Charlotte King

(1864-1937) Charlotte King's service to Iowa State College included concurrent appointments in the Experiment Station and in the Seed Testing Laboratory administered by the Department of Botany. She was an artist, editor, researcher and eventually assistant chief and research assistant professor in the Experiment Station, and she was a seed analyst and instructor in the Seed Testing Laboratory. Her research and publications included both independent study on a variety of topics (including seed science weed science and plant pathology) and collaboration with Louis H. Pammel. Ms. King was born at Lakeville, Massachusetts, but her early life was spent in Des Moines, Iowa. After high school, she taught for several years in the Des Moines public schools. Before the age of 30, she spent several years studying biology at Iowa State College. Her education was described as "acquired through the application of an inherent love and capacity for learning and the judicious use of time and opportunity and not by the formality of college courses which lead to academic degrees." Her first appointment at Iowa State was as an artist for the Experiment Station, a position she held for more than 25 years. She was an instructor in botanical drawing and later in seed analysis. Her expertise as an author, editor and artist are most obvious to this writer today in perusing two of Dr. Pammel and Ms. King's major works - Weed Flora of Iowa and Honey Plants of Iowa - for which she authored/co-authored several chapters and contributed numerous illustrations and photographs. Beyond botany, however, she is also credited with illustrations for a series of entomological articles by Herbert Osborn. Ms. King is described in an anonymous obituary as "a lifelong student in the fields of music art literature and science," "a generous loyal friend," "broadly tolerant" and possessing a "delicate alert sense of humor."

7/1/96

Paver Inscription:

"Botany
Lois H. Tiffany
Ruth Swenson
Ada Hayden
Charlotte King"