The Faculty History Project documents faculty members who have been associated with the University of Michigan since 1837. Key in this effort is to celebrate the intellectual life of the University. This Faculty History Website is intended as a component of the effort to document the extraordinary academic achievements of Michigan’s faculty in building and sustaining one of the world’s great universities. It provides access to a comprehensive database of information concerning the thousands of faculty members who have served the University of Michigan.
Find out more.

The Bentley Historical Library serves as the official archives for the University.

Memoir

Edwin Butterworth Mains
Regents' Proceedings 27

Edwin Butterworth Mains is retiring from the active faculty after thirty years as Professor of Botany and Director of the University Herbarium.

A graduate of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in the Class of 1913, he earned his doctorate here in 1916. In the ensuing years, while serving as a botanist with the Agricultural Experiment Station of Purdue University, he established himself as an authority on those plant rusts whose changeling nature has made them at once a scourge to the farmer and a challenge to the mycologist.

In 1930 the University recalled him to assume the offices from which he is now retiring. Since his return, he has added significantly to his own stature and to the sum total of human knowledge in his field. During the latter half of his career, he has devoted also major attention to the fungi, which are parasitic upon insects.

Professor Mains' bibliography contains over a hundred entries; his contribution to the graduate program of his department has been outstanding; under his direction the University's botanical collections have been greatly enriched and their uses productively extended.

The Regents of the University, conferring on him the titles Director Emeritus of the University Herbarium and Professor Emeritus of Botany, together with all perquisites of those titles, express their admiration for his professional attainments and their gratitude for his many faithful services.