Page 59 - Botany_2015_Proceeding

_ ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _P_a_r_t_ic_i._pating Societi es - AF~

The American Fern Society evolved from the Linnaean Fern Chapter ofthe Agassiz Associa-
tion, which was founded in 1892 by five people united by their mutual interest in the study
of ferns. At that time the Agassiz Association published the quarterly Linnaean Fern Bulletin,
which contained original research, reports of field trips and floristic discoveries, and busi-
ness and news. Because the Chapter was so small, it allowed W N. Clute, its first president,
to assume ownership of the Bulletin. By mid-1905, when a vote to adopt the name Ameri-
can Fern Society passed, 150 members were counted, few of them professional botanists. A
member's library was begun to circulate fern books by mail. In 1910, the Society voted to
establish and own the American Fern Journal, and the Bulletin ceased publication in 1912.
The Society grew fitfully through several decades and then rapidly due to the invigoration
of botanical science after World War II. A fern spore exchange was established to provide
amateur horticulturalists and botanical researchers with a ·wide variety of fern spores. By
the 1970s, the Journal published mostly scientific papers, and so a newsletter, now called
Fiddlehead Forum, was established to carry Society news, reports of field trips, and articles
of interest to horticulturally and floristically inclined members. In 1979, a very occasional
monograph series, Pteridologia, was begun. At present the Society has about 800 members,
many ofthem botanists.

The American Fern Society remains active in promoting all aspects of fern study, which was
the intent of its five founders.
Visit us at http://amerfernsoc.org and join the American Fern Society group on Face-
book.