Departmental Subject File, 1914-17, 1928-65, 1926-1981 | University of Illinois Archives

Concerned with the classification and overall ecology of plants,¹ this department had its origins in 1893 as the Department of Botany.² However, courses in the discipline have been offered through: Department of Science, Literature, and the Arts (1868);³ Department of Natural History (1868-69);⁴ College of Natural History, School of Natural History (1870);⁵ College of Natural Science, School of Natural History (1871-1890);⁶ College of Science, School of Natural History (1891-1912);⁷ College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1913-present).⁸

The Botany Department was consolidated in 1934 into a Division of Biological Sciences with the Departments of Bacteriology, Entomology, Physiology, and Zoology.⁹ In 1959, the Division was converted to a School of Life Sciences.¹⁰ The Botany Department changed its name to the Department of Plant Biology to "better reflect the mission of the Department in terms of teaching and research...."¹¹

1. Undergraduate Course Catalog, 1972/74, p. 237.

2. Catalogs and Registers, 1893/4, p. 4.

3. Ibid., 1868, p. 6.

4. Ibid., 1868/69, p. 8.

5. Ibid., 1870/71, pp. 24, 33.

6. Ibid., 1871/72, p. 25.

7. Ibid., 1891/92. p. 103.

8. Board of Trustees Transactions, 27th Report, March 11, 1913, p. 200.

9. Ibid., 37th Report, January 26, 1934, p. 432.

10. Ibid., 50th Report., June 23, 1959, p. 435.

11. Ibid., 62nd Report, May 19, 1983, p. 230.