1. Emma Jane Cole was an American teacher, botanist, and curator, and the author of Grand Rapids Flora: A Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Growing Without Cultivation in the Vicinity of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
12 Facts About Emma Cole
1. 2.
Emma Cole was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.
3.
Emma Jane Cole was born in Ohio on January 23,1845.
4.
Emma Cole had three siblings, brothers John and Hugh, and sister Mary Cole Altman.
5.
In 1876, Cole enrolled at Cornell University in New York, which had recently begun admitting women.
6.
Emma Cole worked as a teacher for much of her life.
7.
Emma Cole was one of the first female members of the Kent Scientific Institute, and served as the vice president and botanical curator.
8.
Emma Cole is well known for her 1901 book, Grand Rapids Flora: A Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Growing Without Cultivation in the Vicinity of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
9.
Emma Cole died of kidney failure on April 25,1910, in San Antonio, Texas, following a trip to Mexico.
10.
Emma Cole is buried in Bailey Cemetery in Lowell, Michigan.
11.
Plant specimens collected by Emma Cole are still used for research and study at herbariums including the University of Michigan Herbarium, the Michigan State University herbarium, the Albion College herbarium and the herbarium of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
12.
Emma Cole was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.