Events

Public Response Timeline to Duke’s Decision to Divest its Herbarium

Duke Herbarium researchers are offering following events and workshops in 2025:

July 6-12: Sphagnum Mosses: Ecology, Diversity, and Identification with Jon Shaw, Eagle Hill Institute, Maine. 

April 30, 4-6 p.m.: Botany Spotlight: Mosses of Duke Forest with Blanka Aguero. More info is here.

April 8, 3-5 p.m.: Botany Spotlight: Mosses of Duke Gardens talk and walk with Blanka Aguero. More info here.

Mar 7-9: Bryologists will participate at Blomquist Foray 2025 in South Carolina

Feb 2: The Wild Ones Herbarium tour.

Duke Herbarium in the News

Duke's herbarium merits continued enhancement, not dissolution. BioScience, by Thiers et al., on Apr 25, 2024.

Scientists depend on herbaria for research. Let’s preserve them. Washington Post, by C.L. Quave, on Mar 20, 2024.

Collections are truly priceless. By Charles C. Davis, Science, on Mar 7, 2024.

Researchers call on Duke University to reconsider its herbarium closure. WRAL News, on Feb 26, 2024.

Duke Shuts Down Huge Plant Collection, Causing Scientific Uproar. New York Times, by Carl Zimmer on Feb 21, 2024.

Closing Duke's Herbarium: A fear of long-term climate commitment? In Duke Chronicle, on Feb 20, 2024.

NSC Alliance Urges Duke University to Reconsider Decision to Close Herbarium. A letter to Duke University leadership in response to reports about the closure of the herbarium due to a change in funding priorities.

‘A tragic mistake’: Decision to close Duke University’s herbarium triggers furor. In Science Insider, on Feb 16, 2024.

Save the Duke Herbarium. In Duke Chronicle, on Feb 16, 2024.

‘To kill a program’: Duke to close herbarium after over 100 years of operation. In Duke Chronicle, on Feb 16, 2024.

About the Duke Herbarium with the herbarium director Kathleen Pryer and the curator Michael Windham for Duke Mag, on Dec 12, 2023.

Prof. Manos featured in the Smithsonian Magazine article about live oaks, and cited in Duke Daily on Mar 31, 2023. 

Duke Today - Climate Lessons from Plants, Past to Future on Mar 22, 2023.

Duke Chronicles - In Duke Herbarium, nearly a million plant specimens hold legacies of the past, offer insights for future climate research on Mar 7, 2023.

Past events in 2024: 

Feb 5 - 19: Eagle Hill Institute – 10-hour on-line course: “Ecology and Evolution of Peatmosses” with Jon Shaw.
Feb. 24, 9:30-11:30 a.m.: Botany Spotlight: Lichens with Scott LaGreca. More information here.
March 15-17: Blomquist Foray 2024 in Crowders Mountain State Park, NC.
March 19, 3-5 p.m.: Botany Spotlight: Mosses of Duke Gardens with Blanka Aguero.
April 19, 3-5 p.m.: Botany Spotlight: Mosses of Duke Forest with Blanka Aguero.
Apr 23: The Wild Ones Moss walk (J. Shaw & B. Aguero).
June 23-29, 2024: Liverwort ecology, distribution, and identification with Blanka Aguero, at Eagle Hill Institute in Steuben, Maine.

Past events in 2023:

Oct 12 & 14: We participated in weDigBio GLOBAL transcription event to digitize data about mosses and lichens.
Oct 1: The Wild Ones Plant walk (P. Manos)
Jun 25 – Jul 1: Eagle Hill Institute – 6-day field course: “Ecology and Identification of Peatmosses” (J. Shaw)
Apr 29: Oak Spring Garden Foundation with Duke Herbarium & Field Museum: Unveiling Miniature Forests: The Microscopic World Of Bryophytes & Lichens! (B. Aguero)
Apr 13 and Apr 15: Spring 2023 weDigBio collection label data transcription event. This online event takes place on Zoom.
Apr 9: The Wild Ones bryophyte walk (J. Shaw) 
Mar 31: Duke Gardens with Duke Herbarium: Mosses of Duke Forest (B. Aguero)
Mar 25: Duke Gardens with Duke Herbarium: Botany Spotlight: Lichen (S. LaGreca)
Mar 14: Duke Gardens with Duke Herbarium: Mosses of Duke Gardens (B. Aguero)
Feb 7 - 21: Eagle Hill Institute – 10-hour on-line course: “Ecology and Evolution of Peatmosses” (J. Shaw)