Harriet Barclay

(1901 - 1990)

Profession: Botanist

Hometown: Tulsa

Inducted: 1976

Harriet George Barclay engaged generations of Oklahomans with the beauty of plants. A lifelong educator, she led botanical field trips, presentations, and workshops across the state. Dr. Barclay established The University of Tulsa Botany Department with husband Bertram Don Barclay, teaching there from 1929 to 1972.

Collected from her extensive travels across the Americas, Dr. Barclay donated 35,000 plant samples to the Smithsonian Institution, and 5,000 botanical slides to The University of Tulsa Archives where her photographs and diaries currently are preserved. Dr. Barclay taught at Colorado's Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory for 35 summers, earning the 1971 Educator of the Year Award from the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation. 

Following in her footsteps, her son Arthur S. Barclay studied botany at Harvard and collected plant samples for USDA research for two decades. An avid painter and photographer, Dr. Barclay completed a fine arts degree at age 44. 

Beyond retirement, she remained active with the Oklahoma Native Plant Society, Southwest Association of Naturalists, Tulsa Artists Guild, Tulsa Audubon Society, International Society of Plant Taxonomists, and supported the Roadside Wildflower Program. Thanks to her advocacy and request for help from The Nature Conservancy, 85 acres of land containing unique mixed Ozark flora and fauna are now protected and preserved at the Redbud Valley Ecological Preserve near Tulsa.