Ethel Zoe Bailey (1889-1983) was a U.S. botanist and the first

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Bailey

Hortorium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

from 1935 to 1957. She created the Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue Collection and in 1912 was the first woman in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

to earn a

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

Early life and education

Ethel Zoe Bailey was born on November 17, 1889 to her mother and father, botanist

Liberty Hyde Bailey Liberty Hyde Bailey (March 15, 1858 – December 25, 1954) was an American horticulturist and reformer of rural life. He was cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press ...

. She graduated from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 1911 with her bachelor's degree in Zoology, and afterward worked at Cornell University alongside her father, editing several of his publications, including ''Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture'' and ''Manual of Cultivated Plants''.

Career in botany

Bailey traveled to countries including

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

on research excursions with her father. She co-authored two reference books with her father, including ''Hortus'' and ''Hortus Second'', the latter of which published in 1969. After her father's death, Bailey revised and oversaw the publication of a third and updated volume, ''Hortus Third'', with the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium in 1975. Bailey worked at Cornell University's Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium as the institution's first curator from 1935 to 1957. She retired from Cornell in 1957, but continued to volunteer at the Hortorium until her death in 1983. In order to transport herself to and from the Hortorium, Bailey earned her driver's license in 1912, and was the first woman in Ithaca, New York to do so. While at Cornell, Bailey contributed to ''Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture and the Manual of Cultivated Plants'' and edited the first eight volumes of the academic journal, ''Gentes Herbarum''. She also compiled and indexed botanical samples from different countries. This catalogue of samples, now called the Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue Collection, is on display at Cornell. Bailey is buried at

Lake View Cemetery Lake View Cemetery is a privately owned, nonprofit garden cemetery located in the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and East Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1869, the cemetery was favored by wealthy families during the Gil ...

in Ithaca, New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Ethel Zoel 1889 births 1983 deaths American women botanists Cornell University people Scientists from Ithaca, New York 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists American women curators American curators