It was a shock to hear that Acadia University was terminating the position of Collections Manager of the E. C. Smith Herbarium and laying off one of the top Botanists in the Maritimes – Alain Belliveau. Alain has been a presenter to our organization many times and has always been available to offer guidance and expert knowledge to both students and amateur naturalists. He has also been a well regarded instructor of Botany.
The herbarium at Acadia has a long and distinguished history. It began in 1910 and grew to 6,000 specimens which also included a number of ground-breaking specimens from the Gray Herbarium Expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1920 and 1921, led by Merritt Lyndon Fernald, an eminent Harvard University professor and botanist. It then grew extensively with contributions from Dr. Muriel V. Roscoe and her students from 1928-1940 and Dr. H. P. Banks, his students and David Eskine of Wolfville from 1940-1946 .
In 1947 Dr. Ernest C. Smith’s started growing the collection to an impressive 70,000 specimens. In 1970 and in recognition of his unparalleled contributions, Acadia University’s Board of Governors announced that the department’s large collection of plants would be named the E.C. Smith Herbarium.
In 1972, Dr. Sam Vander Kloet became the next Curator of the E.C. Smith Herbarium followed by Ruth Newell as Curator and Dr. Rodger Evans as Director in 1979. Ruth collected well over a thousand new specimens, many of high conservation value, and continued to strengthen the herbarium’s relationship with partners and its local and global reputation.
Since 2018, Curator/Collections Manager Alain Belliveau along with Director Allison Walker have supervised the growth of the collection to over 200,000 specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi. It is the largest herbarium in Atlantic Canada and the first Canadian herbarium to have digital database with scanned images of the collection.
The Directors of The Nova Soctia Wild Flora Society are sending the following letters:
