The namesake of the Herbarium is Wayne Eyer Manning. Wayne began his Bucknell career in 1945, a career that spanned 23 years until his retirement in 1968. In those early days, the Biology department at Bucknell University had but five faculty members and the university was home to approximately 1,200 students (today the Biology Department has 18 tenure-line faculty and university enrolls approximately 3,600 students).
During the academic year, Wayne taught literally hundreds of Bucknell students to appreciate and love plants. He was known as the professor who took students “under his wings” and guided many to careers in the sciences and health professions. Many of his former students commented on the kindness and love extended to them by both Wayne and his wife Peg (Margaret Sheldon Manning). Students spoke of the numbers of times they were invited to the Manning’s home. During their summers, the Mannings traveled to their beloved “Cottage Home” at Forest Lake in New Hampshire.
During their Bucknell years, Wayne and Peg developed the wonderful living plant collection that once grew in the Botany Building greenhouse but that now crowns our impressive Biology Building. There were no plants in the Bucknell greenhouse when the Mannings arrived. The Mannings built Bucknell’s living plant collection from zero to over 400 plant species. Peg managed the day-to-day operation of the greenhouse under Wayne’s watchful eye. Greenhouse Open Houses hosted by the Mannings were legendary and well attended.
Wayne and his students also developed the impressive preserved plant collection known today as the Wayne E. Manning Herbarium. With its approximately 21,000 specimens, it supports both research and curricular activities.
As significant as Wayne’s greenhouse and herbarium legacies are, more important is his gift of friendship and mentorship to generations of Bucknellians. Wayne and Peg opened their hearts to Bucknell’s students. As an enduring token of Wayne and Peg’s love for Bucknell and its students, they established the Wayne and Margaret Manning Internship in Botanical Sciences in 1992. This fund will nurture plant research at Bucknell University by generations of students yet to come.
Wayne was one of those pioneers whose example became Bucknell’s “Teacher-Scholar” model. A beloved teacher – Wayne’s love of botany and his remarkable ability to share it has inspired generations of students. An internationally recognized scholar – his research and over 40 publications on the walnut family remain as the seminal works for this plant group. Wayne’s contributions to our understanding of plants were honored when a walnut species was named for him – Alfarao manningii.
Wayne was born on April 12, 1899 in Toledo, Ohio. At the age of 8, he moved with his family to Ambridge, PA along the Ohio River, some 16 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Wayne loved nature – he raised Cecropia moths and spent many hours roaming the woods to study birds and mushrooms. A neighbor, Mr. Morrison, helped Wayne identify his morels and puffballs. As a 13-year-old boy scout, Wayne studied trees and learned to play chess. The following year, he and four other boys formed a “Nature Club.” Herbert Graham – specialized on wild flowers, Ed Graham – was particularly fond of trees, Kenneth Doratt – of mammals, and Wayne – loved birds. Wayne being the oldest of the four boys, served as Club President. Remarkably, all four of these boys went on to receive their Ph.D.s.
At the age of 17, Wayne joined his older sister Helen on a 6-week-long Oberlin College sponsored ecology trip to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Helen specialized on plants and Wayne on birds. Camping on the ocean shore and traveling by dugout canoe with two Native Americans, Wayne learned to love the evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest. However, not all of Wayne’s experiences on this trip were pleasant. Early one morning, Wayne and Helen decided to follow a trail that led from the beach into the dense coastal rainforest. The longer they walked, the more faint the trail became. When they turned around to retrace their steps, they realized that they were lost. Wayne and Helen had little food between them and they really weren't dressed to be out for an extended period of time, especially after it started to rain and night fell. After spending the night without shelter, Professor Jones located them and pronounced them “Two Babes in the Woods.” The trail that they had followed was one used by the Native Americans to find logs for their canoes. That’s why it led out into the woods and faded away. That fall, Wayne entered Oberlin College starting out in Chemistry but ultimately changing to Ecology.
By 1920, Wayne was lacking but a few credits to graduate. Consequently, Wayne embarked on a second Oberlin-sponsored trip with 15 other students that crossed the USA in four Model T Fords and one truck. The group camped along the roadsides and traveled without the advantage of AAA “TripTics.” On his web site account of this cross-country trip, Wayne offered – “In those days there were no numbers on the highways – you had maps.” There were three parallel roads going across Kansas but the group didn’t know which one was best. Consequently, they stopped at a garage to ask which one was better. And the answer was, “no matter which one you take, you’ll wish you’d taken the others.” It may have been on this trip that Wayne’s deep love developed for his future wife Margaret Sheldon.
Peg and Wayne enjoyed sharing their exploration of the West. After visiting Pikes Peak, the Great Salt Lake, Moab, and many other scenic western landscapes, the Oberlin group visited Bryce Canyon – the group was much impressed with the wonderful erosional geology. On his web page, Wayne recounts their Bryce Canyon visit with the following story. “Most of the people decided to go down into the canyon.” And Wayne and Peg were no exception. Wayne offered “I took Peg’s hand and we went down into the canyon but it’s loose gravel – just a little bit scary – our conversation, our total conversation, was this “I don’t like it, Wayne. Wayne, I don’t like it. I don’t like it, Wayne. Wayne, I don’t like it. And this conversation continued all the way down.”
After submitting his written account of the trip, Wayne earned enough credits to graduate from Oberlin College with an AB degree in 1920. Curiously though, Wayne hadn’t taken any Botany courses while an undergraduate. However, the experiences of this trip and the influences of Professor Jones and his botanist brother led Wayne to decide to study Botany.
In 1921, Wayne began his graduate work in Botany at Cornell University. The Cornell years were punctuated by Wayne and Peg’s marriage on June 11, 1924. Wayne completed his Ph.D. on the floral anatomy of the Juglandaceae (the Walnut family) in 1926. After his graduate school focus on plant anatomy, Wayne turned his research more to taxonomic questions. After serving as an Instructor in Botany at Cornell, Wayne joined the faculty of the University of Illinois, Urbana for the 1927-1928 academic year.
Their son, Alan Sheldon Manning was born on August 12, 1928 as they moved to Smith College in Northampton, MA. Wayne was promoted to Associate Professor of Botany in 1936 and completed 14 years at Smith College before Wayne’s Smith College career was terminated along with those of fourteen other members of the faculty. During World War II, Wayne worked in a Defense Plant teaching women machinists basic mathematics. He also worked himself as a machine operator, then as a materials order person.
In 1944, Wayne wrote to the Presidents of some 125 colleges seeking a faculty position in Botany. He received but one positive reply, thankfully for us that reply came from Bucknell University. |
