Katherine Esau (1898–1997) papers,
1946 and n.d.

Katherine Esau (1898–1997), XI International Botanical Congress, Seattle, Washington, August 1969, 18 × 12.5 cm, photograph by William L. Stern, HI Archives portrait no. 2.

Biographical Note

Pioneering plant anatomist Katherine Esau (1898–1997) was a professor of botany at the University of California, Davis. Later she conducted research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1989 she received the National Medal of Science for her work on plant anatomy.

Scope and Contents Note

This collection includes the correspondence (four letters, 1946) of Esau and Gilbert M. Smith (1885–1959) of Stanford University, concerning a possible arrangement between them for a book on the morphology of angiosperms, based on Esau's revisions of Smith's notes. The book that did result was Esau's Plant Anatomy (New York, Wiley, 1953). The collection also contains undated notes (6 typescript pages) on morphology.

Administrative Information

This finding aid was created by Nancy L. Janda in 2018 and placed online by J. Dustin Williams in 2018.

Digital Materials Available

This collection was digitized by G. Boardman in 2015.

Contents