Digital copies of selected books accessible from our Library page
We are beginning to put digital copies online of selected published works from our Library that are unique, rare, unusual, or otherwise special. As of May 2008, several digitized books have been added to our Library Web pages.
One of these was produced by Bohemian botanists Friedrich Berchtold (1781–1876) and Jan Svatopluk Presl (1791–1849), O Prirozenosti Rostlin aneb Rostlinár…(Prague, Jos. Krause, 1823–1835). Our copy lacks the text of volume three of this relatively rare botanical work, but the rest of the text is accessible here, along with all of the plates and four part-wrappers.
Also available on our site is a digital copy of a work by John Ellis (1710?–1776), Directions for Bringing over Seeds and Plants (London, Printed and sold by L. Davis, 1770), along with his A Botanical Description of the Dionoea muscipula, published in the same volume. In Directions, Ellis discussed techniques for transporting plants and seeds from afar by ship so that they would more likely survive to be grown in a new location. He included a catalogue of exotic plants that might be successfully and usefully grown in the American colonies. The accompanying Venus flytrap description is one he had earlier sent to Carolus Linnaeus.
An unusual Chinese manuscript herbal in our library can now be viewed online. This herbal dates from ca.1800 and was purchased by Rachel Hunt in 1939. The unknown person who added English text to all of the 814 entries written in Chinese also supplied an informal title and description in English: “Account of 814 plants & insects, most of which are reckoned medicinal by the chinese; the representations generally show when the plant itself, or its root, flower, or fruit, is to be used; in reading their names, the vowels a, e, i, are most commonly to be pronounced after the french manner; the book is bound after the chinese manner, and begins where ours end.”
And for an unsurpassable visual treat, please look at Livre de Fleurs … (Paris, Joan le Clerc, 1620), by the French artist and engraver François L’Anglois (1589–1647). These 17th-century plates depict garden flowers such as irises and tulips along with songbirds and insects. Elaborately curled banners display pre-Linnaean Latin names.
Open House 2008
We've set the date for Open House 2008. It will be 22–23 June. Mark your calendars. The schedule is available on the Open House page. We hope to see you.
Donating to the Hunt Institute
Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt’s botanical collections of books, art, manuscripts, and portraits are known for their depth and fine quality, reflecting her enthusiasm and expertise in plants, gardens, books, and history. She was determined that her collections be “living” resources—not only preserved but also curated actively and used productively in the service of science and scholarship. To those ends, we continue to develop and enhance the collections at Hunt Institute, working to make them accessible and to preserve them for the future. We have an international audience and a small but growing group of interested donors. You can help to strengthen our collections and programs through monetary and/or material gifts.
Donor Recognition
We gratefully recognize donations in a variety of ways, such as with a letter of thanks, mention in our Bulletin and on our Web site, and through the use of donor bookplates. Of course, donors who wish to remain anonymous could be listed as such or may decline any official mention.
Monetary and Material Gifts
Monetary donations to Hunt Institute are tax deductible. Monetary gifts may be applied to our general operating fund or to the endowment generously established by the Roy A. Hunt Foundation to provide ongoing support for Hunt Institute. In addition to building the collections, gifts can be used for archival storage supplies, conservation and repair of collection material, digitizing and databasing projects, and production of publications. If you would like to expedite a current project or enable us to begin one, please let us know; special project support is always welcome. Or consider giving to one of the following funds:
Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden Art Acquisition Fund
This fund is named in honor of the late artist Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden (1907–2007). A 1930 graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), Anne Ophelia is considered America’s leading botanical artist of the past century. After working as a teacher and a textile designer, Anne Ophelia turned her attention to botanical illustration in the 1950s, embarking on another career. She worked from specimens to achieve correct and exacting details in her artworks and with botanists to ensure accuracy. Fascinated by the natural world and its connections, especially pollination, she wanted to educate, interest and engage the public about plants. To this end, she illustrated nine books and wrote and illustrated eleven for which she also did the design, layout and the publication preparation herself decades before desktop publishing. Her passion for botanical art, science and education made her so special and inspired a generation of artists. She also maintained numerous contacts with botanists, artists, and botanical gardens, and whenever she spotted new artistic talent, she made recommendations to the Hunt Institute.
The naming of this acquisition fund after Anne Ophelia is a fitting tribute to her legacy. Our restricted budget hampers the acquisition of works by artists, particularly those new to our series of International Exhibitions. Unlike funds in our regular budget, which are contingent on the fiscal year, monies in the Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden Art Acquisition Fund will remain available until needed. The purchase of artworks from this fund will enable us to support and recognize artists working in the genre of botanical art.
Our collection includes Anne Ophelia’s bequest of over 450 artworks from which we have organized several exhibitions and travel shows. In donating her artworks to the Institute, Anne Ophelia wanted them to be preserved, but she also wanted them to be accessible for study by botanical artists. This fund will allow us to preserve artworks by the current generation of botanical artists and make them available for study by the next.
Individuals, as well as botanical art societies and other organizations, may find this fund an attractive way to support the Hunt Institute. We are very pleased to thank Lotte H. Blaustein and the American Society of Botanical Artists for the first donations to this fund. For further information write James J. White, Curator of Art, Hunt Institute.
Ronald L. Stuckey Endowment for the Preservation of Botanical History
In 2003 Dr. Ronald L. Stuckey, professor emeritus of botany at The Ohio State University, established the Ronald L. Stuckey Endowment for the Preservation of Botanical History at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. This fund will help us to acquire and preserve photographs, biographical sketches, and obituaries of botanists, as well as books on botanical history and bibliography. We are grateful for Dr. Stuckey’s long-time interest in Hunt Institute, its collections and its mission. We welcome additional contributions to this fund from others who share our commitment to the preservation of botanical history.
Material gifts of artworks, books, papers, etc., are greatly appreciated. For more information about the types of material gifts that we are able to accept, please see the Archives, Art, Bibliography, and Library pages. Material not suitable for the collections will be returned promptly to the donor, or the donor can choose for the Institute to sell the items to raise funds, to offer them to another library, or (for published materials) to include them in the Institute’s duplicate sales.
We are happy to provide a letter of acknowledgment and a list of the material received, along with short descriptions if needed, but we are not permitted by the IRS, nor are we sufficiently knowledgeable, to make appraisals on items donated to us. If you have retained the purchase receipts connected with your gift(s), these might serve your tax purposes in lieu of an appraisal.
Memorial Gifts
Memorial gifts are also welcome. For example, books purchased through your contribution can be marked with a donor bookplate upon request, acknowledging your gift in memory of or on behalf of someone.
Other Types of Contributions
There are other ways that you can help. Take our biographical record forms to distribute at scientific or botanical art meetings to help swell our biographical files. If you see botanical biographies and obituaries, drop a note to our Archivist about them. Send us notices about botanists that appear in newspapers, magazines and other regional or non-botanical publications. If you know of a group that will be meeting in or visiting Pittsburgh, suggest that they contact us about a group visit to Hunt Institute.
Please don’t hesitate to confer with us about any proposed gift, including its use and acknowledgment. We appreciate your involvement, and we thank you for your interest.
Archives Collection List
Finding aids for individual collections have been linked from the Archives Collection List for Michel Adanson (1727–1806), Paul Hamilton Allen (1911–1963), an Anonymous collector of Narcissus, William Andrew Archer (1894–1973), Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954), Peter René Oscar Bally (1895–1980), Rudolph Beer (1873–1940), Bernard Boivin (1916–1985), Botanical Garden of Padua, Botanical Society of America—Pacific Section, Adolphe Théodore Brongniart (1801–1876), Joachim Camerer (1534–1598), Harold Trevor Clifford (1927–), 11th International Botanical Congress (Seattle, 1969), David Grandison Fairchild (1869–1954), Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte, Edward Lee Greene (843–1915), Frederick Joseph Hermann (1906–1987), Hunt Botanical Library, John Hutchinson (1884–1972), Hugo Iltis (1882–1952), Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727–1817), Jean Francois De Galaup (Comte) de La Perouse (1741–1788), George Hill Mathewson Lawrence (1910–1978), John Bernhard Leiberg (1853–1913), Willem Daniel Margadant (1916–1997), Mildred Esther Mathias (1906–1995), Franz Carl Mertens (1764–1831), Philip Miller (1691–1771), Benjamin Yoe Morrison (1891–1966), Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761–1836), David Prain (1857–1944), Joseph Rock (1884–1962), Velva Rudd (1910–1999), Norman Hudson Russell (1921–), William Edwin Safford (1859–1926), and Charles Swingle (1899–1978). More finding aids will be added soon. PDFs of thumbnails of individual and group portraits and biographical citations for many of the above subjects have been added to the individual collection pages.
