James Franklin Collins was born in North Anson, Maine, on Dec. 29, 1863, and spent the latter part of his youth in Providence, R.I. After high school, he worked as a silversmith, from 1879-1899. During this time, he began studying botany with W.W. Bailey, which led to his becoming part-time curator of the Brown University herbarium starting in 1894. Collins switched to botany as a full-time career when he began teaching at Brown in 1899. From 1906-1911, he was head of the botany department at Brown. His interests shifted toward forest pathology, and he worked as a pathologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Brown, from 1911-1933. His interests as a pathologist included tree surgery and chestnut blight.

Collins was involved in a number of collecting trips with M.L. Fernald, particularly in the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. According to Fernald, Collins concentrated on collecting bryophytes and hoped to devote more time to the study of mosses after his retirement; he was prevented from doing so by ill-health. Collins kept detailed diaries of the field trips and also took many photographs. Collins died on Nov. 14, 1940, in Cranston, R.I.

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