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My Mother's Fern Collection
by Betty Mitham

      My mother, Dorothy M. (Bayard) Goodday was born on a farm in Welsford, N.B. in 1895. She grew up at a time when essays for Arbor Day and why we should be kind to animals were standard parts of the school curriculum. She took a lively interest in gardening and all things to do with nature for most of her life.

      When I showed Gart Bishop a collection of N.B. ferns she had gathered in Welsford, Saint John and Milligeville while attending Saint John High School in 1913, he suggested that I give them to the New Brunswick Museum. This collection is bound with a stiff gray cover painted with daffodils and looks like a scrapbook but inside is a glimpse of the past. There are numerous ferns in good condition--considering that they were picked 90 years ago--labeled with their Latin and common names, date, place and terrain in which they were found.

      The museum's Curator of Botany, Stephen Clayden, was more than willing to accept them for the herbarium, praising the care and attention to detail that went into preparing them.

      Looking over the collection myself, I was impressed as to how much work my mother had put into it. She died in 1984 but the collection makes me realize more poignantly how much her interest in wildflowers, birds and nearly all aspects of nature were nurtured in me during my childhood and as I grew up. Both of my parents were important in this, but especially my mother. It is good to know her collection is where it will help others appreciate New Brunswick's native plants, past and present.

      Her concern for the environment was strong even in her mid 80's when we took her to a Park where we often camped while she was visiting us in Montreal. When I threw a banana peel into the bushes she asked why I had done that? I said it would compost but was scolded with "If everyone did that....etc." so regardless of age I was still her daughter to be corrected!!! I haven't forgotten it.