Harold William Rickett records

Harold Rickett was born in England in 1896 and relocated to the United States in 1911. He received his A.B. (1917), M.A. (1920), and PhD. (1922) from the University of Wisconsin, although his first two years of college were at Harvard University. From the Botany faculty of the University of Missouri he moved to the New York Botanical Garden as assistant bibliographer (1939), advancing to bibliographer in 1942. In 1959, he assumed the additional responsibilities of Acting Assistant Directory for Botany.

Dr. Rickett, a delegate to the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth International Botanical Congresses, was deeply concerned in international botanical nomenclature, a member of the editorial board of the International Code for Botanical Nomenclature, and Secretary of the Committee for Spermatophyte since 1956. For this work, he was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation in 1958, and a four year grant in 1960.

In the early 1960s, plans for a botanical work on wild flowers began. At the urging of literary agent Diarmuid C. Russell, the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States was established in April of 1963 with Mrs. David (Peggy) Rockefeller, a member of the Board of Mangers of the NYBG. Mrs. Rockefeller became the committee's chairperson and Mr. Russell its secretary.

The 6-volume Wild Flowers of the United States is a monumental botanical work, written in nontechnical language for the amateur, with each species illustrated in color photographs. Sponsored by the New York Botanical Garden, the project was edited by Dr. William C. Steere, director of the NYBG; written by Dr. Harold Rickett, Senior Botanist; and published by McGraw-Hill Book Company. The six volumes (in fourteen parts and an index) are divided by geographical region. Volume 1: Northeastern states, Volume 2: Southeastern states, Volume 3: Texas, Volume 4: Southwest, Volume 5: Northwest, Volume 6: Rocky Mountains and Great Plains and an Index. The first volume was published in 1966, the final one in 1973.