Ernest Imle Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS0220

Staff Only

Content Description

The Ernest Imle Papers include photographs, reports, and articles about U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rubber research from the 1940s to the 1970s, primarily at the Regional Rubber Experiment Station in Turrialba, Costa Rica. There are also articles and correspondence on tropical agriculture, including cacao, and publications on lilies.

Dates

Creation: 1940-2000
Creation: Majority of material found within 1940-1980

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Biographical Sketch

Ernest Imle (b. 1910), a plant pathologist, began working for USDA in 1942. He was director of the Regional Rubber Experiment Station in Turrialba, Costa Rica, from 1945 to 1954. He worked as a botanist for the Plant Introduction Section from 1955 to 1957. From 1957 to 1971, Imle served as director of research at the American Cocoa Research Institute. He then became assistant director of the International Programs Division of the Agricultural Research Service from 1971 to 1998. His research interests included improvement and diseases of tropical crops, research and training needs in tropical agriculture, plant introduction, and quarantine and germplasm problems. Imle developed budding techniques for the rapid production of commercial plants with a vigorous rootstock, a high-yielding stem, and a blight-resistant crown.