This is just part of the crowd of over 200 Michigan State University drew to its third turfgrass research field day in 1965. Photo courtesy of the Dr. James B and Harriet Beard Collection
weeks of lecturing. “So I took off by myself to join him,” says Harriet. “Once the plane landed in Ghana, people in uniform boarded, brandishing their guns. We all just sat there and waited until they finally got off.
Jim picked me up and drove us to and through Kruger National Park. It was a strange feeling. We were caged in a little Volkswagen, about one-quarter the size of the elephants we saw there—and the animals were roaming free in their native habitat. We viewed wildebeests, black sable antelope, boa constrictors and herds of graceful and beautiful loping giraffes. We even saw a cheetah, but not one lion, even through there are 3,000 of them in the park.”
The James B Beard
Turfgrass Library Collection In the following press release, Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Information Center (TIC) and the MSU Libraries announced the donation of Harriet and Dr. James B Beard's collection of turfgrass research materials, valued at $2.2 million. Dedicated in July 2003, Te James B Beard Turfgrass Library Collection “is generally acknowledged to be the finest personal compilation of turf-related material in existence. It includes international coverage of the turfgrass research and management literature, including books, periodicals, and technical reports.
Te Beard Collection serves as a non-circulating reference collection within the Turfgrass Information Center in the Main Library. Tis generous donation is the latest effort by Harriet and Dr. James B Beard in support of the Center’s work and objectives, including the TIC Endowment.
It was under the direction of Dr. Beard, and then–Library Director, Dr. Richard Chapin, that the MSU Libraries began to systematically collect printed turfgrass materials in the 1960s. In 1968, the personal collection of the late O. J. Noer, a pioneer turf agronomist, was added to the
52
holdings through the O. J. Noer Foundation. Te arrival of the Beard Collection makes MSU the strongest public repository of turfgrass literature in the world. Eventually, the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) database will provide article-level access to all items within the Collections. TGIF, an online database jointly sponsored with the United States Golf Association (USGA), is produced and hosted by the MSU Libraries.”
The Books
Te MSU press release continues with this notation, “Beard’s classic, Turfgrass: Science and Culture, published in 1973 and still in print, continues as the only true treatise ever written regarding turfgrass science. It remains the best-selling reference work in the field. Much of the book was written within the walls of the MSU Main Library. His Turf Management for Golf Courses was first released in 1982 and revised in 2002.”
James B Beard, along with co-authors Harriet J. Beard and son James C Beard, were selected as the 2015 recipients of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Science and Technology Section (STS) Oberly Award for Bibliography in the Agricultural or Natural Sciences for Turfgrass History and Literature: Lawns, Sports, and Golf. Tis biennial award is given in odd-numbered years for the best English-language bibliography in the field of agriculture or a related science.
Turfgrass History and Literature contains an extensive history of turfgrass research and the development of turfgrass as an important agricultural product. In addition, the book contains an extensive annotated bibliography of the literature of turfgrass, including many international publications. Te bibliography entries are arranged by author, and there is a brief biography of each author.
TPI Turf News March/April 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68