Otto Degener records
Scope and Contents
The Otto Degener records consist entirely of correspondence ranging from his student years at the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) in the late 1910's up to the time of his death in January 1988. There are no Degener field notebooks in the collections of the NYBG. In 1968, Dr. Degener began to deposit his papers with the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, beginning with his earliest correspondence from 1915. From 1973 on he began to send everything to the NYBG Archives instead. Both depository arrangements included the provision that Xeroxes of the correspondence were to be sent back to the Degeners and the originals were to be retained by each institution. Thus, this collection has a complete set of papers with the addition of these early Hunt Institute Xeroxes from Dr. Degener.
Some original illustrations done for Degener publications were also found with these papers but they have been removed from the archives and added to the NYBG Botanical Art Collection.
A related notebook of dried Hawaiian seaweed specimens collected in 1954 for reference use can be found in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library exsiccatae collections.
Dates
- 1920 - 1987
Biographical / Historical
Otto Degener, a systematic botanist and conservationist, is recognized as the authority on the flora of the Hawaiian Islands and was one of the first to awaken the public to the need to conserve the native habitats which were being lost to alien species and rampant development.
Born in Orange, New Jersey in 1899, Dr. Degener received his M.S. from the University of Hawaii in 1923 and his PhD from Columbia University, where he studied under N. L. Britton, P. A. Rydberg and R.A. Harper. Moving to Hawaii in 1922, he taught botany at the University of Hawaii from 1925 to 1927 and in 1929 was appointed the first naturalist for Hawaii National Park. He was appointed Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany by the NYBG in 1935 and was associated with the NYBG until his death in 1988.
He published the first fascicle of his great work the Flora Hawaiiensis in 1932. This was the first such flora published since that of William Hillebrand of 1888. The Hillebrand specimens were deposited in Berlin and subsequently most were lost during WW2. During his lifetime, Dr. Degener managed to collect over 36,000 different species and preserve some 900 threatened and endangered plants. Without question, his herbarium was the largest and finest collection of Hawaiian Island specimens in existence. The cream of his specimens are now in the herbarium of the NYBG. While collecting in Fiji in 1942, he discovered an unknown tree which was named after him, Degeneria vitiensis. This very important tree is part of the newly established family of angiosperms called Degeneriaceae and is the missing link between the angiosperms and the gymnosperms.
On a trip to Berlin in 1952 seeking to consult a grass specialist, Dr. Degener met and married that specialist. Dr. Isa Degener, a taxonomic botanist who studied at the University of Berlin and worked as an assistant to Drs. Hermann Otto Sleumer and Erich Werdermann, was to become her husband's lifelong collaborator. Mrs. Isa Degener was appointed Honorary Collaborator of Hawaiian Botany in 1975. Collectively they would author ten books and over 400 journal articles.
Dr. Degener received several distinguished honors during his lifetime including the NYBG Distinguished Service Award. In 1962 he was a recipient of the Linnaeus Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and in 1979 he was awarded the Willdenow Medal from the Berlin Botanic Garden. Also in 1979, The Senate of the State of Hawaii issued a resolution of commendation citing the outstanding conservation efforts of the Degeners.
Extent
11.4 Linear Feet (11 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Other Finding Aids
- Title
- Otto Degener records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Stephen Sinon
- Date
- December 1999
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Originally processed by Stephen Sinon, Assistant Archivist, December 1999. Converted to EAD in October 2006 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH-PA 50678-04).
Revision Statements
- October 2006: Converted to EAD by Kathleene Konkle.
Repository Details
Part of the New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Archives Repository
New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Library
2900 Southern Boulevard
Bronx NY 10458 United States
ssinon@nybg.org