The Wayne E. Manning Herbarium (BUPL) contains approximately 25,000 specimens (ca. 85% databased) of plants including Lycophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. Because of Professor Wayne Eyer Manning's (1899-2004) interest in the systematics of the walnut-hickory family, Bucknell's collection includes a world-class collection of the Juglandaceae. Located in the Rooke Biology Building, the holdings include plants collected primarily in the northeastern United States but also many other parts of the United States, Mexico, and Australia. Student interns and research fellows help to maintain and build the collection, including the databasing of specimens. In 2016, the John R. '56 and Rita McKee P'86 Family Fund was established as a resource to help expand collection storage capacity and support the development of student botanists. Since its establishment in 1945, BUPL has had just three Directors: Manning (1945-1968), Warren Abrahamson (1973-2012), and Chris Martine (2012-present). 

The namesake of the Herbarium is Wayne Eyer Manning. Wayne began his Bucknell career in 1945, a career that spanned 23 years until his retirement in 1968. In those early days, the Biology department at Bucknell University had but five faculty members and the university was home to approximately 1,200 students (today the Biology Department has 27 full-time faculty members and the university enrolls approximately 4,000 students).

During the academic year, Wayne taught literally hundreds of Bucknell students to appreciate and love plants. He was known as the professor who took students “under his wings” and guided many to careers in the sciences and health professions. Many of his former students commented on the kindness and love extended to them by both Wayne and his wife Peg (Margaret Sheldon Manning). Students spoke of the numbers of times they were invited to the Manning’s home. During their summers, the Mannings traveled to their beloved “Cottage Home” at Forest Lake in New Hampshire.

During their Bucknell years, Wayne and Peg developed the wonderful living plant collection that once grew in the Botany Building greenhouse but that now crowns our impressive Biology Building. There were no plants in the Bucknell greenhouse when the Mannings arrived. The Mannings built Bucknell’s living plant collection from zero to over 400 plant species, with Peg managing the day-to-day operation of the greenhouse. Greenhouse Open Houses hosted by the Mannings were legendary and well attended.

Wayne and his students also developed the impressive preserved plant collection known today as the Wayne E. Manning Herbarium (and by the Index Herbariorum acronym BUPL). With its approximately 25,000 specimens, it supports both research and curricular activities. Wayne continued to visit the collection, and work with his walnut specimens, up until just a few years before his passing at the age of 104.