PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Stuart Kimball Harris (1906 – 1969) by Frances Woodward Richardson

Frances Richardson has contributed many profiles to Mountain Passages of the people who made New Hampshire. 

Stuart Kimball (Slim) Harris was a long-time professor of Biology and Botany at Boston University, an active AMC member and Hutman at the Lake of the Clouds Hut, and the author of many articles and books.

Stuart, the son of Hayden Bosworth Harris and Vina May Harris, was born in Haverhill, MA on January 30, 1906. He married Calista Crane, born April 28, 1902, daughter of Clarance and Stella (Howard) Crane on August 24, 1929, in Natick, MA. Stuart and Calista (Cal) both naturalists, spent time in the White Mountains and eventually became Hutmen working at The Lake of the Clouds Hut.

Their daughter, Sally was born on November 20, 1937. In the summer of 1939, Slim carried Sally in a papoose basket to the Zealand Notch Hut and later to the Lake of the Clouds Hut on his back.

Joe Dodge, manager of the Hut System, asked Stuart, Calista, Sally, and brother, Kimball to be the summer crew at the Zealand Notch Hut in 1949. Sally was the youngest “hut girl” on record at seven years old.

Stuart was a scholar who held several degrees. After High School, he received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Boston University in 1927, a Bachelor of Science in 1930, and a Master of Arts in 1932. In 1936 he earned a Master in Botany from Harvard University.  Dr. Harris taught Biology and Botany for thirty-six years on the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts at Boston University.  He published many scholarly papers on botanical topics, often published in AMC journals or Rhodora, a publication of the New England Botanical Club.

Since 1930, Stuart was a member of the New England Botanical club. He was the Recording Secretary for the Club from 1935 to 1964, and President in 1964.

In 1949, the Mount Washington Observatory added Stuart Harris to its Board of Directors joining many other eminent scientists advising and overseeing one of the preeminent meteorological institutions in the world.

Both Slim and Cal were botanists, and they worked together to write a seven-part series of articles, PLANTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RANGE, published in APPALACHIA from 1940-1946. In 1964, Stuart published AMC FIELD GUIDE to MOUNTAIN FLOWERS of NEW ENGLAND.

Stuart and Calista built a “base camp” north of Berlin, N.H. for their hikes in the mountains. He continued his interest in the AMC and became the Club’s Naturalist leading annual Spring Flower Tours in the Presidential Range.

Stuart traveled extensively collecting plants for study and identification He went to California, Honduras, and Mexico, and in 1944 on a scientific expedition to Alaska and the Yukon over the Alcan Highway where he served as a cook.

The family stayed in California where Sally married Sanford (Sandy) Wilber in August 1961. They worked with endangered birds in National Wildlife Refuges in California and Idaho. They returned to the base camp in Berlin, to live until 2008.

Being a naturalist, Stuart enjoyed studying and identifying birds at his camp and made annual Christmas bird counts for the Audubon Society, He also was a silversmith and a weaver.

Stuart K, Harris died July 30, 1969 (63), Calista died on March 16, 1993 (90) in Oregon and Sally died on December 25, 2022 (85) in Oregon.

References:

• THE STORY OF MOUNT WASHINGTON, by F. Allen Burt
• OLD HUTCROO ASSOCIATION
• WHITE MOUNTAIN SOJOURN, by Alex Macphail
• RHODORA, by Ralph C. Bean