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Page 34 · DO #1563 · 40_Slate_Bx4FF3r
- Collection
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George Lewis Slate (1899–1976) papers on Arnold Arboretum
- Item/Folder
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Printed Documents, 1952–1956
- Digital Object
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DO #1563,
page 34
- Collection-level dates
- 1949–1967, n.d.
Page transcription
purpose: "The Arboretum, in the conception of its managers, is a museum founded and carried on to increase the knowledge of trees." "... during its first half century it has been managed not merely as a New England museum but as a national and international institution working to increase knowledge of trees in all parts of the world... [it] must be equipped to answer any question about any tree growing in any part of the world which may be addressed to it."
Accordingly he saw the library as containing "the books in all editions and languages devoted to the description of trees"; "... the library [is] intended to furnish the best possible opportunity for the study of trees." With regard to the herbarium: "If the Arboretum is to become a great institution for gathering and spreading information about trees and allied plants, specimens and a series of photographs of every species of tree in the world should be found in its herbarium."
Both in Sargent's time and since his death, the living collections and the herbarium have together grown as a result of Arboretum expeditions which brought back living specimens and dried herbarium specimens of trees and shrubs from distant parts of the world, especially the far east and the Pacific.
Since the earliest years, part of the Arboretum's budget has been devoted to the support of taxonomic work with ligneous plants, i.e., the description and classification of trees principally on the basis of structure, physiology, genetics and habitat. The herbarium and library were built up principally in this connection and are the principal tools used in the Arboretum's taxonomic work.
The express purposes of the trust are, of course, to create and maintain as large a living collection as possible and to support an Arnold Professor, who is to teach the knowledge of trees as well as care for and manage the whole
institution. Although not expressly provided for in the indenture, the Arboretum's taxonomic work, including the creation and maintenance of its library and herbarium, is proper because it enhances the usefulness of the living collections and contributes in general toward the knowledge of trees and shrubs and their cultivation.
(b) What the Removal to Cambridge Involves.
As we understand it, the modified plans for the new central botanical building provide for four stories and a basement. The top three floors are planned to house the libraries and herbaria of the Gray Herbarium* and the Arnold Arboretum. The ground floor is reserved for plant morphology and palaeobotany, and the basement for palaeobotany and for laboratories and seminar rooms for University instruction. The purpose for which the new combined library and herbarium would exist and be conducted would be the general purposes of the Area of General Morphology. The Bailey Report (p. 43) gives as the main reason for the unification: "Harvard, having attained outstanding recognition in both phanerogamic and cryptogamic taxonomy in the past and having entered into successive commitments and agreements for their support, can profitably retain and integrate them in a strong, broadly conceived development of general morphology." As we have already noted above, the Area would include research and instruction in taxonomy, mycology, phytogeography, comparative anatomy, developmental morphology, palaeobotany, and certain aspects of economic botany, some of which are of no interest, or only remote interest, to the Arboretum.
The combined library and herbarium would be manned by a unified and reduced staff of curators and assistants,
*Now housed in a building which we are informed is admirably adapted for its purposes.