MURBARGER, Nell

From Islapedia
Nell Murbarger (1909-1991)

MURBARGER, Nell H. (1909-1991) [SS#560-05-3109], South Dakota-born outdoorswoman, journalist, ghost town explorer and avocational botanist who collected plants on San Clemente Island in 1936, along with a large collection of Indian relics. She is credited with being the first to collect Lithophragma maximum on the island.

From 1931-1939 she was married to Washington-born Wilbur Blake “Sarge” Murbarger (1894-1986) [SS#551-32-9459]. She worked for several western newspapers and magazines, including Los Angeles Examiner, Costa Mesa Globe Herald, and Desert Magazine, and authored several non-fiction books. Two-hundred twenty two of her San Clemente Island specimens collected between March 1 and May 1936 are located at the University of California, Berkley herbarium.


“Mrs. Nell S. Murbarger, author, Costa Mesa, California, first visited San Clemente Island with her parents in 1926, obtaining permission from E. G. Blair. Then in 1935 she returned with her husband, Wilbur B. Murbarger, an archaeologist interested in obtaining Indian artifacts on the island; her parents; and a friend, Dora Tucker, of Las Vegas. They left Costa Mesa after the Thanksgiving holiday in 1935, and returned June 2, 1936. Fortunately, during this visit, Dr. Herbert L. Mason of the University of California, sent her a plant press, and she collected extensively, visiting all parts of the island by foot. These collections (UC) were numbered 1-242; nearly all are cited here. Her interesting collection contains a number of species not otherwise known from the island. In studying them, it is important to know that Mrs. Murbarger kindly loaned me two chapters of an unpublished manuscript on San Clemente Island from which I was able to extract additional information about the plants she observed...” [Raven, Peter H. San Clemente Flora in Aliso 5:3 (289-347) Article 8, April 15, 1963


Botanist Nell Murbarger had a particular interest in Capt. Charles Davis:


  • 1947. Murbarger, Nell California's Vanished Islanders in Grizzly Bear Magazine 79:4-5 May 1947




Article re: Capt. Charles Davis
[original in SCIF archives]


Murbarger collected on:

  • San Clemente Island (1936, 1938)



In the News~

October 25, 1936 [LAT]: Costa Mesa. More than 450 relics of Indian days, an extremely valuable collection, were brought from San Clemente Island, the country’s newest naval base, by two Costa Mesa couples, who obtained the relics during an eleven-week period in which they were practically isolated from civilization. The discoveries were made by Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Murbarger and Mrs. Murbarger’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Lounsberry, all of whom have a wide knowledge of archaeology and botany. Mrs. Murbarger also gathered 240 varieties of plants for the University of California. Also discovered were early issues of the Los Angeles Times yellowed with age. Workmen found them crammed between old partitions of a historic ranch house at Wilson Cove. Five automobile loads of equipment, including 1000 pounds of provisions were conveyed to the plant on the forty-two-foot cruiser, Elf-Fin. Tents housed members of the party. While the relic-hunters worked, wild goats and their kids scampered about. Hundreds of calves played in the nurseries of the rookeries along the shores as sea lions and hair seals barked and played. Wild domestic cats, over-running the island, hissed at them. Nests of osprey and bald eagle were discovered. The collection of plants contained many found nowhere else in the world. Many perfect mortars weighing as much as twenty-five pounds, steatite bowls, basalt knives, picks and stone hooks, abalone shell dishes, charm stones, hair ornaments and artistic stone lamps were among the specimens found.”



Island Collections~
ISLAND COLLECTOR INSTITUTION DATE NUMBER SPECIMEN
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC n.d. UC-55653 Lithophragma maximum Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557622 Bergerocactus emoryi Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557624 Opuntia prolifera Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557625 Opuntia litoralis Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557626 Bergerocactus emoryi Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557627 Opuntia sp Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557632 Selaginella bigelovii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557648 Dichelostemma capitatum Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557652 Plantago erecta Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1936 UC-557654 Viola pedunculata Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557656 Ambrosia chamissonis Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557660 Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. confertiflorum Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557660 Encilia californica Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557662 Cirsium occidentale var. occidentale Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557664 Achillea millefolium Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557677 Sonchus oleraceus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557678 Senecio lyonii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557681 Gilia nevinii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557688 Triteleia clementina Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557700 Acmispon dendroideus var. traskiae Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557701 Lotus strigosus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557702 Marrubium vulgare Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-557704 Trifolium depauperatum var. amplectens Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55712 Capsella bursa-pastoris Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55715 Claytonia perfoliata subsp. mexicana Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55720 Tropidocarpum gracile Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55721 Sisymbrium irio Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55723 Silene gallica Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55737 Galium aparine Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55738 Galium catalinense subsp. acrispum Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55743 Layia platyglossa Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55746 Sonchus oleraceus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55747 Amsinckia intermedia Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55769 Trifolium wildenovii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55771 Lupinus truncatus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55773 Lupinus guadalupensis Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55789 Erodium moschatum Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55793 Pectocarya linearis subsp. ferocula Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55798 Malacothrix foliosa Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55801 Collinsia heterophylla Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55804 Uropappus lindleyi Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55806 Microseris douglasii subsp. platycarpha Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55807 Pseudognaphalium biolettii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55808 Stebbinsoseris heterocarpa Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55809 Thysanocarpus laciniatus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55810 Lathyrus vestitus var. vestitus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55821 Nuttallanthus texanus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55823 Calystegia macrostegia subsp. amplissima Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-55829 Mimulus aurantiacus var. parviflorus Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC March 1, 1936 UC-572679 Avena fatua Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC April 1936 UC-557802 Castilleja grisea Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC April 1936 UC-557813 Delphinium variegatum subsp. thornei Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC April 1936 UC-557684 Camissoniopsis guadalupensis subsp. clementina Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC May 1936 UC-557745 Munzothamnus blairii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC May 1936 UC-557768 Astragalus nevinii Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC May 1936 UC-557783 Brodiaea kinkiensis Plants
San Clemente Island Nell Murbarger UC May 1936 UC-557734 Malacothamnus clementinus Plants
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