ESA pioneer Henry Chandler Cowles and the Indiana Dunes

Background/Question/Methods

Henry Chandler Cowles played a seminal role in the formation of the Ecological Society of America. In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s, Henry Chandler Cowles, a botanist at the University of Chicago, published a number of scientific papers on ecological succession from research conducted in the sand dunes of northwestern Indiana (Smith & Mark, 2009). Cowles traveled to sand dunes around the world, but he proclaimed the dunes of the southern coast of Lake Michigan to be the “grandest” (Mather, 1917). The presentation will present a number of authentic photographs of Henry Chandler Cowles on expeditions to the Indiana Dunes.

Results/Conclusions

An early student of Cowles, Victor Shelford, obtained his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1907, where he remained as a faculty member until 1914. Shelford made many field excursions to the Indiana Dunes with Cowles, other scientists, and students (Croker, 1991). Cowles led an international group of ecologists to visit the Indiana Dunes in 1913, with Victor Shelford as a member of the expedition. The international group of ecologists on the expedition were much impressed with the dunes, and regarded them as one of the wonders of the United States (e.g., Mather, 1917). This pivotal expedition was known as the 1913 International Phytogeographical Excursion to the Indiana Dunes. Shortly thereafter, through a series of communications between Cowles, Shelford, and Robert Wolcott (e.g., Smith & Mark, 2009), the Ecological Society of America was formed in 1915. Victor Shelford was chosen as the first president of the ESA, with Cowles and Wolcott serving as members of the board. For decades, Cowles and Shelford visited the Indiana Dunes with students and fellow scientists. The pictures in this collection celebrate the historic visits of Henry Chandler Cowles and fellow scientists to the Indiana Dunes, visits that played an important role in the development of North American ecology and the formation of the Ecological Society of America.