James Arthur Doubles, Jr.

Posted on by Carol Ann McCormick

(9 January 1914 – 29 July 2001)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU) has cataloged 19 vascular plant specimens and 361 fungal specimens collected by James Arthur Doubles, Jr.   As NCU continues to catalog our collections it is likely more specimens collected by him will be found.  In 2017-2018 NCU Volunteer Merial Goodwin examined, annotated, and remounted most of Doubles’ myxomycete specimens.  NCU’s fungal collection is available via mycoportal.org.

Other herbaria curating vascular plant specimens collected by Doubles include the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), the New York Botanical Garden (NY), and the University of South Florida (USF).  It appears that NCU is the only herbarium curating fungal/myxomycete specimens collected by Doubles.

J. A. Doubles, Class of 1935, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Image courtesy of Alumni Records, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

James “Jim” Arthur Doubles, Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia on 9 January 1914 to James Arthur and Sarah Elizabeth Montgomery Doubles.  He listed his hometown as Greensboro, North Carolina when he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in September, 1931.  He earned an A.B. in Botany in 1935, then continued at Carolina to earn an M.A. in Botany in 1938 studying with Dr. William Chambers Coker.  The title of Doubles’ masters thesis was “Myxomycetes of the Chapel Hill Area.”  He continued at UNC-CH and earned his Ph.D. in Botany in 1940 under Drs. Coker and John Nathaniel Couch.  The title of his doctoral thesis was “A taxonomic study of the Myxomycetes of North Carolina.” 1

Myxomycete specimen collected by James Arthur Doubles, Jr. and curated by NCU.

Doubles taught at Birmingham Southern College 1947 – 1960, but spent most of his professional career in the Biology Department of Troy University in Troy, Alabama.1

In addition to being active in many professional organizations (Botanical Society of America, Mycological Society of America, Association of Southeastern Biologists, and the Alabama Academy of Science), Dr. Doubles enjoyed bridge, travel and photography.1

James Doubles died on 29 July 2001 in San Diego, California.2

PUBLICATIONS (possibly incomplete list):

Doubles, James Arthur (1938)  Myxomycetes of the Chapel Hill area.  M.A. thesis, Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Doubles, James Arthur (1940)  A taxonomic study of the Myxomycetes of North Carolina.  Ph.D. thesis, Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

James Arthur Doubles, Jr. collected myxomycetes for his graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Most of his labels are handwritten in pencil on notebook paper.


SOURCES:

1. James A. Doubles, Jr.  ’35 Yackety Yack Dope Sheet; 1970 Alumni Directory information sheet; Permanent Alumni Record.  Alumni Records Office, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2.  SS no. 416-42-9234; Issue State:  Alabama.  Ancestry.com.  U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current [database online].  Provo, UT, USA:  Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011.  Original data:  Social Security Administration.  Social Security Death Index, Master File.  Social Security Administration.

J. A. Doubles, Class of 1935, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Image courtesy of Alumni Records, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

Compiled by Carol Ann McCormick, Curator, NCU, 2018.  Updated 2021.
Special thanks to Meredith Tozzer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Alumni Records Office.