W. C. Coker: The Legacy of a Lifelong Botanist remembers the life and career of William Chambers Coker. A distinguished botanist and mycologist, Coker transformed the UNC Chapel Hill campus into the lush green refuge that surrounds us today. In 1903, only one year after his arrival in Chapel Hill, he sought and received permission to create an arboretum on a parcel of the campus deemed unsuitable for development. The Coker Arboretum is perhaps his most beloved legacy, but it is just one of Coker’s many contributions explored in the exhibition.
The materials in this exhibition were selected from the UNC Libraries and Special Collections, including the Southern Historical Collection, the University Archives, the North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, Davis Library, and the Couch Botany Library at the UNC Herbarium. Also on display are items on loan from the North Carolina Botanical Garden and from the personal collection of Mary Coker Joslin.
For more details, visit William Coker and the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
