BENJAMIN CARROLL THARP (1885–1964) REMEMBERING A
NUMBER 13GRAHAM: B. C. THARPBENJAMIN CARROLL THARP (1885–1964)REMEMBERING A LIFE FASHIONED OFEVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCEAlan GrahamMissouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0299.Alan.Graham@mobot.orgAbstract: Benjamin Carroll Tharp was a legendary Texas botanist who madefundamental contributions to understanding the vegetation of the state and todeveloping the University of Texas Herbarium. His publications in the early and middle1900s were used by numerous writers and artists in the southwest, and throughout hiscareer he contributed generously to students and colleagues needing field collections forteaching and research. Later, however, he became caught up in the changing trends inbotany that shifted staffing, administration, and departmental emphasis away fromdescriptive field studies and more toward laboratory and experimental research andnewer methodologies. He was also concerned in later years with completing a lengthytreatise on soil-vegetation relationships and soil development in non-glaciated regions.The result of these many factors was a complex individual with deep feelings for hisnative state and great respect for those studying its natural history. He also harboredresentments and anxieties manifested as a stoic personality easily interpreted as bitterand even angry. He was all of these but for those closest to him he was admired for hisdeep reservoir of knowledge about plants which he shared generously with thosedevoted to Texas and its vegetation.Keywords: B. C. Tharp, Texas, vegetation, natural history.When Captain H. Malcolm Macdonald,U. S. Navy (Ret.), and Professor of Government at The University of Texas, Austinwalked in with his characteristic militarybearing to American Government 610 in theSummer of 1954 he perused the class rosterand said, ‘‘Where’s Graham’’? I raised myhand and he said, ‘‘Good. Macdonald,Graham, and Tharp- the Scots have thingswell in hand.’’ This was my first indicationthat the elderly, rather dour professor seenin the Biology Laboratories Building waswell-known outside the Botany Department.But well-known he was—to the Klebergs ofthe famed King Ranch and historian TomLea, author of The King Ranch (1957) whosent Tharp a special-bound set of booksacknowledging his work on grasses (p. 750);legendary Texas naturalist Roy Bedichek(Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, 1947);folklorist J. Frank Dobie (A Vaquero of theBrush Country, 1928; Coronado’s Children,1930; The Longhorns, 1941); Texas wildflower specialist Eula Whitehouse (Texas FlowersLUNDELLIA 13:3–9. 2010in Natural Color, 1936); and prolific shortstory writer O. Henry (The Heart of the West,1907; A Chaparral Christmas Gift, 1910). Allof these authors and artists drew on theextensive knowledge and writings of B. C.Tharp, known as the ‘Father of TexasEcology’. He was a member of Phi BetaKappa often referring to it as ‘an organization often maligned by those not involved’, alife member of the Texas Academy ofScience, and Vice-Dean of the College ofArts and Sciences (1928–1934). He was onthe board of the Austin Bank and a friend ofexecutives of the Humble Oil and RefiningCompany (now Exxon). He was also aparticipant while still a graduate student,with geologists from the Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology and the associated legal consul in the border disputebetween Texas and Oklahoma. The casewas argued before the U. S. Supreme Courtduring its October term in 1919, and theruling was handed down on January 15,1923 (Sellards et al., 1923). The boundary3
4LUNDELLIAFIG. 1. Benjamin Carroll Tharp from aphotograph taken by the author at the BiologyLaboratories Building, University of Texas, Austin, in 1961.had been set at the mid-channel of the RedRiver and the contention was that the riverhad been eroding its way northward. Theissue became important as oil in theunderlying strata became increasingly valuable. Professor Tharp enjoyed recountingthat expert witnesses for Oklahoma testifiedthat trees in the channel were all youngindicating the river could have had beenmoving north. ‘Not being blessed with thegift of determining the age of a tree bylooking at the bark, I had some of them felledand they were much older than the date ofthe treaty’, so there was no way the channelhad been eroding north to the benefit ofTexas and at the expense of Oklahoma.After he died a number of articlesappeared recounting his professional accomplishments and the facts and figures of along, eclectic life (Whaley, 1965; Turner,2008; Handbook of Texas Online; Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; Anonymous,1971). Benjamin Carroll Tharp (Fig. 1) wasborn in Pankey, Grimes County, Texas,about 100 miles east of Austin, on NovemberDECEMBER, 201016, 1885 the son of Edwin and Angelina(McJunkin) Tharp. He attended Sam Houston Normal Institute, Huntsville (1908–1910; now Sam Houston State University)and The University of Texas, Austin (B.A.,1914; M. A., 1915; Ph.D., 1925). He workedas a plant pathologist in the Texas Department of Agriculture (1915–1917), AssociateProfessor of Biology at Sam HoustonNormal Institute (1917–1919), Instructorin Botany at the University of Texas(1919), then Associate Professor (1925), FullProfessor (1933–1956), and Director of theHerbarium (1943–1956). Among his principal publications are Structure of TexasVegetation East of the 98th Meridian (1926),The Vegetation of Texas (1939), Texas RangeGrasses (1952), and co-editor (1962) withChester V. Kielman of Mary Sophie Young’sJournal of Botanical Explorations in TransPecos Texas, August–September, 1914. In1942 John Potzger of Butler University,Indianapolis, Indiana wrote to ProfessorTharp inquiring if there were any peatdeposits in Texas suitable for spore andpollen analysis. By this technique Potzgerhoped to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation of this area far south of the glacialboundary. Tharp located and cored thePatschke (Lee County), Gause (MilamCounty), and Franklin (Robertson County)bogs and sent the material to Potzger whodid the analyses. The results were publishedby Potzger and Tharp (1943, 1947, 1954).This litany of biographic data is usefulas a historical record of a professional lifebut it fails to reveal the human side of aprominent, complex person living at apivotal time in American higher education,and one shaped particularly by changingdirections at The University of Texas aroundthe 1950s. By way of explanation inrecounting the more personal side of hisprofessional life, I should note that ourassociation began near the end of mysophomore year at Texas in 1954, continuedthrough my Master’s degree in 1958, andthrough occasional correspondence andvisits until his death in 1964. During that
NUMBER 13time I took his two courses in the Vegetationof Texas (1955, 1956) and in Plant Ecology(1956) that included travel across centralTexas on field trips in his well-worn Dodgeautomobile, and frequently beyond onweekends for extra collecting. As a sideproject in the room next to ProfessorTharp’s office I also began tracing overlaysof vegetation and geology maps onto a statehighway map that allowed us to track thegeologic and plant formations as we traveledalong the road. He became interested in thecomposite map as it emerged, and evensuggested it be continued as part of aMaster’s Degree. The idea was to use thevery large aerial photographic map of Texasmounted on the wall of the Texas MemorialMuseum on Red River Street as the basemap for a broader synthesis. It would haverequired scaffolding and 3-D stereopticonglasses to prepare a detailed vegetation/geologic outcrop/physiographic map andaccompanying text for the state. To asophomore the project had an appealingMichelangelo-ish ring to it and in hindsightit might have proved useful for periodicallytracking changes in vegetation and detectingtheir causes. Chairman W. Gordon Whaleyeven mentioned, in Tharp’s presence, that itcould be worthwhile if we used ‘a moderntaxonomy’ by which he meant that of BillieTurner as opposed to that of Tharp.However, two things argued against it. Onewas that directions in botany were changingand it was apparent that such a descriptivecompilation would serve primarily as training for preparing a never-ending series ofsimilar maps. The other was Billie Turner’ssuggestion that the new field of palynologymight be interesting, and so it has been.Even with this change in thesis topics,however, Professor Tharp continued hissupport that proved of inestimable value incompleting the project (see later section). In1955 I set up a primitive palynology‘laboratory’ on the fourth floor of theBiology Laboratories Building where theherbarium was located. The laboratory andmy desk were located in a corner of theGRAHAM: B. C. THARPtaxonomy classroom at the vortex betweenthe offices of legendary B. C. Tharp, theformidably focused and impressively knowledgeable doctoral student Marshall C. Johnson, and the soon-to-be legendary B. L.Turner who was often in the herbariumacross the hall. As one of the few undergraduate botany majors at Texas at the time,and perhaps the only sophomore focused ontaxonomy and natural history, I became asurrogate student of Tharp. In part this wasbecause I treated him with the deference heexpected, especially from a student, and itwas obvious that to do otherwise couldprovoke a good scorching. It was fromconversations between 1954 and 1958 thatsome direct revelations, as well as hints andimpressions, provided insight into Tharp’sattitudes and feelings. He made no secret ofhis opinions and all the views recountedhere involving others were public knowledgeaccording to my best recollections. An effortwas made to locate his correspondence andwritings but almost none of it is cataloguedat The University of Texas. He had a son, B.Carroll Tharp (deceased), an architect in thefirm of Koetter, Tharp, and Cowell inHouston, but the firm is no longer in business.On June 1, 1971 the son wrote to me stating:‘‘For several years, I have attempted towork with the University of Texas toarrange for the publishing of a book whichmy father was writing at the time of hisdeath. Due to many circumstances, I havebeen unsuccessful in this effort and in lieuof publishing the book, my wife and I havepurchased forty-two acres in San JacintoCounty which we propose to dedicate toDr. Tharp as a wilderness area. Theproperty is located only a mile and a halffrom the shores of Lake Livingston, andone side of the property is bordered by aspring-fed creek. The land is partly openand partly wooded, the trees consisting ofoaks, pines, magnolias, redbuds anddogwoods. We will plant wild flowers inthe open field and hope to construct asmall lake on the hillside. In the future, a5
6LUNDELLIAsmall museum will be built to house someof my father’s books, slides, manuscriptsand other mementos. As we accumulatethem, other small trees that are native tothis region will be planted, and we like tothink of this as becoming a livingmemorial to him.’’The wilderness area and museum wereapparently never built. The papers may be inpossession of the family but the two childrenof B. Carroll Tharp could not be located.In later life Professor Tharp presented anair of someone bitter, even angry with thecourse of events in the Department. It was hisexpectation that anyone in botany at Texasshould know something about Texas botany.There may have been also a subliminal feelingthat this knowledge involving an area soextensive and so diverse would be broadestand felt deepest by lifelong, native residentseducated in the state—a fading mark of the‘Texas mystique’. His interests were exclusivelywithin the state and one manifestation of thiswas the minimum time he spent on obtainingexchange material sent to herbaria elsewhere.In his later years he would often strip a fewtwigs from trees around the pond behind theBiology Laboratories Building, hand-write alabel, and mail them off. There was anexpectation, honed by some precedent at thetime, that diligence, accomplishments thatgave him prominent status among his localpeers, his administrative experience, seniority,and an exemplary personal life meeting thehighest of southern standards (Baptist, Deacon, Mason, and Democrat) would mark himfor leadership of the Department of Botany atThe University of Texas.However, two global events changed thebalance between research and teaching, andgraduate and undergraduate education inmany large American Universities. One wasthat with the end of World War II in 1945considerable resources were becoming available for domestic purposes. Then, onOctober 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launchedthe satellite Sputnik, intensifying the ColdWar and establishing Russia as a majorDECEMBER, 2010player and a dangerous competitor in worldpolitics. The response in the United Stateswas partly altruistic in that there was anationalistic desire to keep pace with aforeign challenger. It was also partly economic in anticipation of the vast amounts offederal money that would become availablefor research. The greatest need was formodern, technologically innovative research,and much less attention was given todescriptive natural history. With the benefitsof newly available resources, and the need toupgrade science, the Botany Department atTexas began hiring individuals that were ananathema to the likes of Benjamin CarrollTharp—W. Gordon Whaley (Ph.D., Columbia University, Chairman at Texas, 1949–1962); Harold C. Bold (PhD, ColombiaUniversity, 1957–1978); Charles Heimsch(PhD, Harvard University, 1947–1959); andIrwin Spear (PhD, Harvard University,1953–1994). In public Tharp maintained aseething politeness to Whaley, Bold, andHeimsch, but both in public and in privatehe could not abide Irwin Spear perhapsbecause he was a further anathema to anold-guard natural historian of the era- aphysiologist. He liked Ralph Alston (BotanyDepartment between 1956 and 1967), as didmost everyone else (Graham, 1999, p. 307),but he still belonged to a category of recentappointees whose research and its relevancyto Texas botany was a mystery to Tharp. Hedid not have anything critical to say aboutBillie Turner even though he was the newtaxonomist and Director of the Herbarium.He thought Billie didn’t know enough localplant species names, and I suspect Billiethought many of those Tharp knew werewrong or outdated. In the plant taxonomyclasses Tharp’s goal was to have studentsrecognize as many plants as possible. I recallBillie’s view was that family characteristics,relationships, speciation processes, andemerging methodologies in taxonomy weremore important than memorizing namesthat could be found in the literature. Tharpmused whether Larry McCart was deliberately slowing the mounting of the Silveus
NUMBER 13Grass Collection to prolong employment,and if the enigmatic Lloyd Shinners wouldever complete the Spring Flora of the DallasFort Worth Area, Texas (1958; Ginsburg,2002). These and other concerns wereexpressed during mid-morning tea breaksin the herbarium or on field trips whilesitting under live oaks on the limestoneoutcrops (motts) of central Texas, or onpark benches under the ‘lost’ pines nearBastrop. His views were admirably restrained on other occasions, as when wetook Harold Bold to collect Isoetes atEnchanted Rock.Another of Tharp’s concerns was completing the book he had been working on forseveral years dealing with the relationshipbetween vegetation, geologic formations,and soil, and with soil genesis in periglacialregions (viz., beyond the glacial boundary).He had suffered one heart attack and wasaware that time was running out. It becameapparent in Plant Ecology that a principalaim of the plant taxonomy courses was toprovide the background for recognizingplants that demonstrated the relationshipbetween geologic formations, soils, andvegetation. Numerous examples were pointed out on the ecology field trips where asharp ecotone existed at the contact betweentwo geologi
BENJAMIN CARROLL THARP (1885–1964) REMEMBERING A LIFE FASHIONED OF EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCE Alan Graham Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0299. Alan.Graham@mobot.org Abstract: Benjamin Carroll Tharp
quality of professional development. The Professional Development in Reading Observation (PDRO) Tool—We started with the idea that effective profes-sional development is a specialized form of adult learning, and precepts of effective teaching should apply. Tharp and col-leagues (Tharp, 1997; Tharp, Estrada, Dalton, & Yamauchi,
pen name, Lewis Carroll, and continued to contribute stories and poems to a local paper. "Lewis Carroll." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. Portrait of Lewis Carroll: This was first published in Carroll
the determining periods of indian history panikkar k m b.v.b. 1964 954 a visit to japan tagore rabindra nath 1964 912 mahayogi shri aurobindo diwakar r r b.v.b. 1964 920 fundamentals of indian art dasgupta s n b.v.b. 1964 700 fundamental unity of india mookerji r k b.v.b. 1964 320
EASTER Thomas Nelson 19-Mar-1964 20-Mar-1964 4 O EASTER Thomas Nelson 19-Mar-1964 21-Mar-1964 3 FN EASTERDAY Charles F 2-May-1962 2-May-1962 43 O EASTIN Alena Mae (DeVaughn) 3-Jul-1962 3-Jul-1962 5 O EASTMAN Alonzo W 14-Nov-1960 14-Nov-1960 3 O EASTMAN Alonzo W 14-Nov-1960 16-Nov-1960 5
suggest you read Van Tharp’s Definitive Guide to Position Sizing Strategies. Much of the subject matter in this post is inspired by the Definitive Guide. Different types of R-multiples “Always define an exit point before you enter a position.” – Van Tharp, Market Wizard
Figure 1. Physiographic diagram of the western Pacific showing the track ofR.V. Thomas Washington cruise ARIES V. Diagram by B. C. Heezen and M. Tharp. Published by the Geological Society of America. Copyright 1971. 430 R/V THOMAS WASHINGTON CRUISE ARIES V RECONNAISSANCE, SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILES Figure 1. (Continued). 431 B. HEEZEN, M. THARP r
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