"In Celebration of Plant Science" At The New York Botanical Garden Features Lecture and Tour Series: Plants in Medicine, Art, and Culture

The New York Botanical Garden presents Plants in Medicine, Arts, and Culture, a Sunday afternoon series of stimulating lectures, booksignings, and customized guided tours to highlight its role as a leader in plant science and to commemorate the May 2002 opening of new and renovated facilities -- The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, referred to as a "national treasure" by the National Science Foundation, and The LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

May 11, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
Media Contact: Leeann Lavin
(718) 817-8743;llavin@nybg.org

"In Celebration of Plant Science" At The New York Botanical Garden Features Lecture and Tour Series: Plants in Medicine, Art, and Culture

When: Sunday afternoon: May 19, 2002, 1:45 - 3p.m.Thirty-minute customized guided tours
     run before and after the lecture
     series from 3:15-5:45 p.m. May 19.

Where: The Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture
     Hall,The New York Botanical Garden,
     Bronx, NY

Fees: Register for the lecture: $7 members,
    

· Sunday, May 19, 2002, Introduction 1:45 p.m.-2 p.m. provided by John Reed, Director, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden
Lecture 2-3 p.m.
Drawing Conclusions: Botanical Illustration as Documentation
Using examples from the Garden's LuEsther T. Mertz Library collection, Bernadette Callery discusses the role botanical illustration plays in the process of documenting plant discovery by highlighting rare illustrations, sketchbooks, personal diaries, letters, and field notes from previous eras of plant exploration. Whether found deep in the jungles of the Amazon in the 1800s, or documented for the first time in a royal garden 400 years ago, each plant and its original botanical illustration holds a key role in history.

Bernadette Callery is Librarian at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. She has managed the collections of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation as Librarian and The New York Botanical Garden Library as Research Librarian.
                  
Exclusive Tours: Customized guided tours run after the lecture. This is a unique opportunity for a private viewing of the exhibition, Plants and Gardens Portrayed: Rare and Illustrated Books from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden, including a special selection of items that will not be on public display, but can be seen only by those attending this lecture.

Special Selections
Few people have seen the specially selected illustrations chosen by the speaker, in conjunction with John Reed, Director, The New York Botanical Garden's The LuEsther T. Mertz Library. Reserved exclusively for those who join the tour, enthusiasts have the rare chance to view not only the exceptional illustrations, but to see them featured side by side with the original drawings. The special selections for the customized tour include:

· A reproduction of the original watercolor for the Gladiolus psittacinus plate (1830) in R. Stiff's Flowers from Curtis' Botanical Magazine
· Original drawings and corresponding illustrations for Nymphaea from K.P.F. Martius' Flora Brasiliensis 1840-1906
· Natural history of the Carolinas, 1731-1743, by M. Catesby, with an illustration of the magnolia by Ehret, showing his monogram.
· A Plantsman's ledger book for the years 1793 to1795 - believed to be the oldest record of New York City's early forays into home and gardening. The ledger features a "Who's Who" of the numerous New York notables of the time, including the Aaron Burr family. The ledger shows the transactions for items that vary from plants to lumber to whisky, giving us insight into the lives of early New Yorkers.
· David Hosack's 1806 catalogue of plants from the 20-acre Botanic Garden at Elgin, New York, is a record of the first public botanical garden in the United States, located at what is now Rockefeller Center. Hosack established the garden in 1801, and was a noted professor of botany and medicine at Columbia. Coincidentally, he was also the attending physician at the famed duel between Hamilton and Burr.

For more information, to register or for a FREE catalog, call (718) 817-8747. Or, browse the catalog on the web site: www.nybg.org/edu/conted

Cultivate yourself at The New York Botanical Garden - the best place to learn about plants.
The Continuing Education program is the largest of any botanical garden. It offers over 750
classes, including seven certificate programs in: Botany, Botanical Art & Illustration, Commercial Horticulture, Floral Design, Gardening, Horticultural Therapy, and Landscape Design.