Lespezeda angustifolia collected by Henry Ravenel, A.C. Moore Herbarium, University of South Carolina, Columbia
“We must develop interfaces for a more diverse user base” quote from p. 7 of Extending US Biodiversity Collections to Promote Research and Education
Brochure and Full Report
I argue that in order to reach this goal of attracting new users, the concept of the Extended Specimen Network presented in this report needs itself to be broadened to include more material on history, art, and the humanities generally. A vision of what such connections would look like was developed at a workshop sponsored by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and JSTOR; the video produced afterwards gives a good encapsulation of what such linkages could look like.
Below are links to projects where historical materials about botany are presented in a variety of formats, often including herbarium specimens. In some cases, as with correspondence projects, they could be linked to specimens collected by or for the correspondents.
Online Exhibits
- Poetic Botany created by Ryan Feigenbaum while a Mellon Fellow at New York Botanical Garden
- The Botany of Empire in the Long 18th Century prepared by Sarah Burke Cahalan, Jasmine Casart, and Deirdre Moore at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library
- Livingtsone’s Zambezi Expedition specimens, illustrations, letters, articles
- Historic Southern Naturalists, a project sponsored by several South Carolina institutions
Botanist Websites
- Mark Catesby Botanica Caroliniana alignment of Catesby’s specimens with his Natural History; site is undergoing overhaul this summer.
- Henry Ravenel Plants and Planter specimens, journals, correspondence
- The George Engelmann Papers specimens, references, papers
- Linnaeus Link for library materials including publications, manuscripts, and letters; Specimens held by Linnean Society of London
- Lewis and Clark specimens on JSTOR Global Plants; historical information at Discovering Lewis & Clark
- Charles Darwin Darwin Correspondence Project
- Wallace Letters Online
- John Torrey Papers
- Asa Gray Correspondence Files of the Gray Herbarium
- Joseph Hooker Correspondence Project
