(American Journal of Botany. 2006;93:941.)
© 2006 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
From the First Century of the Botanical Society of America into the Second
Judy J. Jernstedt
In this issue we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Botanical Society of America with a special paper by historian of science Prof. Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis of the University of Florida. This article is an abbreviated version of a monograph to be published later this year. As described by Smocovitis and prior authors, choosing 1906 (vs. 1893) as the year of origin of the BSA is somewhat arbitrary, but with the 1906 amalgamation of the taxonomy-oriented first Botanical Society of America with the American Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and the newly founded Mycological Society of America, the new Botanical Society of America for the first time included the full spectrum of botany—taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, physiology, and mycology—which continues in a broadened way to this day.
You may wonder why this centennial paper appears in what is only volume 93 of The American Journal of Botany, and that fact, too, has some interesting history behind it. As Smocovitis describes, the founding of the AJB came about in 1914 as a result of increasing vigor and activity in U.S. botanical research, a growing nationalism, and at least a hint of isolationism, all of which coincided with dire international political events. So, as is to be expected, the BSA and its activities were and continue to be products of the times, influenced by factors far removed from the academic pursuits of the founders and members through the years.
In the cover illustration of this issue, selected from the BSA archives in St. Louis, Missouri, are botanists of the early twentieth century (probably 1916) at their annual banquet (at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, probably in Washington, D.C.). At least two lessons can be drawn from this photograph and the slight uncertainty about its provenance. The first is to label your photographs promptly and completely, and a second is to try to look pleasant when the shutter clicks at this year's banquet for all botanists! Posterity will thank you for both. We hope you will enjoy this brief history and that it will stimulate you to think about how and why the BSA began, where we are now, and what issues, opportunities, and visions can and should influence the Society and how we as members and friends of the BSA can propel our science into the new century.
