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co-ordination or correlation and with occasional duplication.*
These institutions and agencies were of varied origin and status. While each had a somewhat distinct field, in some respects these fields overlapped. There were occasional disagreements between the various staffs.
Two of these institutions withered on the vine.† The Arnold Arboretum, however, founded in 1872, not only gained world-wide distinction in the field of horticulture, but also obtained more funds than any of the other so-called "orphan institutions."
The Arboretum was developed with consummate skill and indefatigable industry by Professor Charles S. Sargent until his death, in 1927. He gave it to generously in his lifetime, and by his will set up funds which were to accumulate for one and two hundred years, respectively. After his death it was enriched by a fund raised in his memory to continue and support the Arnold Arboretum. Later many other substantial gifts were received. From the beginning the Arboretum steadily grew in importance, and
*The institutions referred to as "independently endowed botanical agencies" or "orphan institutions" in the Bailey Report were the Arnold Arboretum, the Atkins Institution, the Botanic Garden, the Botanical Museum, the Bussey Institution, the Cabot Foundation, the Farlow Library and Herbarium, the Gray Herbarium, and the Harvard Forest. The status of each of these agencies depends, of course, on the circumstances of its founding and the terms of its endowment. Some may, in fact, be agencies of the University, and some, like the Arboretum, may have the status of separate institutions whose property is held in trust.
†The Botanic Garden, of little utility and with an inadequate endowment, ceased to exist in 1948. Under a cy-pres decree of the Supreme Judicial Court, dated August 3, 1948, the income from its funds may now be used for "any botanical purposes." The Bussey Institution, founded with land and endowment given to Harvard in trust, ceased to exist as an institution in 1936 and its funds are now utilized for miscellaneous botanical purposes. The Bussey was discontinued without the sanction of judicial proceedings.
became one of the most widely known of the institutions associated with Harvard, certainly the best known of those in the field of botany and horticulture.
However, the general situation regarding the institutions and agencies "concerned with various theoretical and applied aspects of botany" was not considered satisfactory. During World War II Professor Irving Widmer Bailey was asked to study and report on "Botany and its Applications at Harvard." His Report was published in June, 1945.
In due course the Bailey Report was filed with Dean Buck of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (now also the Provost). In August, 1945, he submitted it to "interested members of the University," with comments indicating his approval.
In the first instance, the Report was approved by most, if not all, of those in the institutions and agencies concerned. The Report, however, gave little or no consideration to legal questions, and a number of those who later objected to the Plan did not fully understand its implications. This is not surprising, for the Bailey Plan is difficult reading, and its full purport with respect to administrative and other matters is not apparent without careful study.
In these circumstances the Plan was submitted to the Corporation and was approved by it in January, 1946. The Corporation was not at this time advised of any legal questions or difficulties inherent in the Plan, and it is probable that its members did not fully realize some of its implications from an administrative standpoint. The Corporation, furthermore, may not have been familiar with all the circumstances in which the Arboretum was founded, as they were not set forth in the Bailey Report, and up to this time no material questions regarding the theory, and few as to the practice, of administering the Arnold Arboretum had arisen.
