Correspondence, publications, field notes, research notes, and photographs relating to the career of plant ecologist C.H. Muller.

Cornelius H. Muller or Neil, as he was known to his colleagues and family, had a long and distinguished career as a plant ecologist and plant taxonomist. After graduating from University of Illinois in 1938 with a PhD in Botany, Muller worked for the Illinois Natural History Survey for one year and then for the USDA in various capacities from 1938-1945. Summers were usually spent on plant collecting trips to Mexico, the Southwest, and the southern United States. His work focused on vegetation studies in Texas and Mexico and most prominently on oaks. Muller married Katherine Kinsel, also a botanist, who directed the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden from 1950-1973. She was a partner with her husband in much of his vegetation studies and oak collecting trips, sharing in the creation of the extensive field notes found in this collection. He and Katherine also collaborated on a publication about Jean Louis Berlandier’s plant collecting in Mexico in the 1820s. Their son, Robert, is a plant ecologist and is also a correspondent in these papers.

30.75 Linear feet : 8 record cartons, 4 photo boxes, 12 oversize folders, artifacts

Collection open for research.