ArtPlantae Today

The following tours and lectures will be offered during The Hunt’s 50th anniversary celebration. Learn more about this special event by reading, Botany and History Entwined: Rachel Hunt’s Legacy.

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora.

• USDA Botanist B.Y. Morrison and His Forward-thinking Secretary, May Blaine – Sunday, September 18, 2011; 2:00 PM. Archivist Angela Todd will present Morrison’s sketches and ink drawings of private and public gardens in Asia dating back to 1915 when he received a travel fellowship from Harvard. His lively drawings exist today because of the encouragement of his secretary, May Blaine. As women entered colleges and universities but did not rise to the ranks of scientists, those degreed women taught high school botany and worked as secretaries, lab assistants and wives. The women in the USDA secretarial pool all had post-secondary schooling, including Blaine. She was secretary to the head of the Department of Plant Exploration and Introduction from 1918 to 1955, serving eight different heads, including Morrison. Blaine not only sent her private correspondence with and short biographies of USDA explorers and botanists to Hunt Botanical Library but also convinced Morrison, who saw no need to preserve his legacy, to send his drawings, too.
• Gallery Tour of the Reading Room’s Antique Furniture – During Carnegie Mellon’s Cèilidh Weekend, Curatorial Assistant Catherine Hammond will give a gallery tour on Saturday, October 29, 2011 (2:00 PM), and Publication and Marketing Manager Scarlett Townsend will give a tour on Sunday, October 30, 2011 (2:00 PM), of the antique furniture in the reading room which was designed to capture the essence of Rachel Hunt’s personal library. The herbals, the autograph letters and the Redouté paintings were important elements of her original collection, but equally important to her was the setting in which these items were enjoyed. She did not want her new library to look common or commercial. With the help of Harold LeBaron, her longtime interior decorator, and George H. M. Lawrence, our founding director, she chose items reflecting her tastes and personality.
• Pierre-Joseph Redouté and His Collaboration with Botanists – Sunday, November 6, 2011; 2:00 PM. Curator of Art Lugene Bruno will discuss the work of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) who is considered to be the most famous flower painter of the 19th century. Redouté exhibited his floral bouquets in the Paris Salon and illustrated some of the most beautiful color-plate folios ever produced. What is less known is the work that Redouté created for many important botanists of his era. This talk will include his work for Charles Louis L’Heritier (1746–1800), who was the first to recognize that Redouté’s talent could be channeled into creating scientific illustrations that would compliment botanical texts, which helped to launch Redouté’s multi-faceted career. Prints by Redouté from a selection of publications will be on temporary display during the talk.
• At the Center of the Network: Dutch Botanist Carolus Clusius (1526-1609) – Sunday, December 4, 2011; 2:00 PM. Librarian Charlotte Tancin will lead a discussion about botanist, traveler, writer, correspondent and exotic plant and animal enthusiast, Clusius, who used his vast personal network to gain and spread information, exchange seeds and plants, and advance knowledge of the natural world. His career touched all four subject areas of our 50th anniversary exhibition: herbals, gardens, botany and travel and exploration. His stature and legacy made him a major figure in the history of botany and plant introduction and thus a natural subject of interest for Rachel Hunt.

This information has been added to Classes Near You > Pennsylvania.

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