John Strong Newberry papers

John Strong Newberry (1822-1892) was born in Windsor, Connecticut on 22 December 1822 but lived in Ohio during his boyhood. Like many naturalists of the time, he was self-trained in botany and zoology. He graduated from the Cleveland Medical School in 1848 and traveled to Paris, France to continue medical studies, but he also took courses in botany at the Jardin des Plantes. In the 1850s he accompanied several expeditions and surveys to the American west from which he gained large botanical and geological collections. In 1863 the United States Congress elected him one of fifty original members of the National Academy of Sciences.

In 1866 he accepted a professorship at the School of Mines of Columbia University where he taught geology and botany. Soon after he was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and president of the Lyceum of Natural History (later the New York Academy of Sciences) serving for 30 years. Newberry led the Torrey Botanical Club during the period of its greatest activity and growth. At Columbia, he was the teacher and mentor of the young Nathaniel Lord Britton who served as his personal assistant and succeeded him as Professor of Geology and Botany at Columbia University. Newberry died in New Haven, Connecticut in 1892.