The Buffalo Museum of Science has opened access to the Blasdell Collection, a group of plant specimens donated to the museum by Canisius in 1997 following the cessation of the college’s botany program.
The collection consists of more than 5,000 dried and pressed plant specimens, a large portion of which had been personally collected by the late Robert Blasdell, PhD, chair of the biology department and Canisius professor for 30 years. Blasdell was considered an international expert on ferns, particularly the genus “Cystopteris.” The collection contains specimens which were first discovered and identified by Blasdell, and many of those specimens carry his name.
In the Spring 2008 edition of Clintonia: The Magazine of the Niagara Frontier Botanical Society, it is noted that “… [Blasdell] left a legacy in his contribution to the world’s knowledge of ferns; a second legacy to two generations of college students whose lives he touched with his enthusiasm for botany; and a third to the people of WNY in the form of a unique and beautiful collection rich in the flora of Malaysia, India, Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana and Western New York.”
Curation of the collection was accomplished by a dedicated band of volunteers and museum personnel, and included sorting, mounting, repairing and identifying specimens. The Office of Archives and Special Collections has been provided a brief listing of what is contained in the collection. For more information, contact Kathleen DeLaney at Ext. 2916.
Submitted by: Kathleen DeLaney, archivist, archives and special collections
