She received international recognition for her detailed and delicate algal illustrations. Included in these publications is an article written by Ella Orr Campbell, a fellow New Zealander, for whom Adams drew Thallus of Marchasta bearing archegoniophores. Īdams was a prolific artist, illustrating nearly forty publications on native plants, alpine life, trees and shrubs. She retired from her position at the museum in 1987 but continued to be an Honorary Research Associate of the Museum. She worked there until 1959, when she was appointed to the Dominion Museum (now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) as assistant Curator of Botany with a special responsibility for algae. However, at 16 she joined the Botany division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR): the department was looking for staff to replace men serving in World War II.

Adams attended Wellington Girls' College and Victoria University College, studying zoology and botany.ĭue to ill health, Adams did not complete her university studies. Her interest was fostered at primary school, where her principal William Martin was an amateur botanist who taught students to draw from nature and took them on trips at Wellington Botanical Gardens. From early in her life Adams displayed a strong interest in both plants and drawing: ‘Right from the time I was very small, I knew somebody did the plant drawings in books. Nancy Adams was born in Levin in 1926, the daughter of Jessie Whittaker and her husband, Kenneth Ernest Adams (grandson of early amateur botanist James Adams.) Īdams' parents separated while she was still young and she grew up in Wellington with her maternal grandparents, the proprietors of the Whittaker's chocolate company. Jacqueline Nancy Mary Adams CBE QSO ( – 27 March 2007) was a New Zealand botanical illustrator and museum curator.

The Secrets of the Sibyl by Nancy Adams