Cora Huidekoper Clarke (February 9, 1851 – April 2, 1916) was an American amateur entomologist, science educator and botanist specializing in

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

s. Her chief entomological studies were on galls caused by wasps (

Cynipidae Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this genera ...

) and flies (

Cecidomyiidae Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects us ...

), which she reared, photographed and documented, with several new species being described from the collections that she made. Cora was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania to Anna (Huidekoper) and Reverend James Freeman Clarke, a Unitarian minister and anti-slavery activist, who founded Church of the Disciples in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Her grandfather,

Harm Jan Huidekoper Harm Jan Huidekoper (April 3, 1776 – May 22, 1854) was a businessman, philanthropist, essayist and lay theologian, a vice president of the American Unitarian Association, and a founder of the Meadville Theological School. Early life Huidekope ...

, was the founder of the

Meadville Theological School The Meadville Lombard Theological School is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago, Illinois. History Meadville Lombard is a result of a merger in the 1930s between two institutions, a Unitarian seminary and a Universalist seminary. M ...

. James Freeman Clarke had been educated at the

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

and was noted for his activism towards women's education as well as a coeducation policy at Harvard. The family moved to Boston around 1854 and after the death of her parents, she moved to Mt Vernon Street in Boston where she lived until her death. Due to poor health, she was taught at home until the age of thirteen. She studied at a horticultural school in Newton and at the

Bussey Institution The Bussey Institute (1883–1936) was a respected biological institute at Harvard University. It was named for Benjamin Bussey, who, in 1835, endowed the establishment of an undergraduate school of agriculture and horticulture and donated land in ...

in Jamaica Plain, Boston where she was taught by

Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...

. She taught at Miss Ticknor's Society and founded a Science Club and led a botany group at the New England Women's Club. She was a member of the Cambridge Entomological Club, the Sullivant Moss Society, the Boston Society of Natural History, and a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(elected 1884). Among her scientific contributions were studies on gall insects, especially Cynipidae which she reared and used her photography skills to document. Two new species were dedicated to and named after her by H.F. Bassett. She also studied Cecidomyiid galls and reared many species, some of which were described by E.P. Felt; three named after her. She also made a study of caddis-fly larvae and their cases.

References

External links

Biography at Harvard

Archives at Harvard Library

Archives at University of Michigan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Cora Huidekoper American entomologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Women entomologists