Archives and Manuscript Collections
Records of the Laboratory (RG5)
ANNETTE HERVEY RECORDS (1945-1980)
3 linear feet (4 boxes)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Annette
[Hochberg] Hervey (1920-1980) was born in New York City on April 20, 1920.
As a child she lived in the Bronx and attended Evander Childs High School,
where she graduated first in her class in 1936. While at Evander Childs
she was placed in Dr. Leon Hervey's biology class. he encouraged Hervey's
interest in biology and he became a mentor and friend. In December of 1939,
they were married. After high school she was accepted into Barnard College,
where she majored in botany and took classes in bacteriology. She submitted
her thesis The Morphological and Physiological Effects of Bacteria on
Plants in 1940, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in June of that year.
Further encouraged by her husband, Hervey entered Smith College in the
fall of 1940 for her Master' s degree. At Smith she held an appointment
as a teaching fellow and became aquainted with Dr. Harold Rickett of The
New York Botanical Garden. Also at Smith, Hervey pursued mycological and
horticultural studies. In 1942, she was awarded her Master's degree, submitting
a thesis entitled Methods of Separating the Mycelium of Phycomyces blakesleeanus
from the Liquid and Solid Media in the Assay of Thiamin (Vitamin B1).
Upon her return to New York, Annette Hervey entered Columbia University
to begin her doctoral work, where she requested permission to be Dr. William
Robbins' graduate student. Dr. Robbins was the Director of The New York
Botanical Garden, and Chairman of the Department of Botany at Columbia.
While at work on her own dissertation, Hervey published with Dr. Robbins
four scientific papers. Her thesis, A Survey of Basidiomycetes for Anti-bacterial
Activity, was published in 1947 in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical
Club. She was appointed Research Associate in 1947 and three years
later she transferred to the Rockefeller Fund at Columbia University. In
1961 Hervey was promoted to Senior Research Associate.
When Dr. Robbins left the Garden in 1961 to become the Assistant Director
of the National Science Foundation's International Science Activities division,
Rockefeller University had offered him laboratory facilities. Dr. Hervey
received permission from Dr. William Steere, Director of the Garden at
the time, to spend a day or two a week at Rockefeller University, to continue
the research initiated by Dr. Robbins at the Garden. Dr. Hervey was a member
of the adjunct faculty of Rockefeller University (1979) and the partnership
proved beneficial to both institutions.
Dr. Hervey's interests encompassed studies of antibiotic substances
from basidiomycetous fungi; studies of nutritional and developmental characteristics
of certain
fungi and higher plants; and studies with plant tissue culture
and orchids. She also studied and evaluated the use of mineral oil for
preserving the Garden's stock culture collection of microorganisms
During her 37 years at The New York Botanical Garden, Dr. Hervey's involvement
included teaching adult education courses and lecturing to garden clubs,
science clubs, and college biology students. In 1971 she became the Coordinator
of Special Programs in the Education Department.
Dr. Hervey belonged to the AAAS (Fellow), the American Institute of
Biological Sciences, The Mycological Society of America, The Society of
Protozoology, the American Society of Microbiology, the Society for Industrial
Microbiology, and the Tissue Culture Association. She was a lifelong member
of the Torrey Botanical Club, and their corresponding secretary for 20
years. She was elected president of the club in 1978 and served in 1979.
On December 9, 1979, Dr. Annette Hervey was admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital
in New York, where she died on January 28, 1980.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Dr. Hervey carried out research on natural growth substances in several
fungi. Her research includes tissue-culture experiments and the antibacterial
action and nutritional requirements of fungi. Her work included the evaluation
of the mineral oil technique in preserving the stock culture collection
of microorganisms and proved to be a successful method of long-term preservation.
She collaborated with Dr. William Robbins until his death in 1978;as a
result, their correspondence and research notebooks are mingled. The correspondence
files include her scientific correspondence as a Research Associate, as
well as her administrative correspondence as the Coordinator of Special
Programs for the Education Department. Records include her laboratory notebooks
from 1945 to 1947--before her appointment as research assistant--and her
thesis dated 1947, although the bulk of the records represent her work
as an employee at The New York Botanical Garden from 1947 until her death.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1: Correspondence
Series 2: New York Botanical Garden Administrative Papers
Series 3: Associations
Series 4: Research Notes and Laboratory Notebooks
Series 5: Grant Records
Series 6: Photographic Material
Series 1 Correspondence, 1959-1980
7 lin. in. Arranged chronologically.
This series includes correspondence pertaining to Hervey's research
on antibacterial action on fungi, normal and abnormal plant growth, tissue
culture from higher plants, toxicity of water stored in polyethylene bottles,
and coleus and orchid research, as well as the letters from the general
public inquiring about the Education Department services or culture samples.
Prominent correspondents include Joshua Lederberg, President of Rockefeller
University, and Richard Goodwin, President of the Conservation and
Research Foundation.
Series 2 New York Botanical Garden Administrative
Papers
1.5 lin. in.
Included in this series are annual reports for the years 1959-1980,
documenting the research Dr. Hervey oversaw in the Laboratories, budget
reports, account information, internal memoranda and correspondence about
tenure.
Series 3 Associations
0.75 lin. in.
Dr. Hervey belonged to numerous professional associations, and this
series contains correspondence and membership information on associations
and organizations including the Botanical Society of America, the Mycological
Society of America, the First International Congress, the Tissue Culture
Association, and the Torrey Botanical Club.
Series 4 Research Notes and Laboratory Notebooks
1.5 lin. ft.
Included in this series are research notes on the following: Morchella;
investigations on unique collections of fungi cultivated as a major food
source for some species of leaf-cutting ants; fungi being screened for
antibiotic activity; problems relating to the improvement and survival
of the orchid collections; research on coleus; and experiments on normal
and abnormal growth of plants, including tumors.
Series 5 Grant Records
3 lin. in.
Grant proposals and reviewers' comments from the National Science Foundation
and the American Philosophical Society are contained in this series. Includes
proposals to investigate
Series 6 Photographic Material
10 lin. in.
Series 6 comprises 35mm slides of higher plants, fungi, and, in particular,
Bryophyllum alcineum. Most slides are unidentified and unarranged.
PROVENANCE NOTE
Records were transferred from the Laboratory to the archives by Bernice
(Bunny) Winkler, Dr. Hervey's secretary.
RELATED COLLECTIONS
The New York Botanical Garden
RG5 Records of William Robbins
RG5 Records of Alma Barksdale
RG3 Records of the Director in Chief, William Robbins
Processed January 1999 by Susan Fraser.
For more information and a complete description contact:
Susan Fraser, NYBG
Archivist
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, NY 10458-5126
(718) 817-8879
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