As priorities change at many smaller universities and colleges, herbaria containing important research collections, including many types and other historical material, are no longer useful to the institution. It becomes the responsibility of the nation's large herbaria to rescue these orphaned collections and make their important research material available for taxonomic research throughout the world. Two such herbaria have just been transferred to the New York Botanical Garden. One of these, the Truman G. Yuncker Herbarium of DePauw University, contains ca 135,000 specimens, including the important research collections of Truman F. Yuncker (world authority of Piperaceae and Cuscutaceae) and Winona J. Welch (world authority on Fontinalaceae and Hookeriaceae). The other, the Wabash College Herbarium, contains ca 20,000 specimens, including the collections of John M. Coulter (well known for his work on the Rocky Mountain flora) and the Hayden Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountains in the 1870s. This project will provide funds to hire two temporary curatorial assistants to process the specimens and incorporate them into the Garden's Herbarium.
