Helen Hart Papers, 1917-1953

Summary Information

Title: Helen Hart papers
Dates: 1917-1953
Creator: Hart, Helen 1900-1971.
Extent: 1 box (1.0 cubic feet)
Language: Collection material in English
Collection Number: uarc 223
Abstract:

The collection contains summary notes of rust reports undertaken by F.E. Haglund and summarized by Helen Hart, as well a several folders of typed citations constituting a literature review of rust-related publications. Also included is a xeroxed copy of Robert Bills manuscript on barberry eradication, entitled “One Half Century of Service: The first fifty years of Barberry eradication” with notes and commentary by E.C. Stakman.

Repository: University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives

Access and Use

Acquisition Information:

The collection was deposited in University Archives on September 16, 1988.

Access Restrictions:

Items in this collection do not circulate and may be used in-house only.

Copyright:

Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Requests to publish should be arranged with the University of Minnesota Archives.

Processing Information:

Collection processed by Susan Hoffman with funds from the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) and individual donors. Digitization funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Preferred Citation:

Helen Hart papers, University Archives, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Biographical Sketch of Helen Hart (1900-1971)

Helen Hart, B.S. (1922), M.S. (1925), Ph.D., 1929, University of Minnesota. Instructor (1933-1939), assistant professor (1939), associate professor (1944), professor (1947-1966) in plant pathology at the University of Minnesota. Joint appointment with the United States Department of Agriculture (1923-1933); editor-in-chief, Phytopathology (1944-1951), president, American Phytopathological Society (1955). Pioneer in the use of controlled environments to study host-pathogen relationships.

Helen Hart was born September 2, 1900 in Janesville, Wisconsin to Richard and Alice Hart. She graduated from high school in 1918, and enrolled at Lawrence College (now Lawrence University). In 1920, she transferred to the University of Minnesota, thus beginning a professional relationship with the University that covered 46 years, culminating in her retirement as Professor Emerita in 1966.

A commemorative article (“Helen Hart, Remarkable Plant Pathologist, 1900-1971” by Roy Wilcoxson Annual Review of Phytopathology 1996 34: 13-23) includes reminiscences by former colleagues. According to the article, Hart informed her professors in the Plant Pathology and Botany Department of her interest in continuing her botany studies after graduation and was initially discouraged by E.C. Stakman from entering the field because of his concern that women scientists would not be fairly compensated for their work. Hart applied for admission to the graduate program while Stakman was traveling out of the country, and was admitted by Professor Julian Leach in his absence. Hart began the program in 1922, and in 1923 was hired as an agent for the Office of Cereal Crops and Diseases, a USDA program. Hart’s work in that office and in the classroom kept her in continuous contact with Stakman, who would become first her advisor, and later a good friend and colleague. Stakman’s research focused on the role fungi played in plant diseases, and Hart began her graduate research career focusing on flax rust. Her Ph.D. thesis, “Morphological and Physiological Studies on Stem Rust Resistance in Wheat” explored stem rust resistance and susceptibility in wheat rust tissues. She was awarded her Ph.D. in 1929. Hart and her advisees were pioneers in the use of controlled environments to study host-pathogen relationships. Her work is now considered fundamental to the understanding of pathogen specialization and cultivar resistance.

Beginning in 1945, Hart chaired the Department’s Language and Editorial Committees. As such, she oversaw the department’s required reading exam, where she was an exacting teacher and editor. She was also the editor for Aurora Sporealis , the alumni magazine of the Department of Plant Pathology during the 1930s and 1940s.

Hart served as an Associate Editor for Phytopathology , the principle publication of APS from 1938-1940. In 1944, she became the first woman Editor-in-Chief of Phytopathology , a position she held until 1951. Hart became President-Elect of APS in 1954 and the first woman President of the Society in 1955. She was awarded the Department of Plant Pathology’s EC Stakman Award in 1963 for her contributions to the understanding of cereal rust disease, and shortly thereafter became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Helen Hart died in Oregon on May 2, 1971, where she had moved in 1970 to live with her sister Jane.

Collection Scope and Content Note

The collection contains reports, charts, and maps related to Dr. Hart's research on plant rusts. It is primarily in the form of annual reports summarizing rust spore data across the United States. The data appears to have been collected as field notes for over three decades by F.E. Haglund, and transferred by Hart first to a paper draft, and then to typescript. Dates covered are primarily for the 1920s and 1930s, with some data for the 1950s, and little for the 1940s. There is also a Xeroxed manuscript with editorial comments by E.C. Stakman providing a history of the Barberry eradication program initiated by Stakman in the 1920s. Folder titles have been taken directly from the originals, and the original order has been maintained.

Related Material

The Helen Hart papers are one of several collections held by the University of Minnesota that document the development of agricultural practices that were central to the Green Revolution, including

Norman Borlaug papers

Elvin C. Stakman papers

John S. Niederhauser papers

John Gibler papers

Cereal Rust Laboratory records

Department of Plant Pathology records

Subject Terms

Index Terms

• This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
• Hart, Helen 1900-1971 -- Archives.
• Stakman, E.C. (Elvin Charles) 1815-1979.
• Green Revolution.
• Grain -- Diseases and pests.
• Plant diseases.

Detailed Contents

Location		Title
Box 1		Correspondence, 1952-1953. Box 1, Folder 1 View folder contents.
		"Reduction in Yield due to Stem Rust," 1925-1938. Box 1, Folder 2 View folder contents.
		History of Races 6, 7, 8, 10 P.g.a. (Puccinia graminis avenae).  Box 1, Folder 3 View folder contents.
		First report of Stem Rust on Barberries. By state.  Box 1, Folder 4 View folder contents.
		Maps copied from Miscellaneous Publication 485, USDA.  Box 1, Folder 5 View folder contents.
		Spore data, 1951.  Box 1, Folder 6 View folder contents.
		Spore totals during spore showers, 1929-1946. Box 1, Folder 7 View folder contents.
		Gram Calorie, Nebraska.  Box 1, Folder 8 View folder contents.
		Table, 1921.  Box 1, Folder 9 View folder contents.
		Information on 1935 Stem Rust epidemic by state.  Box 1, Folder 10 View folder contents.
		Spread of Rust by state, 1925.  Box 1, Folder 11 View folder contents.
		Report. Dew records, 1929.  Box 1, Folder 12 View folder contents.
		Notes F.E.H. (F.E. Haglund) Rust spread by state, 1935-1936.  Box 1, Folder 13-14 View folder 13 contents. View folder 14 contents.
		Summary from annual report of the Rust epidemiology studies, 1936.  Box 1, Folder 15 View folder contents.
		Notes F.E.H. Rust spread by state, 1937-1938.  Box 1, Folder 16-18 Note Includes typescript of 1937 notes. View folder 16 contents. View folder 17 contents. View folder 18 contents.
		Notes F.E.H. Rust reports by state, 1949.  Box 1, Folder 19 View folder contents.
		Report F.E.H. General statement on spread of Rust, 1950.  Box 1, Folder 20 View folder contents.
		Spread of Rust by state, 1951-1952.  Box 1, Folder 21-22 View folder 21 contents. View folder 22 contents.
		Forms for recording spore data in Mississippi Valley, undated. Box 1, Folder 23 View folder contents.
		Extra copies of 1938 rust spread by state. Data and reports.  Box 1, Folder 24 View folder contents.
		Spore trapping data, 1925. Box 1, Folder 25 View folder contents.
		Spore trapping data, 1921-1950.  Box 1, Folder 26 View folder contents.
		Spore trapping data.  Box 1, Folder 27 Note Unorganized. Some lists of first appearance of rust on wheat. View folder contents.
		Spread of rust from Barberry; selected states and years.  Box 1, Folder 28 View folder contents.
		Summary outline. Brief. F. Haglund.  Box 1, Folder 29 View folder contents.
		List of data on file.  Box 1, Folder 30 View folder contents.
		McCall questions, 1953.  Box 1, Folder 31 View folder contents.
		“Northern limits at which spores were found and accompanying dates,” 1921-1937, 1942. Box 1, Folder 32 View folder contents.
		“Physiological Races of Puccinia Graminis in the United States,” 1944, 1945-1949, 1950, 1951. Box 1, Folder 33 View folder contents.
		“Stem rust destructive to spring wheat” LM Hamilton, USDA, 1939. Box 1, Folder 34 View folder contents.
		Rust Summary. USDA, Agricultural Research Administration, 1952. Box 1, Folder 35 View folder contents.
		Notes: date of wheat ripening , heading or footing, 1924, 1934-1936, 1946-1947.  Box 1, Folder 36 View folder contents.
		Charts and graphs of rust spores, 1917-1952.  Box 1, Folder 37 View folder contents.
		Summarized outline, 1952. Box 1, Folder 38 View folder contents.
		Typed notes from literature reviews and summary data, undated.  Box 1, Folder 39-40 View folder 39 contents. View folder 40 contents.
		“One Half Century of Service: The First 50 Years of Barberry Eradication” mss by Robert W. Bills  Box 1, Folder 41 View folder contents.
		Notes for summaries on Stem Rust of Wheat, F. Haglund, undated.  Box 1, Folder 42 View folder contents.
		“Publications of E.C. Stakman” bibliography.  Box 1, Folder 43 View folder contents.