Ruth Holden

Ruth Holden (November 27, 1890 – April 21, 1917) was an American paleobotanist and nurse, who died in Russia during World War I. Biography Ruth Holden was born on November 27, 1890, in the city of Attleboro in Massachusetts. She grew up in the city with her parents Charles and Caroline Holden. She had two siblings, an older sister, Alice, and a younger brother, John. Her father was a doctor. She was educated at Attleborough High School where she was valedictorian of the class of 1907; she then studied at Radcliffe College, Harvard. She graduated from Radcliffe in 1911 and received her MA the following year. While at Radcliffe she studied Paleobotany with Professor E. C Jeffrey. She was awarded the Caroline Wilby prize for her thesis Reduction and Reversion in the North American SalicaIes. She used the money from this and other academic prizes to pursue her interest in fossil hunting. For example, she collected fossils in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in Canada in the summer of 1911. In 1912, Holden made her first trip to England where she attended a "Summer Meeting" at Cambridge University where she was able to examine their collection of fossil plants.