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Charles Horton Peck, 1833-1917, was a leading American mycologist from 1868 until 1913. This period coincided with the professionalization of American mycology, and was a time of intense work in descriptive taxonomy of fungi. Peck who was self-taught in the identification of fungi was given a position as botanist at the New York State Museum at Albany in 1868 and worked productively in that position until his scientific work was ended by a debilitating stroke in 1913 just prior to his 80th birthday. His earliest botanical interest was in the bryophytes, but he soon turned to mycology and described more than 2,700 new species and varieties of North American fungi during his career.

In addition to specimens, the Museum holds numerous original drawings and paintings of fungi by Charles Peck, Mary Banning, and others plus an extensive file of correspondence covering the formative years of American mycology. Specimens, including types, are available on loan to recognized scientific institutions for taxonomic research.

Peck helped to shape American mycology, yet he was never a student or a teacher of that subject. He was neither the first American mycologist nor did he write a definitive book on the subject, yet he was a central figure in American mycology for most of his professional life and his work still manifests a major influence on mycology. He passed his knowledge on through the "Annual Report of the State Botanist" which amounted to several thousand pages of descriptive mycology over his career, and through a voluminous correspondence carried on with people interested in every aspect of mycology including C. McIlvaine, C. H. Kauffman, J. Macoun, W. A. Murrill, C. L. Shear, and R. M. Underwood.

In the first half of the nineteenth century there was only one person working on the fungi of North America, the European trained mycologist, L. D. von Schweinitz, 1790-1834, an official of the Moravian Church in North Carolina (Rogers, 1977). In the middle of the century, others, including Henry Ravenel, Charles Frost, and Charles Wright, were collectors of fungi but were employed in a variety of other occupations. The self appointed head of this diverse group was Moses Ashley Curtis, of North Carolina, also a church official who studied fungi through the interpretation of Miles Joseph Berkeley in England (Petersen, 1980B). He collected, coordinated and filtered the specimens sent to Berkeley in order to reduce the English mycologists' workload. Curtis became a good mycologist, but by the late 1860's he was afflicted by physical problems that made it difficult for him to work. The need for an American mycologist became acute and it was Peck who came to fill this position.

Charles Peck was born in Rensselaer County, New York about 15 miles east of Albany. His family was of English extraction and had resided in the town of Sand Lake since the close of the 18th century where they farmed and ran a water-powered sawmill (Burnham, 1918). He attended local schools and worked for his father during the summers (Harsha, 1891). His training was in classical languages and mathematics, but while attending Albany Normal School, the forerunner of the State University of New York at Albany, he became interested in Botany. After working as a teacher in a rural school, he entered Union College in Schenectady where he studied Botany and classical studies.

On receipt of his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1859, he accepted a position at the Sand Lake Collegiate Institute, where he had once been a student, and taught Botany, Mathematics, Greek, and Latin. It was during this period, just prior to the Civil War, that he married, had his first son and continued his studies at Union College, where he received a Master of Arts degree. In 1863 he took a new job at the Albany Classical Institute known as "Cass's Academy" and moved his family to Albany. He undertook the serious study of mosses and made a most fortuitous contact with Judge Clinton. George William Clinton was the son of DeWitt Clinton, governor and presidential candidate, and grand nephew of George Clinton, New York's first governor and America's vice-president under Jefferson and Madison. This heritage did not insure financial security as he was left without financial resources on the death of his father and had to give up his botanical studies for a more lucrative career in law. Among the numerous positions Clinton held was membership on the New York State Board of Regents, the governing body of public education in the State, where one of his duties was oversight of the State Museum of Natural History (Neilans, 1963). His private ambition now was to further the study of botany by encouraging young botanists in their work. He had also undertaken the study of mosses, and it was through this common interest that he met Peck. In 1866 Clinton encouraged Peck to volunteer in the State Herbarium to build up its collections. Peck was hired full time as a botanist in 1868.

George William Clinton was the son of DeWitt Clinton, governor and presidential candidate, and grand nephew of George Clinton, New York's first governor and America's vice-president under Jefferson and Madison. This pedigree did not insure financial security as he was left without financial resources on the death of his father and he had to give up his botanical studies for a more lucrative career in law. Among the numerous positions he held, was membership in the New York State Board of Regents, the governing body of public education in the State where one of his duties was the overseeing of the State Museum of Natural History (Neilans, 1963). His private ambition now was to further the study of botany by encouraging young botanists in their work. He had also undertaken the study of mosses, and it was through this common interest that he met Peck. In 1866 Clinton encouraged Peck to volunteer to work in the State herbarium and to build up its collections. Peck was hired, full time there as a botanist in 1868.

In the years preceding 1870, Peck was working on the bryophytes. The serious study of bryophytes in the United States got underway in the 1840's with William Sullivant and the European transplant, Leo Lesquereux, and later with Coe Finch Austin and Thomas James (Slack, 1987). In 1865 Peck published his first paper, "The Catalogue of Mosses Presented to the State of New York" in the "Annual Report of the State Cabinet of Natural History". One of Peck's close friends, Elliot C. Howe, MD of Troy, New York, who like Peck first studied bryophytes and later the fungi, urged Peck to work on a fungus list for the state (Peck, 1899a). He offered his own collection of 267 species and his taxonomic outline of the fungi for a beginning. Peck allowed that it was a good idea and estimated that it would take four to five years. Peck's part in this still uncompleted task took 45 years.

One of Peck's close friends, Elliot C. Howe, MD of Troy, NY, was also interested in mosses but had started to work on fungi. Howe urged Peck to start work on a fungus list for the state (Peck, 1899a). He offered his own collection of 267 species and his taxonomic outline of the fungi for a beginning. Peck allowed that it was a good idea and estimated that it would take four to five years. Peck's part in this still uncompleted task took 45 years.

Peck was a private person, loved his home grown fruits and vegetables, was trim and fit, and enjoyed walking and climbing in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains. He abstained from cursing, tobacco, and alcohol and was an early riser. He was a Republican and a Presbyterian with very sincere religious convictions. He believed in a simple, straightforward world governed by the Creator. His was a world where species did not change. His views against Darwin were firm and the work of the Tulasne brothers in France, who demonstrated the pleomorphic life cycle, was not easy for him to accept. Peck's first years of work with the fungi were spent in collecting, learning from the books of Persoon and Fries, and in processing specimens sent to him by Clinton, Howe, and others. He sent the specimens he could not identify to Curtis in North Carolina and M. C. Cooke at Kew (Atkinson, 1918). Between 1870-1874, Peck sent 400 specimens to Cooke many of which we described in Cooke's new journal "Grevillea". These specimens are still at Kew. Peck, however, retained a larger portion of each collection and these remain at the New York State Museum (NYS) (Barr et al., 1985). After 1875 Peck no longer sent fungi out for identification and he seldom co-authored a species with someone else. He was becoming the final authority on American fungi and received specimens from all parts of the country (Bessey, 1914).

Peck's first years of work with the fungi were spent in collecting, learning from the books of Persoon and Fries, and in processing specimens sent to him by Clinton, Howe, and others. He sent the specimens he could not identify to Curtis in North Carolina and M. C. Cooke at Kew (Atkinson, 1918). Between 1870-1874 Peck sent 400 specimens to Cooke many of which we described in Cooke's new journal, Grevillea. These specimens are still at Kew. Peck, however, retained a larger portion of each collection and these are in the New York State Herbarium (Barr et al., 1985). After 1875 Peck no longer sent fungi out for identification and he seldom co-authored a species with someone else. He was becoming the final authority on American fungi and received specimens from all parts of the country (Bessey, 1914).

Atkinson, G. F. 1918. Charles Horton Peck. Bot. Gaz. 65: 103-108.

Barr, M. E., C. T. Rogerson, S. J. Smith and J. H. Haines. 1986. An Annotated Catalog of the Pyrenomycetes Described by Charles H. Peck. New York State Museum Bulletin 459, 74 pp. (See Museum Publications website for availability)

Bessey, C. E. 1914. A notable botanical career. Science 40: 48.

Burnham, S. H. 1918. Charles Horton Peck. Mycologia 11: 33-39.

Carson, R. M. L. 1973. Peaks and People of the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Mountain Club, Glens Falls. 280 pp.

Gilbertson, R. L. 1962. Index to species and varieties of fungi described by C. H. Peck from 1909-1915. Mycologia 54: 460-465.

Haines, J. H. 1978. Charles Horton Peck. McIlvainea 3: 3-10.

Haines, J. H. 1986. Charles Peck and his contributions to American mycology. Mycotaxon 26: 17-27.

Haines, J. H. 1991. Peck's Day Out. Mushroom, the Journal. Spring 1991: 29-31.

Harsha, D. A. 1891. Noted Living Albanians. Weed & Parsons, Albany. pp. 325-330.

House, H. D. 1917. The Peck testimonial exhibit of mushroom models. Science 46: 204.

Kauffman, C. H. 1915. The fungi of North Elba. New York State Museum Bulletin 179: 80-104.

Lloyd, C. G. 1908. A visit to Professor Peck. Mycological Notes 29: 376-379.

Lloyd, C. G. 1912. Professor Charles H. Peck. Mycological Notes 38: 510-512.

Murrill, W. A. 1915. Mycologia 7: 111-112

Neilans, D. D. 1963. The Botanical Life and Times of George W. Clinton. Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis. State University of New York at Buffalo. 70 pp.

Peck, C. H. 1899a. Elliot Calvin Howe (1828-1899). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 251-252.

Peck, C. H. 1899b. Plants of North Elba. New York State Museum Bulletin 6(28): 1-266.

Peck, C. H. 1906. In: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. James White & Co., New York. 13: 49.

Peck, C. H. 1907. In: Who's Who in New York City and State. L. R. Honorsly & Co., New York.

Peck, C. H. 1912. In: Who's Who in science. J & A Churchill, London. 1912.

Petersen, R. H. 1980. Annual Reports of the State Botanist 1868-1912, reprinted 1980. Boerhaave Press, Leiden. (pages not consecutively numbered).

Petersen, R. H. 1980. "B & C": The Mycological Association of M. J. Berkeley and M. A. Curtis. Bibliotheca Mycologica 72, J. Kramer, Vaduz. 120 pp.

Rogers, D. P. 1977. L. D. de Schweinitz and early American mycology. Mycologia 69: 223-245.

Slack, N. G. 1987. Charles Horton Peck, Bryologist, and the Legitimation of Botany in New York State. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 45: 28-45.