Anna Murray Vail (January 7, 1863 – December 18, 1955) was an American botanist and first librarian of the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

. She was a student of the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

botanist and geologist

Nathaniel Lord Britton Nathaniel Lord Britton (January 15, 1859 – June 25, 1934) was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York (state), New York. Early life Britton was born in New Dorp, Staten Island, New ...

, with whom she helped to found the

Early life

Anna was born in New York's east side, the first child of David Olyphant Vail and Cornelia Georgina (Nina) Van Rensselear.W. W. Spooner, "The Van Rensselaer Family", ''American Historical Magazine'', vol 2 # 1, 1907. On her mother's side, she is descended from two of New York's most elite Dutch families, the Van Rensselear and Van Cortlandts. Her great-great-grandfather was General

Robert Van Rensselaer Robert Van Rensselaer (December 16, 1740 – September 11, 1802) was Brigadier General during the American Revolutionary War, a member of the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777 and later a member of the New York State Assembly in the ...

, who fought at Ticonderoga during the American Revolution under the orders of his mother's brother in law, General

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler. Born in Alba ...

. Her younger sister, Cornelia, married

Henry Golden Dearth Henry Golden Dearth (22 April 1864 – 27 March 1918) was a distinguished American painter who studied in Paris, France, Paris and continued to spend his summers in France painting in the Normandy region. He would return to New York in winter, an ...

a distinguished American painter. Her father, David Olyphant Vail, was the son of Benjamin C. and Eliza Ann (née Archer) Vail. David O. Vail's connection to the Olyphant family is through his maternal grandmother, Ann Mckenzie (1782 – November 5, 1857). Her first husband was Zeno Archer, whom she married in 1803. Their daughter was Eliza Ann who married Benjamin Vail. Following Zeno's death, Ann McKenzie Archer married David W.C. Olyphant. David O. Vail is listed as a "merchant" on an 1862 ship manifest and in a Van Rensselaer family history is described as "...resident partner of the house of Olyphant & Company at Shanghai, China." His death notice describes him as being "...lately of China...", but it is not clear where or of what he died in 1865 at age 32. His middle name, Olyphant, and the fact that he worked for Olyphant & Company reflect his connection to that family on his mother's side. Olyphant and Company, founded in 1827 by David WC Olyphant and Charles N. Talbot, was one of the pioneers of the

Old China Trade The Old China Trade () refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old C ...

Professional activities

Her early education was in Europe but by 1895 she was back in the United States and working at Columbia University with

, who with his wife

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (née Knight) (January 9, 1858 – February 25, 1934) was an American botanist, bryologist, and educator. She and her husband, Nathaniel Lord Britton played a significant role in the fundraising and creation of the New ...

, was the founding force behind the New York Botanical Garden. In January 1900, she became the first librarian of the newly founded Bronx institution's

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, a post she held until September 1907. While in New York, she was the author of over a dozen scientific papers (see bibliography). Her notes, preserved in the Archives and Manuscripts collection of the

, include sketches of some of the plants she studied. In 1898, botanist

Henry Hurd Rusby Henry Hurd Rusby (1855–1940) was an American botanist, pharmacist and explorer. He discovered several new species of plants and played a significant role in founding the New York Botanical Garden and developing research and exploration progra ...

published '' Vailia'', which is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s belonging to the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

and named in Anna Murray Vail's honor. In 1903 Vail traveled to Paris, France, for an auction of the botanical literature of the late Professor

Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan (29 October 1814 in Lyon – 7 February 1897 in Lyon) was a French botanist and taxonomist. Life and work Jordan was in Lyons where his father César was from a wealthy business family and his mother Jeanne-Mar ...

. She obtained over 400 items, including ten volumes of

John Sibthorp John Sibthorp (28 October 1758 – 8 February 1796) was an English botanist. Education Sibthorp graduated from the University of Oxford in 1777 where he was an undergraduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He subsequently studied medic ...

's ''

Flora graeca ''Flora Graeca'' is a publication of the plants of Greece in the late 18th century, resulting from a survey by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer. The botanical descriptions and illustrations became highly valued by the English audience; the fine ...

''. Vail wrote on numerous botanical topics; for example, her 1898 co-authored work (with

, among others), details "New or Rare Mosses", such as Anacamptodon Splachnoides. An account in the records of the

presents Vail's resignation from the Garden's Library as resulting from her indignation of being accused of smoking cigarettes in the library. However, this account is disputed by a letter in the files of Nathaniel Lord Britton dated September 28, 1907, which mentions her departure as being due to an extended separation from her mother, who was living in France. This letter indicates no ill will. Pen & ink sketch of Cynanchum sp by Anna Murray Vail

Pen & ink sketch of Cynanchum sp by Anna Murray Vail

In 1911 she moved to France. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she became active in the American Fund for French Wounded, eventually becoming its treasurer. A letter to the head of the U.S.-based organization, Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, was published in ''The New York Times''. The letter reads, in part,

Every department of the Red Cross has borrowed nurses and aids, and we of the American Fund have given everything we had for the emergency. If it gets worse, I shall offer my own services, for I can make beds and clean up, and no part of the work will terrify me, even if I am not a trained nurse.

Later years

While living in France she acquired a house in

Héricy Héricy () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Héricéens''. See also *Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department The following is a list o ...

. Here she would spend her remaining years, continuing her work as a librarian until blindness forced her to stop. She died in Vieux Logis on December 18, 1955, and is buried in the municipal cemetery at Héricy.

Taxonomy

Bibliography

References

External links

Portrait of Anna Murray Vail
by Herbert Denman, at

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

.
Vail Collection Information at the New York Botanical Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vail, Anna Murray American taxonomists 1863 births 1955 deaths American women botanists Women taxonomists New York Botanical Garden Torrey Botanical Society members Scientists from New York (state) 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists 19th-century American women scientists Columbia University alumni