Eloise Gerry
Personal Information
Born: 1885
Died: 1970
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Radcliffe College BA Chemistry 1908 & MA 1909; University of Wisconsin-Madison PhD Botany & Plant Pathology 1921
""[T]he Forest Service did not want a woman, but as it happened there wasn't any man willing to come and do the work." (foresthistory.org); “The microscope reveals many secrets concerning the activities of the tree in producing turpentine and gives these results more quickly than experimental methods alone,” (research.fs.usda.gov); "The Lab sent me on to New Orleans to the industrial leaders, and the novelty and femininity of a woman thinking she could give advice gained me entree into their inner offices [she was then thirty-one years old]. My letter of introduction was a photomicrograph. "Did you ever see the inside of your trees?" I would ask. 'These are resin ducts!" Oldtimers were intrigued into listening and later into cooperating." (foresthistory.org/wp-content); : "We forget that each day counts, and there are all too few for significant living. That is why one may feel an unexpected 'lift' when, after long hours spent answering a particularly difficult letter (on a foreign species) instead of working on a more tempting project, an acknowledgment arrives: 'Thank you so much; you told us just what we needed to know. We did not realize that such helpful information existed.' "' (foresthistory.org/wp-content); "
— Eloise Gerry
Professional Life
Field of Study: Research Science; Botany
Institution/Corporation: US Forest Service
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Graduate Women in Science; Forest History Society; Forestettes: the National League of American Pen Women; the Madison colony of New England Women; the P.E.O. Sisterhood; Altrusa; Dane County Humane Society; Wisconsin Women's Legislative Council; American Association of University Women; Badger Kennel Club; State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Delta Epsilon; Sigma Xi; American Chemical Society; American Forestry Association; Society of American Foresters; International Association of Wood Anatomists; American Association for the Advancement of Science
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2022 inducted into the Southeastern Society of American Foresters-State House Hall of Fame (was the 1st & only woman granted this honor);
Achievements: studied southern pine trees & turpentine production; successfully developed methods to increase the yield & prolong the life of working trees; developed a program of "More turpentine, less scar, better pine"; during WWII wrote FPL wartime publications on defects in wood used for trainer aircraft and gliders; 1935 edited the comprehensive Naval Stores Handbook (201-pages) and contributed chapters on wood structure, physiology, and foreign naval stores production; breeder of Basenji's
one of the 1st women in the US to specialize in forest product research
first woman appointed to the professional staff of the U.S. Forest Service at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL)
began working for US Forest Service in 1910 as a research scientist
retired in 1954 after 44 years with the US Forest Service
she spent her time improving methods to produce military supplies for World Wars I and II, writing stories for children, publishing more than 120 articles in technical and trade journals, and as an avid home gardener and local kennel club member
always signed her full name, rather than using a single first initial, so that it was clear she was a woman
in college she specialized in the anatomy of wood and trees and their physiological responses
during WWII she shared in an investigation of Douglas-fir bark to determine whether it could be a source of cork, because traditional sources from North Africa and southern Europe were curtailed
was an international expert on properties of commercially used species of foreign woods
1933 she was the only woman of FPL's staff to participate in the first radio broadcast from the lab on a national hookup, a part of the National Farm and Home Hour
began raising Basenji's in 1942
was an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin as well as a member of the Forest Products staff
initially hired as a microscopist her job was to catalog the anatomical features of wood species that were sent to the lab
1916 initiated her own research into saving the pine tree population of the American South
left the majority of her estate to Graduate Women in Science, an organization which provides funding/fellowships for women in science
she showed that the lumber industry was cutting down trees at an unsustainable rate and her research helped to preserve local ecosystems and stabilize the pine-related turpentine industry by enabling more productive and longer-lived trees