Alice Eastwood
Personal Information
Born: 1859
Died: 1953
Country of Birth: Canada
Nationality: Canadian-American
Ethnicity: White
Education
East Denver High School 1879
"When discussing the plant life of Arches National Park she said, “So distinct, so individual are those blossoms that they seem to have souls. They speak a wonderfully enticing language to draw the wandering insects to their honeyed depths…The bands of color on both divisions of the perianth are bewildering, impossible to describe; but more than aught else, they cause each flower to say proudly, with uplifted head, ‘I am myself; there is no other like me.” (nps.gov); "There is only one reason why I wish I had $1,000,000. The only thing I want that amount of money for is to buy Redwood Park and Mount Tamalpais and present them to the State of California for a public reserve." (nps.gov); "My desire is to help, not to shine." (encyclopedia.com); "
— Alice Eastwood
Professional Life
Field of Study: Botany
Institution/Corporation: California Academy of Sciences (CAS), Grey Herbarium, NY Botanical Garden, the British Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Colorado Biological Association, San Francisco Botanical Club, Tamalpais Conservation Club, American Fuchsia Society, California Botanical Club, the Hill Tribe, the Cross Country Club, California Horticultural Society, California Spring Blossom & Wildflower Association
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1949 Medal of Achievement, American Fuchsia Society
Achievements: credited with building the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) in San Francisco & is credited with saving the academy's type plant collection after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake retrieving 1,497 specimens from the damaged building; published over 310 scientific articles and authored 395 land plant species names; there are seventeen currently recognized species named for her, as well as the genera Eastwoodia and Aliciella; served as editor of the biological journal Zoe and as an assistant editor for Erythea before the 1906 earthquake, and founded a journal, Leaflets of Western Botany (1932–1966), with John Thomas Howell; wrote and published the first book on flora in central Colorado, A Popular Flora of Denver, Colorado, in 1893; helped found the American Fuchsia Society, the Tamalpais Conservation Club, the San Francisco Botanical Club, the California Botanical Club, the California Horticultural Society, & the California Spring Blossom & Wildflower Association
1903 she was one of only two women listed in American Men of Science to be denoted, by a star as among the top 25% of professionals in their discipline
worked to save a redwood grove in Humboldt County, which was later named Alice Eastwood Memorial Grove
fought to preserve Muir Woods National Monument and Mt. Tamalpais State Park as well as many other redwood groves in California
collected over 300,000 specimens in her lifetime
Mother died when she was 6 & father sent her & her sister to live with various relatives & the 2 lived in a Toronto Convent for a while
reunited with father in Denver, CO when she was 14
never went beyond high school, was valedictorian of her class in 1879 & taught at the school for over a decade
was a self-taught botanist
worked at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) from 1891 until retiring in 1949 on her 90th birthday
collected plant specimens in Colorado, the 4 Corners region, Big Sur region, Alaska, Arizona, Utah & Idaho
1959 CAS opened the Eastwood Hall of Botany
her own home & all her possessions with the exception of her Zeiss lens burned to the ground after the 1906 earthquake while she was saving specimens at CAS
often used her own money to fund her collection trips & the purchase of books to restore the collection at CAS
from 1912 to 1949 added approximately 340,000 specimens to the CAS collection, tripling it's size from before the earthquake
enjoyed reading Henry James novels, the Saturday Evening Post & mystery novels, talking about memorable meals she had eaten, & making jellies, preserves & pickles
fashioned the clothing she wore during her specimen hikes making button-down skirts made from heavy denim nightgowns
traveled with minimum gear to enable her to carry home more specimens