Susan Adams Delano McKelvey (1883–1964) was an American

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and writer, noted for her work at the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

Early life

McKelvey was born as Susan Magoun Delano on March 13, 1883, in Philadelphia and was a member of the prominent

Delano family In the United States, members of the Delano family include U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Its progenitor is Philippe de Lannoy (1602� ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Her parents were Eugene Delano (1844–1920) and Susan Magoun (née Adams) Delano (1848–1904). Her siblings included architect

William Adams Delano William Adams Delano (January 21, 1874 – January 12, 1960), an American architect, was a partner with Chester Holmes Aldrich in the firm of Delano & Aldrich. The firm worked in the Beaux-Arts tradition for elite clients in New York City, Long I ...

and she was a cousin of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. McKelvey graduated from Bryn Mawr College and in 1907 married a lawyer, Charles Wylie McKelvey (1878–1957). After one of their sons died, their marriage disintegrated and McKelvey moved to Boston in 1919. They eventually divorced in 1930.

Career

McKelvey developed an interest in landscape design and started volunteering at the

with

Charles Sprague Sargent Charles Sprague Sargent (April 24, 1841 – March 22, 1927) was an American botanist. He was appointed in 1872 as the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, and held the post until his death. He pub ...

. Soon, her interest shifted from landscape architecture to botany and she undertook a collecting expedition to Glacier National Park, followed by further fieldwork in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Early on, McKelvey took an interest in the Arboretum's growing lilac collection. She studied specimens in collections across the United States, Canada, France and England and consulted with growers in the United States and Europe. In 1925, she described a new species of lilacs (Syringa rugulosa). The culmination of this research, ''The Lilac: A Monograph'', was published 1928 to great reviews, the first book to receive the Schaffer Medal of the

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) is a nonprofit organization that promotes horticulture-related events and community activities. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of 2021, PHS has more than 13,000 members. PHS was ...

. To date, it is still the only monograph published on the subject. In the same year, she was appointed to the committee to Visit the Arnold Arboretum by the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, a position she held for many years. McKelvey next focused on the plants of the American Southwest. She made the first of several trips to the area in 1928, accompanied by

Alice Eastwood __NOTOC__ Alice Eastwood (January 19, 1859 – October 30, 1953) was a Canadian American botanist. She is credited with building the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco. She published over 310 scienti ...

, and focused on yucca, agave, and cactus specimens. She considered her next book to be on non-indigenous trees in the United States, but instead continued her research on yucca specimens. McKelvey's work in this area culminated in two volumes entitled ''Yuccas of the Southwestern United States'', Part one and two, published nine years apart. In the 1930s, McKelvey started to become recognised for her botanical work, she had articles published in Horticulture, the National Horticultural journal and the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. In 1931, she became a research associate for

Oakes Ames Oakes Ames (January 10, 1804 – May 8, 1873) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. As a congressman, he is credited by many historians as being ...

at the Arnold Arboretum and collaborated with the Botanical Museum in Cambridge, now part of the Harvard University Herbaria. In her final years, McKelvey moved away from fieldwork and focused on research. Her final book, ''Botanical Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West 1790–1850'', published in 1956, was described as her masterpiece and was very well received in the press. Meticulously researched, it examines early expeditions in the Western United States, detailing the specimens collected by explorers including Lewis and Clark and including excerpts of their journals and findings. The book earned her 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, ...

's Sarah Gildersleeve Fife award for her literary work. In 1964, McKelvey retired from her positions at the Arboretum and died shortly after on July 11, 1964, in Boston. Her collection of plant specimens and botany research were left to the Arnold Arboretum. McKelvey frequently collaborated with Canadian American botanist

, and with other botanists including the Arnold Arboretum's founding member

, and

Karl Sax Karl Sax (November 2, 1892 – October 8, 1973) was an American botanist and geneticist, noted for his research in cytogenetics and the effect of radiation on chromosomes. Early life and education Sax was born in Spokane, Washington in 1892. His ...

Honours

* Centennial Gold Medal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (1929) * Schaffer Medal of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (1929) * Emily Renwick Achievement Medal (Garden Club of America) * Sarah Gildersleeve Fife award of the New York Botanical Garden (1957)

Works

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKelvey, Susan Delano 1883 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American botanists American women botanists 20th-century American women scientists