Shaw, Elizabeth Anne (Betsy)   (1938 - 2024)

Born on January 2, 1938 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA; died on May 11, 2024 in Lancaster, USA.

Her parents were Ellis Rae and Rose Elizabeth (née Nissley) Shaw.

Growing up in Landisville, Betsy was always a precocious reader, skipping first grade and graduating from Hempfield High School in 1954.

She attended McGill University in Montreal and earned a BS and MS in Botany.

She was a PhD student at Adelaide, South Australia, with Hansjoerg Eichler as Supervisor, c. 1961-67.

She published the results of her revision of Brassicaceae genus Stenopetalum as:
Elizabeth A Shaw (1972). "Revision of Stenopetalum (Cruciferae)". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 53 (1): 52-75.

In later years, she was fond of recounting how she shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in the early 1960's.

In the late 1960's Betsy returned to the USA to a research position at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University and soon was in charge of the Gray Card Index a massive database of the New World plant names and was instrumental in computerizing the index, paving the way for it later to be available online.

This sent her down the path of becoming an outstanding botanist-historian and bibliographic researcher of the history of botany, economic botany, the history of plant exploration, etc.

After retiring from Harvard, Betsy moved back home, settling in Martinsville where she became involved in local history volunteering in the rare book room in the library, then the Historical Society of York County (now York County History Center).

She was the life partner of Dr. Hollis G. Bedell for 39 years, marrying in 2015.

Source: pers.com. M.Fagg (2021)
https://lancasteronline.com/obituaries/elizabeth-betsy-anne-shaw/article_34c9eb77-2020-5312-b740-c3cc43667f02.html
Portrait Photo: 1965, Adelaide Herbarium, unknown photographer.

Collecting localities for 'Shaw, E.A.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 599 specimens