Joseph Andorfer Ewan (1909–1999) was a botanist, naturalist, and historian of botany and natural history.

Biography

Joseph Ewan grew up in Los Angeles and developed an early interest in the study of nature. At the age of eighteen, he published an ornithological report in '' The Condor''. He matriculated at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and transferred to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1933, graduating there with a B.A. in 1934. After graduating he remained at Berkeley until 1937 as a research assistant to

Willis Jepson Willis Linn Jepson (August 19, 1867 – November 7, 1946) was an early California botanist, conservationist, and writer. Career Born at Little Oak Ranch near Vacaville, California, Jepson became interested in botany as a boy and explore ...

. In 1935 Ewan married a fellow botanical student, Ada Nesta Dunn (1908–2000), in Reno, Nevada. She often collaborated with him on their publications. He was from 1937 to 1944 an instructor at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, from 1944 to 1945 a botanist with the

Foreign Economic Administration In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad on September 25, 1943. As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley ...

, from 1945 to 1946 an assistant curator at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and from 1946 to 1947 an associate botanist at the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

's Bureau of Plant Industry. At Tulane University he became in 1947 an assistant professor and was eventually promoted to associate professor, and then full professor. There he held the Ida Richard Professorship from 1972 to 1977, when he retired as professor emeritus. Ewan was a member of London's Society for the Bibliography of Natural History and in 1977 received its Founder's Medal. The number of his publications exceeds 400. He wrote extensively on the history of naturalists in America and their work during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Joseph and Nesta Ewan wrote ''John Banister and his natural history of Virginia'' (1970), a ''Biographical dictionary of Rocky Mountain naturalists'' (1981), and ''Benjamin Smith Barton: naturalist and physician in Jeffersonian America'' (published posthumously in 2007). (See

Benjamin Smith Barton Benjamin Smith Barton (February 10, 1766 – December 19, 1815) was an American botanist, naturalist, and physician. He was one of the first professors of natural history in the United States and built the largest collection of botanical specimen ...

.) During their long marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Ewan collected about 4,500 books and huge numbers of "offprints, newspaper clippings, photocopies, correspondence, documents and manuscript notes." In 1986 the Missouri Botanical Garden purchased the collection and in 1997 published (and placed on-line) a ''Guide to the Ewan Papers'' which lists about 10,000 names. Joseph Ewan died in 1999. His widow died in 2000. They were survived by three daughters, Kathleen, Dorothy, and Marjorie, and five grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewan, Joseph Andorfer 1909 births 1999 deaths University of California, Berkeley alumni Tulane University faculty 20th-century American botanists American historians of science