As a user of the Ada Hayden herbarium here at Iowa State, I was concerned after reading the headline in the Daily from Monday, March 8th, “Iowa State, Iowa engaged in tug of war over herbarium.”

The tug of war is not between the two herbariums but rather between the administration of the University of Iowa and the curator of the herbarium at the University of Iowa.

The Ada Hayden herbarium at Iowa State is where the administrators of the university decided to send their specimens. Lynn Clark, the Ada Hayden Herbarium director, and Deb Lewis, the Ada Hayden Herbarium curator, have been supportive of having a herbarium at the University of Iowa.

Only after the decision by the Iowa’s administration to remove their collection did Iowa State agree to take it.

Obviously, keeping the collection in Iowa is an important consideration.

Since then, Diana Horton, the curator of the herbarium at the University of Iowa, has been using arguments that question the professionalism and methods of the curation of Iowa State’s herbarium in order to keep U of I’s collection in Iowa City.

Lynn Clark and Deb Lewis are packing and moving the collection using methods that are part of a published protocol for moving herbarium specimens.

One allegation made in the Daily article is that “if moved to Ames, the collection and research area will be inaccessible to U of I researchers.”

In actuality, if moved, the collection will be available to any researcher who visits the Ada Hayden herbarium or who requests a loan of specimens. Also, a reference collection will remain at U of I.

Anna Gardner

Graduate Student

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies