Katherine Jones (1860-1940)

Katherine D. Jones was born in Wisconsin and moved to Calaveras County (California) in 1880, where she taught in public schools. She entered the University of California, Berkeley to study biology and botany, graduating in 1896. She then began assisting in botany and zoology classes, becoming an administrative aid and keeping records for the Botany Department. Jones later joined the UC Berkeley faculty and taught courses on plant materials and led field work classes. Jones became an authority on acacias and is considered one of the notable women of California for her advancement of the botanical and landscape side of horticulture. The Katherine D. Jones collection consists primarily of materials Jones used for her teaching and research. It includes correspondence, field notes, course materials, lists of plants, papers on botanical subjects, pamphlets on flowers and vines, and articles on plant ecology. The bulk of the collection consists of notebooks centered on garden subjects, field trips, site visits, and plant research. The collection also includes photographs, plant cards, and extensive research files on vines which resulted in a monograph on this subject.