In 1946 he was named to the Ohio Conservation Commission and worked
to create an Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Sears was also active in the Ecological Society of America and was elected president
of the society in 1948.
In 1950 Sears was named professor of conservation and chairman of the Conservation Program at Yale University. The Conservation Program
at Yale was the country's first graduate program in the conservation of natural resources. From 1953 - 1955 Sears also served as chairman
of the Plant Science Department at Yale. In 1952 Sears received the Conservation medal from the Garden Club of America and in 1956 he
was named Eminent Botanist by the Botanical Society of America. Sears served as president of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (1956), Sigma Xi national lecturer (1956), chairman of the board the National Audubon Society (1956-1959), and president of
the American Society of Naturalists (1959). From 1958 - 1964, Sears was a member of the National Science Board and from 1959 - 1972 he
served on the Plowshare Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1960 Sears retired from Yale and was named professor emeritus. Subsequently he served as visiting professor in the Tom Wallace Chair
of Conservation at the University of Louisville and was a visiting faculty member at the University of Hawaii, Carleton College, Wake
Forest College, and the University of Southern Illinois. From 1963 - 1965 Sears chaired the commission on science education of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1965 Sears was named Eminent Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America.
During the decade of the 1960s Sears published Where There Is Life (1962), The Living Landscape (1966), and Lands Beyond the Forest
(1969), as well as writing articles of technical and general interest on applied ecology.
Paul B. Sears, perhaps more than any other person, epitomized American plant ecology. In a professional career spanning almost 7
decades, he made major contributions to vegetation mapping, paleoecology and Pleistocene history, vegetation studies, conservation,
human ecology and our use of land; and particularly, the varied roles of scientists in modern society. He was one of the most respected
and honored ecologists in North America. He died in the medical center at Plaza de Retiro in Taos , New Mexico on April 30, 1990.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, grant proposals, reports, photographs, subject files, field notes, pollen
samples and data relating to desert ecology which document Paul Sear's career as a botanist, ecologist and educator. The bulk of the
collection is comprised of correspondence between Sears and other researchers. The collection also includes research reports and
manuscripts written by Sears and other researchers; activity files of various meetings and conferences attended by Sears and field
notes of peat and pollen data collected and analyzed in different states, Mexico and Canada.
This series is subdivided alphabetically by outgoing, incoming and other correspondence. It contains letters to and from
Paul Sears and letters regarding Paul Sears written by others.
This series contains written reports and publications by Paul Sears regarding his research and studies on pollen, palynology, climatic changes and plant ecology.
box
folder
3
25
Bog Formation (Moor–Bildung) in Mexico, undated
3
26
Botany - Plant Ecology, undated
3
27
Climatic Changes in the Basin of Mexico, July 4, 1955
3
28
Constructive Evidence of Climatic Change in the Prairie States, undated
3
29
Euphorbia Marginata, undated
3
30
Evidences of Recent Climatic Changes in Arkansas, undated
3
31
Determination of World Plant Formations from Simple Climatic Data April 1, 1934
3
32
Evidences of Climatic Changes in Oklahoma, undated
3
33
The Green World of Charles Darwin, August 24, 1959
3
35
Literature, undated
3
36
NRC Committee on Paleobotany 1952-1953
3
37
Paleobotanical Publications, 1961
3
38
Palynologie Report, July 31, 1959
3
39
Palynology in North America – A Current Report, 1961
3
40
Palynology in Southern North America II-V, undated
3
41
Plenary Sessions of Palynologists at the 8th International Congress of Botany, Paris, 2-14 July, 1954
3
42
Pollen and Spore Circular No. 13 December 1946
3
43
Pollen Spectra Associated with the Madison County Mastodon Site, undated
3
44
Pollens Frequent in Post Wisconsin Bogs undated
3
45
A Preliminary Report on Fossil Pollen of the Pleistocene in Mexico and New Mexico, undated
3
46
Report on the Ecology of Door Peninsula, Wisconsin, undated
This series is subdivided by geographic locations, subjects, activity files, people and field notes.
All but field notes are arranged alphabetically. Field notes are arranged chronologically. It contains pollen
analysis, pollen and bog counts, reports written by researchers, conferences and meetings attended by Paul Sears
and field notebooks containing pollen data.
