The Buell-Small Succession Study is named for its originators. Murray Fife Buell was Professor of Botany at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree under the great plant ecologist, William S. Cooper at the University of Minnesota. Helen Foote Buell earned her Ph.D. in phycology at the University of Minnesota. Although Dr. Helen Buell was not a member of the Rutgers faculty, she was an important member of the intellectual community in botany and ecology, and contributed significantly to the training of students and to research. Dr. John Alvin Small was a botanist on the faculty at Rutgers.

The study was begun in 1958, with the sampling of two fields abandoned the previous fall. That year was the first growing season after the dedication of the Hutcheson Memorial Forest Center (HMFC). Botanists and ecologists at Rutgers had been joined by colleagues and citizens to save Mettler's Woods, the last, old-growth, upland oak forest in New Jersey. In 1951 the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners contributed the crucial donation that enabled the forest and an adjoining agricultural land to be saved from development. The center was named for William L. Hutcheson, the past president of the union, and dedicated to the preservation of the old-growth woods, and to research and education. The fields abutting the forest were slated by Prof. Murray Buell, the first director of the HMFC, to be used for research on succession and other ecological, botanical, and zoological phenomena.

Murray Buell worked on the study until his death in 1975. John Small worked on the project until his death in 1977. Helen Buell worked on the project until the mid 1980's, but enthusiastically continued to share her energy and knowledge until she died in 1995. Dr. Steward T.A. Pickett, who joined the faculty of Rutgers in 1977, began to work on the project in the summer of 1978. He continues to lead the project, joined by plant ecologist Dr. M. L. Cadenasso, community ecologist Dr. P. J. Morin and plant ecologist Dr. S. Bartha. Dr. M. A. Leck was instrumental in conducting sampling in a new field in the 1980s. Although in the early days, the fields were sampled by the Drs. Buell alone, later joined by Dr. Small, the study soon grew too large for them to conduct by themselves. Over the years large numbers of graduate students in botany, zoology, and ecology, several undergraduates, post-doctoral researchers at Rutgers and even visiting scientists have assisted in the sampling. The continuation of the Buell-Small Succession Study would not have been possible without the expert and careful assistance of this array of dedicated scientists, many of whom volunteered their time or worked for a token amount.

Dr. Murray F. Buell's obituary can be found in volume 102 of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, page 201.

Dr. John A. Small's obituary can be found in volume 105 of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, page 70.

Dr. Helen F. Buell's obituary can be read online here.