Herbarium History
Eighty years old this year, the Ramsey-Freer Herbarium represents the longest-running research effort at the College. It is the largest herbarium (over 60,000 specimens) of any private college in Virginia and the fourth largest in the state. During its existence, the LC herbarium has been curated by two directors, each of whom contributed forty years of service to this significant botanical endeavor.
The late Dr. Ruskin Freer, who served as professor of biology at Lynchburg College from 1924 until 1964, founded the herbarium in 1927 and oversaw the deposition of approximately 3,000 specimens during his tenure. His contributions to the field of biology included zoological as well as botanical knowledge. A founding member of the Virginia Society of Ornithology, author of the Birds of Lynchburg, Virginia and Vicinity , and numerous scholarly papers, he also served as editor of the Virginia Journal of Science and as president of the Virginia Academy of Science.
Dr. Gwynn Ramsey, professor emeritus of biology at the College, succeeded Dr. Freer as herbarium curator in 1967 and still serves in that capacity. In addition to greatly increasing the herbarium's holdings, Dr. Ramsey has made extensive use of its resources in teaching, documenting the floristic diversity of Virginia, especially the Central Blue Ridge Mountains, and extending the biosystematic knowledge of North American bugbanes (Cimicifuga species). Dr. Ramsey is the author of more than thirty-five publications, some co-authored with students, and is co-author of The Atlas of the Flora of Virginia.
