Beard Turfgrass Library Collection Dedication

DR. JAMES B BEARD

THE BEARD TURFGRASS LIBRARY COLLECTION

Youth and college years

Professor James B Beard donated his turfgrass library collection to the Michigan State University Libraries in 2003. It forms a distinctive entity within the Turfgrass Information Center’s collection that had its origins in Beard’s research while he served on the faculty at Michigan State University from 1961 until 1975. A tireless worker, Beard shaped the movement that successfully elevated the study of turfgrasses, and their use and maintenance from art to science. His thorough and meticulous investigations led to identification and acquisition of materials, pertaining to both management and scientific research, from around the world that make up both collections. Since no significant body of turf materials existed in any university library, he recognized both the need for and the opportunity to build a literature collection in support of turf science, research, and teaching.

Born in 1935, Beard grew up on an 120-acre farm near Bradford, Ohio, where he acquired an appreciation for challenges faced by agriculturalists. The Beard farmstead is on a section land-grant signed by President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. The Beards raised cows, hogs, and chickens, and grew corn, wheat, alfalfa, and soybeans. He wanted to farm, but while studying at The Ohio State University (B.S., summa cum laude, 1957) he realized that his family’s farm was too small to be economically viable in the future. Consequently, he chose to follow an academic career devoted to the study of agriculture and the application of the results of his research to everyday life. Intrigued by the opportunities presented by the infant discipline of turfgrass research evolving at Purdue University, Beard went to Purdue to do his graduate study under the direction of Professor William H. Daniel (Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1950), a pioneer turfgrass specialist. He received his M.S. in 1959 and his Ph.D. in 1961.

Harriet Beard has worked side by side with James throughout his career and has played an essential role in assembling the collection. Harriet Jean Coon, who lived on the farm adjacent to the Beards knew James during childhood. Since the school district line followed the fence between their farms, they went to different schools, but both attended the Greenville Creek Church, which had been built by James’ great grandfather. Harriet, a gifted singer and soloist, and James sang in the church choir. In 1955, they married in the church and now have two sons, Jim and John, and a granddaughter, Amanda.

Work at Michigan State University

Professor Beard started his teaching career at Michigan State University in 1961 and went to Texas A&M University in 1975. He taught undergraduate courses in turfgrass culture and cultural systems, stress physiology, and golf course design, construction, and maintenance. While at Michigan State, he started the two-year technical course in turfgrass management that quickly enrolled eighty students. Upon graduation, students find excellent job opportunities—particularly in golf course management. Under his leadership, attendance at the annual turf conference at Michigan State grew from only 35 to over 700.

The tension that exists in land-grant institutions between pure or basic science and applied science influenced Professor Beard’s approach to the study of turfgrasses and his commitment to serving the world-wide public. All of his work and resulting publications, whether scientific or technical, are based on fundamental scientific research. As a result, he earned the respect of the turf industry for his recommendations to them that led to their financial support for the scientific experimentation needed to arrive at answers to practical questions.

Early research

Funding has shaped and driven much of Professor Beard’s research and career. Leaders in the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation recruited Beard to come to Michigan State University after he completed his doctoral studies at Purdue. They supplied $6,000 and some old equipment for him to begin a turf program. Beard focused his research on environmental stresses that affected turfgrasses, looking for improved ways to grow them. The turf industry in Michigan funded the creation of field and variety plots, fertility treatments, and other applied dimensions of turf research, but it also supported Beard’s basic research in botany and plant physiology. With the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1960s money was appropriated to study grasses along the roadside. Also in the 1960s, Beard received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build a biochemistry laboratory devoted to researching environmental stress on turf. In 1969, he won another NSF grant to do a post-doctoral study at the University of California-Riverside in advanced plant physiology. Beard’s fruitful relationship with the Michigan turf industry led to his long and continuing working relationship with the national and international industry.

Contribution to establishment Turfgrass Programs

Beard worked to bring together the turf industry, the state legislature, and Michigan State University to fund a strong turf research program. But it was not until he had gone to Texas A&M that the industry successfully lobbied the legislature to fund extension and technician positions in turf. The industry also won administrative approval for the allocation of land and authorization for the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center that was dedicated at Michigan State in 1981. One of the strongest turf programs in the country now exists at Michigan State as a result of the partnership between the industry and the university. At Texas A&M, two extension specialists were already on staff and new physiology and field research laboratories were being built to facilitate Beard’s research.

Later research

Work done by Beard and others helped to elevate turf programs to highly respected positions in crop and soil science departments. Beard’s insistence that the study of turf develop as a scientific discipline helped to bring it into the mainstream of agricultural science. He demonstrated that the $52 billion turfgrass industry touched the lives of millions of people who never got near a farm, but they wanted green lawns, quality golf courses, safe and durable ball fields, and beautiful parks.

Areas of research

A brief enumeration of several areas of Beard’s research demonstrates the range of his interests and the impact of his work. While at Michigan State, he found that disease, not lack of sunlight, was the primary factor that hampered the growth of grass in shady places. Beard and Professor Paul Rieke did the research that led to improved methods of sod production nation-wide. His studies at Texas A&M concerning evapotranspiration of warm-season grasses enabled the development of new varieties and cultural practices that used less water, thereby contributing to water conservation. Beard also contributed much to a better understanding and prevention of both winterkill and traffic stress for both warm- and cool-season grasses.

Publication of Turfgrass: Science and Culture

James Beard published Turfgrass: Science and Culture in 1973, and it is still in print and widely used today. This work put turfgrass study on a sound scientific basis by making available a textbook rooted in the literature of known scientific experimentation done on turf and Beard’s own research. With Harriet’s assistance, he identified thousands of items, scattered throughout the world, that he read in preparation for writing the book; the research and writing took eight years. Librarians at the Michigan State University Libraries supported Beard’s work by purchasing materials and borrowing other items through interlibrary loan. The accumulation of these research materials ultimately led to the creation of the Turfgrass Information Center at Michigan State University.

Beard emphasizes that people employ turfgrasses for functional, recreational, and ornamental purposes. His organizational structure can help researchers formulate questions to ask when consulting the collection. These concepts bring together the results of scientific investigation, the practical application of the research, the successful creation of turf surfaces, and their culture. Knowing this helps us to understand how turf contributes to a better quality of life and health. Functionally, grasses help to impede soil erosion by wind and water, degrade organic compounds such as pesticides and herbicides, improve wildlife habitats, reduce heat in cities through evapotranspiration, and slow down fast moving vehicles that have run off the road. Grass surfaces that can withstand cleats and quick changes in weather allow men, women, and children to compete more safely while playing football, soccer, golf, and baseball, among a host of other sports. Well kept lawns make homes, businesses, and parks more safe, attractive, and pleasant.

Publication of Turfgrass Bibliography From 1672 to 1977

Motivated by their desire to make turfgrass writings accessible to a broader audience, the Beards and Dr. David P. Martin published Turfgrass Bibliography From 1672 to 1972 in 1977. This work is an expanded literature review of over 16,000 scientific, semi-technical, and popular publications brought together by 1972 to enable Beard to write Turfgrass: Science and Culture. During the last forty years, Beard has added many titles of his own to the turfgrass literature by publishing a total of seven books, over 280 scientific papers, and nearly 500 technical articles.

Publication of Turf Management for Golf Courses

In 1982 Beard, with the input of others, transformed his scientific knowledge into a comprehensive “handbook” to show owners and operators of golf courses the most effective ways to build, maintain, and manage their facilities. Turf Management for Golf Courses carried on a service started by the United States Golf Association (USGA) when it published Turf for Golf Courses (1917) by Charles V. Piper and Russell A. Oakley and Turf Management (1950, rev. 1962) by H. Burton Musser. Beard wrote and the USGA published the third revision of this indispensable tool for managers of golf courses in 1982, with a revision released in 2002.

Texas A&M research

At Texas A&M, Professor Beard had the occasion to study warm-season turfgrasses. This gave him a wonderful opportunity to expand his knowledge and research that added to his work done with cool-season turfgrasses in Michigan. This enabled him to develop a more comprehensive and authoritative vision and understanding of turfgrasses throughout the world.

Whether intended or not, Beard picked up Professor W. J. Beal’s pioneering research into grasses that started at Michigan Agricultural College in the 1870s. While at Michigan State, Beard noticed the presence of bermudagrass, a warm-season species, in a number of places on the old central campus and collected a number of turf-type for study. Beal had experimented with bermudagrasses hoping to find a grass that could be mixed with Kentucky bluegrass in order to sustain a green grass cover during the summer heat and drought stresses. Some of Beal’s grasses adapted to the cold of Michigan and survived on scattered North Campus locations. This germplasm was used by Kansas State University to develop the best cold-hardy bermudagrass varieties.

International Turfgrass Conference

Throughout his career, Beard has worked to improve communication and the exchange of information on an international level in the turf field. He and Harriet organized the first meeting of the International Turfgrass Research Conference in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s Sports Turf Research Institute held at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, England in 1969. Conferees from the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries presented papers ranging from scientific research projects to adult education programs. The International Turfgrass Society was formed at this 1969 Conference with Dr. Beard being the first President. Since then the Conference has reconvened at a number of international locations every four years hosting between 350 and 450 people from all over the world.

Beard travels extensively to all parts of the globe to lecture and to offer advice to audiences who are interested in turf research taking place in the United States. Included on the list of countries that have invited him are: Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Argentina, Austria, South Korea, England, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, South Africa, Israel, Portugal, Greece, and Sweden. Beard has been a key principal in the development of strong education and research programs in Italy and Japan.

Communication of knowledge

Beard passed along his knowledge and methodologies to over forty graduate students who studied under him while earning their masters or doctoral degrees at Michigan State and Texas A&M. Many now teach and train more students in scientific turf research and its application to the world of turf at universities around the country. They share the results of their work with colleagues at professional conferences, particularly the Turfgrass Division (C-5) of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and at meetings of practitioners in the turf industry. Beard served as President of the CSSA in 1985-86. One of his graduate students, Dr. Robert C. Shearman of the University of Nebraska held this office in 1995.

Throughout his career, Professor Beard has remained in touch with the public. Lack of extension specialists in turf at Michigan State encouraged him to respond to a myriad of requests from people in the state wanting information and advice about issues related to turf. Each letter and phone call required an individual reply that took much time, but fulfilled the university’s land-grant mission to put knowledge gained from the institution’s research into the hands of the people. Countless conversations with individuals and public lectures before groups interested in turf provided another avenue of teaching people how to solve their problems based on his findings.

Actions on behalf of the O.J. Noer Research Foundation

The James B Beard Turfgrass Library Collection joins the O. J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection to form the premier collection in the world of research materials and literature relating to the history of the study of turf. Beard initiated the effort to bring the Noer Collection to the Michigan State University Libraries. In 1966, he gave a lecture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after which he visited the personal library of O. J. Noer, who had passed away recently. Noer served for many years as the agronomist for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission during which time he collected the very early research papers, conference proceedings, and slides all relating to the history of turfgrass development. Beard enlisted the support of Dr. Richard Chapin, Director of the MSU Libraries, who together brought the collection to East Lansing in 1968. Over the years, the O. J. Noer Research Foundation has provided financial assistance to purchase historical items for the collection, and Charles G. Wilson and James Latham solicited materials on behalf of the Foundation for donation to the collection. James Watson, Thomas Mascaro, James Gallager, William H. Daniel, Kenyon T. Payne, Fred Opperman, and Paul Rieke, along with the Green Section of the USGA have also donated particularly notable materials. Between 1984 and 1993, grant money from the USGA Turfgrass Research Program and funds from the MSU Libraries paid for the creation of an online database to make the literature more accessible. Researchers, practitioners, and students from all over the world now make use of the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF), an online index to the turf science and management literature, both print and electronic.

The Beard Collection includes nearly all of the books and publications relating to turf culture, beginning just before 1900, and many supporting items relevant to the broader context of grasses and landscape care dating to the mid-1700s. Since Professor Beard’s career is intertwined with the evolution of the agronomic turfgrass discipline itself, his collection embodies its scientific development during the last half of the twentieth century. Turf science is also an applied science, and the Beard Collection includes a wealth of professional turf management periodical literature, conference proceedings, trade journals, extension publications, and in some cases, the popular press--published by a wide range of international, national, regional, and local organizations. In addition, Beard collected theses and dissertations, technical reports, continuing education resources, and some original manuscripts. The Beard Collection is a unique compilation, built to support a comprehensive understanding of turfgrass science and management as it evolved and diversified. It is the epitome of a land-grant collection.

After his retirement from Texas A&M University in 1992, James B Beard, Professor Emeritus of Turfgrass Science, has served as President and Chief Scientist for the International Sports Turf Institute in College Station, Texas. James and Harriet Beard maintain a close connection with Michigan State, and they spend their summers at their northern home on Lake Leelanau near Cedar, located in Leelanau County.

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