Wendell Holmes Camp (1904-1963)

In 1953, Red Camp, as he was known to all, was appointed chair of the Department of Botany at the University of Connecticut. Soon he became an established figure on campus, especially during the 1956 AIBS meetings in Storrs. He remained as chair for 10 years until his untimely death in 1963 from a brain tumor, gradually building the department on a solid foundation. Additionally he was chair of the building committee responsible for Torrey Life Sciences and extensive (for the times) greenhouses; daily he visited the site as each component was erected.

Red Camp was always available for a lively discussion, he was 'a purveyor of ideas and a challenger of the established order’, e.g. as a proponent of continental drift years before plate tectonics data were well known. He was widely published on subjects ranging from the structure and origin of species to poetry, horticultural nomenclature to economic botany. The George Safford Torrey herbarium has uncovered a number of boxes of ‘Red’ Camp specimens in storage when it moved to the new facility. It is planned in the near future to make these specimens available on-line.


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Collections Manager: Dr. Robert S. Capers
Director: Dr. Don Les