Nancy Adams and the art of seaweed; a conversation with Wendy Nelson, and a trip to Days Bay

As part of a summer research project, Lucia Adams from Botany and Annie Barnard from Art are working with Te Papa’s collection of Nancy Adams’ works. Annie and Lucia are digitising botanical specimens that Nancy collected, enriching catalogue records of her artworks and archival material, and doing research and writing about her work and influence. They are taking a series of field trips to sites that were important in Nancy’s life and work, as well as interviewing people who were important in Nancy’s life.

Blog two: the world of seaweed

A conversation with Wendy Nelson

For some background research on Nancy Adams, we interviewed the world-renowned New Zealand marine scientist Wendy Nelson, for some history and personal insights. Wendy is a professor and Honorary Academic at Auckland University, a Senior Research Fellow at Auckland Museum, and a Research Associate at Te Papa. We loved talking to Wendy and came back with a new perspective on who Nancy was, and what her work was like at the time. What follows is a reflection on our conversation.

On the woman behind the work

Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. Nancy had lovely deep brown eyes, and always parted her hair down the middle. She was described as having a very sharp mind (and sometimes tongue!) but was kindhearted and everyone was fond of her. She suffered an illness in her youth that ultimately meant she had restricted mobility, but this in no way affected her determination or curbed her scientific and artistic achievements.

During her lifetime (1926–2007), scientific research was largely male-dominated, however, there were many successful, brilliant women working in botany. We were interested in how this came to be. Wendy Nelson suspects that botany was an acceptable science because it dealt with flowers, creating an idea that it’s a suitable activity for women. Wendy noted hearing of a man being shocked by early 20th century botanical writer and artist Ellen Blackwell discussing plant reproductive structures, as it was not a “proper thing” for ladies to discuss.

Nancy Adams still had associates overlook her contributions to botanical science. But for those following in her footsteps, Nancy’s illustrations were and still are hugely valuable. During her time at Te Papa (1959–1987), Nancy worked on specimens in the herbarium, she pressed and identified plants, taught classes on marine algae, collaborated with other botanists and produced many detailed pieces of botanical art. She appeared in upwards of fifty different publications; her contributions including botanical specimens, artworks, and scientific research. Nancy went on to win the New Zealand’s highest botanical conservation award, the Loder Cup and was awarded a Queens Service Order and made a companion of the British Empire among other awards. Additionally, she had several plants named after her, including two genera of algae: Nancythalia and Adamsiella.

On Nancy Adams’ professional relationships

It is common to see brilliant people such as Nancy make strong professional and personal relationships due to a shared passion over niche interests. Her lifelong passion for botany resulted in many collaborations with other significant people in the field. This is reflected in the books she has published, many of which are co-authored, and likewise her appearances in papers, science research reports, and other authors’ books.

Wendy Nelson

The first time Wendy worked with Nancy was at the Oceanographic Institute (now part of NIWA) doing postdoctoral study. Wendy was working on expanding information about flora of Rangitāhua (the Kermadec Islands). On her return, Nancy carefully helped her identify and catalogue the samples she had collected.

Wendy has a profound respect for Nancy Adams and appreciated how accurately her drawings “captured the sense of species”. She especially noted how they include small taxonomically significant details that might not be easily seen or captured in a regular photograph.

Wendy used some of Nancy’s artworks in her latest book New Zealand Seaweeds: An Illustrated Guide (2020) and she often collaborated with her on research projects and scientific papers.

Lucy Moore

During Nancy’s role as Technician for the DSIR, she worked closely with Lucy Moore (1906–1987) an extremely accomplished New Zealand botanist. Working alongside Lucy at such an early stage in her career was an impressive achievement and one that would open many doors for her in the future. Lucy published papers and books with the support of Nancy’s observations. Lucy Moore was the most senior woman scientist in the DSIR for decades and studied algae (among many other plants). Lucy was described as motivated and strong-willed. Together Lucy and Nancy wrote the 1963 book Plants of The New Zealand Coast.

Lucy and Nancy went on many trips together throughout their careers. After Lucy retired, they supported their friendship and kept in contact.

Sir Alan Mark

Sir Alan Mark is a New Zealand botanist, emeritus professor of Botany at Otago University, and an environmentalist who played a key role in the Save Lake Manapouri campaign. He was knighted in 2009 for his outstanding environmental work. Nancy worked with Alan to co-author the book New Zealand Alpine Plants, published in 1973.

While working on this book, the pair collected and documented alpine plants on camping expeditions. They were often accompanied by Alan’s family, namely his spouse Patricia Kaye Mark (née Davie) and their four children. Nancy painted the alpine plants from reference specimens found in the field, which is reflected in the detail of her watercolours.

Max Hommersand

Max Hommersand (1930–2022) was an American botanist and professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina. His area of research was marine algae, and he was particularly interested in Southern Hemisphere seaweeds.

In 1974–75 Max was in New Zealand to collect and study certain group of red algae in the New Zealand flora. This was when he and Nancy first met and bonded over seaweeds. Max was brilliant and could think abstractly, and he recognised Nancy’s intellect and botanical knowledge. Wendy highlighted their friendship, saying “they just really clicked and could talk about anything”.

Max and Nancy kept in contact and collaborated often, sharing notes and plant specimens. Max would often send Nancy photos and scans of specimens of algae from international herbaria for referencing.

Patrick Brownsey

Patrick Brownsey (1948–2023) began as a curator at the National Museum, now Te Papa, in 1977. Nancy was working as a technician at the time, and she would often know more than her seniors. Patrick noticed and respected her ability in botanical art, her taxonomic knowledge and her detail in curatorial and collection practices. One particularly interesting project they worked on was the extensive Hector Aquisition, particularly the Silvanus Thompson algae collection.

This collection was a selection of algae collected by Silvanous Thompson from the 1760s to the 1830s and had stayed unpacked for decades. In 1977, Patrick, Nancy, and Fiona Pitt, who was a technician at the time, documented and properly stored this collection, totalling about 1,800 plants all together. Wendy said, “They were a really good team.”

Our field trip to Days Bay

We have been cataloguing and digitising Nancy Adams’ archived works, including the seaweeds, juvenilia, various slides, and notebooks. We were fascinated by her seaweeds in particular and felt inspired to visit one of her common algae collection areas in Eastbourne on the 1st of February.

It was a beautiful day; the tide was low. We had Wendy Nelson’s easy-to-use field guide, and we partook in some amateur botanising. We found three common seaweeds that we could identify with the help of her book, even matching one to a drawing done by Nancy.

We explored among large rocks and boulders, and various small rockpools. One plant we found was Hormosira banksii, a common seaweed in New Zealand. This seaweed is otherwise known by another very cool name – Neptune’s necklace. We put our observation on iNaturalist and got very fast responses from other naturalists to identify our seaweeds that was encouraging and helpful.

Our reflection

This has been a wonderful and touching blog to write, as we explored a deeper personal level to Nancy Adams. There are many people who were important to her and many who remember her fondly. We hope that this part of her legacy is remembered among her many achievements.

References and related blogs

A special thanks to Wendy Nelson for her personal insights, and to Sir Alan Mark and to Ewen Cameron (Research Associate for Auckland Museum) who both assisted with identifying several photographs while cataloguing.

References and related blogs

• Wendy A. Nelson (2008) Nancy Adams (1926–2007), Phycologia, 47:1, 1-4, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.2216/0031-8884%282008%2947%5B1%3ANA%5D2.0.CO%3B2
• Alan Mark (2007) Obituary: (Jacqueline) Nancy Mary Adams, CBE, QSO. 1926–2007, , 45:3, 515-519, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00288250709509735
• Paula Martin, Lives with Science: Profiles of Senior New Zealand Women in Science, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 1993.
• Nancy Adams, Wendy Nelson, and the Three Kings’ Seaweeds, Te Papa’s Blog, August 21, 2016