Friends of ANDERSEN HORTICULTURAL LIBRARY a News University of Minnesota Libraries • Minnesota Landscape Arboretum • Volume 2, Number 2 • Summer 1997 :Tjr ssm, :» ' BERTO] lypoue* Nat. Orel. Melasto: Gen. Char. Calycis tubus eanr interdum conoretis iu limbran i qualia; antherco ovatse, obtusie. Ovarium non setosum. Capsnlt uncinatis transverse sub apici Semina cuneato-triquetra, seabra. ovata, cordata, h-W-nervia, c alhi mt purpurei. Bertolonia maculata; caule r pedunculisque Mrsutis, fo passim maculatis birsutid laterali, calyeibus bispidub Beetolonia maculata ; Be Gai liras, v. 3. p. 116. t. 257. This is one of the ma in our stoves, distinguish upper and underside difi rich and glossy surface, i manner as to give a cop] sented in a drawing. r received at the Kew G Wood Road Nursery, nr Naudin. But the plant curious and beautiful gen tiel consiste,” as M. Nar la forme tout-a-fait inso is equally certain that it of Martins above quoted, elegant object, especially of the microscope; for it prominent angles and si margin of the lobes of DECEMBER 1ST, 1850. Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 OFFICERS Susan Cross, President Robert Torkeison, Vice‘President Jean Brown, Secretary Uoyd Brandt, Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Eleanor Andersen Elmer L Andersen Uoyd Brandt Jean Brown Susan Cross Richard T. Isaacson Robert Torkeison COMMITTEE CHA IRS Florence Boughton, Membership Helen King & Bill Scaiff. Book Sale \ Ruth Seaman, Catling Chair LIBRARY STAFF Richard T Isaacson, Bibliographer and Head librarian Nancy Allison, Library Assistant Susan Cross, Library Assistant C. Renee Jensen, Library Assistant Evelyn Sand, Library Assistant FRIENDS OF ANDERSEN HORTICULTURAL LIBRARY NEWS Andersen Horticultural library Minnesota Landscape Arboretum 3675 Arboretum Dr., Bax 39 Chtmhassm MN 5531? Subscription atdy: $10.00 per year Membership in AHL Friends (includes Newsletter): $10.00 individual; $15.00 household Copyright 1997 Friends of AHL The University of Minnnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Calendar of Friends Events July 28th-Monday. Friends regular meeting. 1:00 p.m. Fireplace Room. Program: Northrup King and Company: Tracing its History Through the Collections 's of Andersen Horticultural Library. RichardT. Isaacson, AHL. Free to Friends, $7.00 non-members. September 18th- Members Book Sale Preview. 6:00 p.m. Snyder Building Auditorium. September 19-20-21-Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Friends Annual Book Sale. 10:00 to 4:00. Snyder Building Auditorium. October 27th- Monday. Friends regular meeting. 1:00 p.m. Fireplace Room. Program: The Arboretum's Plant Collections. David Stevenson, Curator. Free to Friends, $7.00 non-members. The Annual Book Sale of the Friends of Andersen Horticultural Library Friends Preview: Thursday, September 18th 6:00-8:30 Book Sale Friday, Saturday, Sunday September 19, 20, 21 - 10:00 to 4:00. Snyder Building Auditorium. The 1997 Eighth Annual Book Sale of the Friends of Andersen Horticultural Library will be held on the above dates. The hard working book sale committee under the direction of Helen King and Bill Scarffhave been sorting books all year for the sale. It promises to be another treasure trove for book collectors. Only members of the Friends have a chance to preview the sale and make their special purchases on theThursday night before the sale. Members of the Friends willing to volunteer for the sale should call Helen at 545-5356. See you there! 2 Friends of AHL Library News Summer 1997 Message from Susan Susan Cross, President Dear Members, As I write this my first letter to you, I realize that many of the Library Friends are still only names to me. I tried to phone each of you before the April meeting, but was unsuccessful in some cases. I hope before my tenure is over I have met you all. The calling committee, ably lead by Ruth Seaman will be calling everyone before our regular July 28th meeting. We had 33 members at the April meeting to hear Deb Brown speak about unusual questions that Dial-U has fielded over the years. Deb brought along speci­ mens sent in by callers, and it was interesting to see how people interpret the plant world. A thank-you gift of a book was sent to Deb with the packag­ ing labeled ‘plant samples’. In her thank-you note she said she Cover: Bertolinia maculata Curtis's Botanical Magazine vol76 1850 PI. 4551 (see article on W.H. Fitch) would accept like samples any time. During the business part of the April meeting, the membership voted to spend undesignated funds to buy a used copier and stand for the library. I am happy to say the copier is now in daily use by staff and is appreciated greatly. I am even happier to say that less money was spent than authorized. The other event that has happened since our last meeting was the June 6th dinner and illustrated talk by Vicki Ferreniea. The program was a collaboration of the Friends and the Adult Education Department Fifty persons attended and of these twenty-three were not Friends. Hopefully the interest in this type of program among Arboretum members will bring more visibility to the Friends and encourage new memberships. Other news concerns our very own Amy Owen; she has changed her status from employee to full-time volunteer. Not that she has not volunteered in the past for projects in the library, but she now can come and go from the library as she pleases. She and her husband, Dick, are still active helping with the book sale. Soon a new part-time person will be joining the staff. If you see a new face the next time you visit the library, please introduce yourself as a Friend. The used book sale is our income producer and it is sched­ uled earlier this year, September 19,20 and 21st, not as incor­ rectly stated in the Arboretum Newsletter. Members may buy early on Thursday evening after all the books have been moved to the auditorium, at approximately 6:00 p.m. Persons wishing to help with the moving task on the 18 th should call Helen King or Bill Scarff. I hope to see you all in the near future. 3 Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 The Friends First Three Presidents: An Appreciation by Richard T. Isaacson photos by Bill Seaman Small volunteer organiza­ tions, such as The Friends of Andersen Horticultural Library, often have difficult beginnings. One of the primary reasons our organization did not was because of the effective leadership pro­ vided by its first three Presidents. The Friends has been extremely fortunate that three busy, effective and well organized people have led the organization through its formative years. Barbara Kaerwer, Peg Gruver and Ruth Seaman have all established a high level of leadership that has allowed our group to grow. Barbara Kaerwer, although always working with an extremely busy schedule, agreed at a formation meeting in 1986 to become the first President of the fledgling Friends. She had long been an active user of Andersen Horticultural Library along with her husband, Howard. Barbara was bom and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin. As a youngster, some of Barbara’s fondest memories were traveling to Chicago with her mother and sister to shop, visit the Art Insti­ tute, and Newberry Library, where her mother had previously worked. Barbara graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in political science and later received a Masters in labor law from Marquette University. Part of her reverence for books came from some of her Jesuit teachers at Marquette. After her masters, Barbara worked for the head­ quarters of Allis Chalmers where she was in charge of industrial grievances, especially grievances from women employees during World Warn. She had met and married Howard prior to the war. In 1946, Howard accepted a job at Northrup King necessitating a move to the Twin Cities. In 1951, Howard and Barbara built their home in Eden Prairie. Anyone who has been fortunate to visit their home soon realizes both were active and effective garden­ ers and designers. Hosta, sedum, bonsai, conifers, and rock gar­ dens help make their landscape a showcase. After their move to Minne­ sota, Barbara worked for 8 years at 3M in industrial relations. Deciding on a career change, Barbara began her pursuit of a Masters in Art History from the University of Minnesota. Barbara had a strong interest in art since childhood art classes and trips to the Chicago Art Institute. Also her travels to Europe and enjoy­ ing its museums and treasures cemented her decision to pursue Art as a career. Pursuing her Masters, Barbara studied many aspects of landscape design, including the grand English gardening traditions, Mexican landscape architecture, the cemeteries of America, and the art of Japanese/Chinese land­ scape architecture. She served as lecturer in the Art History Depart­ ment of the University from 1959 to 1962. In 1956 Barbara began her long professional association with The Minneapolis Art Institute. She served 17 years as senior lecturer. Her art history courses became a Minnesota legend being presented in as many as 6 differ­ ent locations throughout the metro area at one time. Also, up to 500 students took these in-depth classes at one time. To support her programs, Barbara developed a large personal art library and over 85,000 cataloged slides. Barbara also initiated her very popular tours to Europe which she led for many years. Barbara’s strong interest in gardens and garden architecture proved to be invaluable as most 4 Friends of AHL Library News Summer 1997 of her tours also included gardens. Because of Howard’s interest in native grasses, he soon became an Arboretum supporter. Soon both Howard and Barbara became interested Arboretum members and volunteers. Barbara has continued her strong support of the Arboretum and Library since Howard died in 1993. Barbara became the first Friend’s President in 1987. She was in charge of the dedicatory program for the Library addition that featured Allen Lacy as speaker. Another memorable Friends event that Barbara led was our very popular trip to the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, St John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota in 1993. The Friends second Presi­ dent, Peg Gruver, also had a varied and interesting life. Peg and her family’s life has been in many ways molded by their interest and work in teaching the deaf. Her father, mother and aunts all were involved with this work. Peg also believes that another thing that has influenced her life is the areas of the country where she lived and worked. Peg’s father was of Pennsyl­ vania German background and was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He had two sisters who became teachers of the deaf and so he too moved to Philadelphia to work at a school for the deaf. By the age of 26, Peg’s father was asked to become Director of one of the most influential schools of the deaf in New York City. Peg’s mother was raised in a large family in Maine. Peg’s mother and one of her sisters also became teachers of the deaf and later worked in Philadelphia. There she met and married Peg’s father in about 1898. Peg’s older sister and brother were bom in New York City. Peg relates how her father decided to leave New York. Asking Peg’s sister at the dinner table how she had spent her day, Peg’s sister replied that she and her mother had gone to Central Park where a policeman blew a whistle at her for playing on the grass. Her father decided that New York City was not the best place to bring up a family. The family moved to Rome in upstate New York where Peg was bom. Peg remembers a very isolated life in a small town atmosphere, and not until later did she realize how beautiful of an area upstate New York is be­ cause in childhood they did not have a car. When Peg was eight her father accepted a job in a Iowa school for the deaf. Again Peg realizes how important her surroundings were when later in life people in the East asked her Barbara Kaerwer, First Friends President 5 Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 •• Peg Gnxver, Second Friends President about her midwestem upbringing evident from her speech. As a young child. Peg suffered from asthma, so her mother during this period taught her at home for 4 years. The Gruver’s remained in Iowa from 1919 to 1925, when they moved again to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, Peg went to high school at a small, progressive girls school. Upon graduation. Peg enrolled in Wheaton College in Norton Massachusetts. Beginning in English, Peg soon changed curricula after realizing how boring to her “poetry in the thirteenth century” could be. She majored in sociology with a psychology minor and states that many of the principles she learned there are still applicable to what is where students came and resided at schools to be educated and receive help. After World War II, transportation improved so many students then began to become day students. Also, the improve­ ments in hearing aids has meant *• almost a complete change in how hearing impaired people can be educated. Hearing aids in Peg’s early career entailed almost 25 pounds of equipment with battery packs and amplifiers, certainly too much poundage for young chil­ dren to cope with. Now with the miniaturization of hearing aids, many children can successfully enjoy education in the public school systems. Throughout Peg’s career, she enjoyed close contact with her students, and the concern of her student’s parents. She states “I have enjoyed many close relations with friends, only sec­ ondarily were some of my friends hearing impaired”. While in Maine, Peg re­ membered the closeness of nature, as the island served as a wildlife refuge. In this environ­ ment, Peg recalled her mother’s love of gardening and some of her high school teachers who first taught her toenjoy and critically observe nature. I Peg visited her sister, Eleanore, who had moved to the Twin Cities area and while here, visited the Arboretum. In 1979, Peg and her newly widowed sister explored retirement living options in the East and in Minne- happening in the 1990’s. “The terminology might have changed, but the principles remain”. In 1933-34 Peg returned to the traditions and values of her family when she began her career in teaching the deaf. She worked for 8 years in Philadelphia and then taught and served as supervi­ sor in a Rhode Island school for the deaf from 1942 to 1966. She moved in 1969 to a school for the deaf on an island outside Port­ land, Maine. Peg notes how such educa­ tion for the deaf has changed over the years in so many ways. Her father’s and her early career revolved around resident schools 6 Friends of AHL Library News Summer 1997 sota. Although they had family in the East, what became the determining factor in moving to Minnesota, was the unique (especially at that time) retirement living opportunities of Friendship Village in Bloomington. Nowhere else could they find the lifecare option and other amenities that they found there. So in 1979 Peg and her sister moved to Friend­ ship Village. In the fall of 1979, Peg remembers hearing a talk given by June Rogier, Andersen Library’s first head librarian, on the need for volunteers to develop a file to help locate sources for plants, especially Arboretum introduced plants. Peg decided this was a job she could handle, so became a dedicated Monday volunteer at Andersen Horticultural Library. Peg understood the value of volunteering, having done so in the East for the Lung Association for many years. She found as a library volunteer the work was varied and the surroundings pleasurable. When the call came to become Friends President, Peg stepped right in. She enjoyed her terms of office and found this small, new organization enjoyable. During her terms of office. Peg regularized meeting dates, initiated the book sales, greatly increased membership and Friends events and activities. Peg remains a loyal Library and Friends member. Ruth Witwer Seaman, our third President, was youngest of five children and was raised on a small faim in Creighton, Nebraska. Her father, Ohio bom, was a farmer and a leader in his commu­ nity. He was active in men’s clubs and his church. Their farm was an average small farm with cows, pigs and com. Ruth’s mother was also active in her community, being a member of a woman’s club and their church. Her mother, as a busy farm wife, probably instilled Ruth’s love of gardening and nature. Large vegetable gardens, flower gardens and an orchard were an active part of Ruth’s upbringing. Gardening was an important part of her early life as with many farms of that era; vegetables were canned, apples, mulberries and raspberries were all used and shared with the community. Ruth remembers her mother always tried new flowers to add to her usual gladiolus and roses and other cutting flowers. She remembers the arrival of Earl May's a.n<\ Henry Field's catalogues and their importance to her mother. Some of the produce was even canned for resale in a small country store her parents operated during the Depression. (Ruth also remem­ bers the hard times, including her mother putting wet sheets at the windows during the worst of the Cotinucd on page 10 Ruth Seaman, Third Friends President r. F 7 Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 Walter Hood Fitch and Curtis's Botanical Magazine By Richard T. Isaacson One of the most prolific and noteworthy plant illustrators of the nineteenth century was the English artist, Walter Hood Fitch (1817-92). There are records of over 12,000 of his published botanical drawings. Whatever else one can say about the early Viaorians, one can safely say they were industrious. One thinks of Darwin, Dickens, Fitch’s patrons WH. Hooker and J.D. Hooker of Kew, and many others. Walter Hood Fitch was born in Glasgowon January 29, 1817. As a child he showed artistic abilities and was given art lessons at an early age. Also, at an early age he developed a strong interest in plants and botany. Jan Lewis in the best biographical account of his life states, “His almost superhuman capacity for work and the speed with which he produced it were matched by great attention to botanical accuracy and tremendous versatility. He was equally at home working direcdy from nature, from dried plants, from the rough sketches of other artists, from verbal or written descriptions, or even from his own strong visual memory, and had an amazing ability to reconstruct his information, sometimes creating one plant from several specimens, or one landscape from several sketches”. (1) He started working with William Jackson Hooker who was editor of the Curtis’s Botanical Magazine in 1834. At the age of 17, Fitch’s first drawing appeared in the issue published in October, 1834. When Dr. Hooker was appointed Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1841, Fitch also moved to Kew. Dr. Hooker said of Fitch, “I don’t think that Fitch could make a mistake in his perspective and oudine not even if he tried”. (2) Mangifera indica (Mango) Curtis's Botanical Magazine vol 76 1850 PI. 4510 8 Friends of AHL Library News Summer 1997 Despite very little renumeration or credit, Fitch continued executing drawings for the Curtiss Botanical Magazine for 44 years. He completed an amazing 2894 plates for this magazine alone. Dissatisfied with the harshness of the engraving process, Fitch became his own lithographer in the 1840’s. He was one of the first illustrators to use a new lithographic printing process drawing directly on stone. “Once the drawing was made or traced directly on to the stone, a special kind of porous limestone, with a special grease pencil, the design was ‘fixed’ and then the surface was damped with water. After this, a roller loaded with greasy ink would be passed over it. The portion that had been wetted with water did not take the ink from the roller, and so when a piece of paper was laid over the stone and the whole passed through a press, only the areas drawn with the grease pencil were transferred to the paper. The process was easy, speedy and more delicate gradations of tone could be achieved”. (3) The plates reproduced here illustrate different aspects ofMr. Fitch’s art. The cover of Bertolinia and the Campylobotrys and the mango are all from the 1850 volume of Curtis. The Spiranthes is an uncolored, unsigned plate from Flora Boreali-Americana. Although he ended his career with Curtis over a dispute over his salary, he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society and also received a state Civil List pension. (4) Andersen Horticultural Library is also fortunate it has examples of other works that the prolific Mr. Fitch illustrated. Some are: Hooker, William Jackson. Flora Boreali-Americana. London: H. Bohn, 1829-40. 2 vols.; Florist and Pomologist London: 1878; Elwes, John Henry. A Monograph of the Genus Lilium. London: 1877-80. Very few botanical Spiranthes decipiens Hooker, William Jackson Flora Boreali-Americana, vol ii. London: Henry Bohn, 1840, PI. 203a 9 Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 Hoya coriacea Curtis's Botanical Magazine vol 76 1850 PI. 4518 artists have left such a legacy as Walter Hood Fitch. (1) Lewis, Jan Walter Hood Fitch: A Celebration. London: HMSO/ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1992. p 1. (2) Blunt, Wilfrid. The Art of Botanical Illustration. London: William Collins, 1951. p. 226. (3) de Bray, Lys. The Art of Botanical Illustration. Bromley, Kent: Christopher Helm, 1989. p 141. (4) Daniels, Gilbert S. Artists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Pittsbutgh: Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, 1974. p 28. Continuee from page 7 Depression’s dust storms). One of her fondest memories of this period is attending plays at an outdoor stage which her parents helped support. Here they saw not only local amateur produc­ tions, but productions put on by a travelling professional troupe from Chautauqua, New York. Ruth remembers riding 3 on a horse travelling to country school, and later boarding in town to attend high school. After graduation, Ruth attended and graduated from the Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis in 1940. Intending to become a missionary, Ruth first worked around Denbigh, Virginia, a very impoverished area, both as a Sunday School superintendent and a general spreader of the Good Word in a large surround­ ing area. One exciting time Ruth remembers was coming to a house in the backwoods where a mother was in trouble, no doctor - so Ruth helped deliver the baby! After three years of this church work, Ruth came home to Grand Island, Nebraska and soon started working in a photo finishing studio. For those of us who know Ruth and Bill well, we can guess what happened next. Ruth met Bill (Ruth says they met in the darkroom so they didn’t know what they were gettinginto!) and they weie married in Ruth’s parents home in February, 1945. Bill wanted to pursue a job as a photographic journalist, so he sent applications to large papers 10 Friends of AHL Library News Summer 1997 in St Louis, Chicago, Denver and Minneapolis. In May of 1945 the newlyweds loaded all their possessions into a 1932 Chevrolet and travelled to Minne­ apolis. It took 3 days as they continued having flat tires. Bill started his career with the Star- Tribune and Ruth got a job at a photo finishing firm. Bill had a long, illustrative career with the Star-Tribune which included winning a Pulitzer Prize for Photography (the only photogra­ pher in the Upper Midwest to be awarded this honor) in 1959. Ruth changed her job to housewife when their son, Larry, was bom in 1950. In 1953 they moved to their home in St Louis Park where they have lived for 44 years. One of Ruth’s tasks as a new homeowner was to develop a landscape. She soon had a showplace with roses, perennials, and annuals. In fact her rose arbor, gardens and children’s play area was so impressive that George Luxton, who had hired Bill at the Star-Tribune, said it was one of the best backyard living spaces he had ever seen. In her new neighborhood she became a charter member of the Westwood Garden Club, and soon became very active in the Federated Garden Clubs of Minnesota. One quote she remembers about joining her garden club was that someone said she would have to only be a member for about one year to learn everything she needed to know about plants and gardening! She soon began taking study courses through the Federation and worked her way to Master Judge. She has served the Fed­ eration in many capacities includ­ ing serving as Minnesota Presi­ dent from 1969-71. In 1967-68, Ruth helped write the Federated Garden Club’s Horticulture Handbook: How to Grow and How to Show which remains in print and has gone through many printings without revision. In 1963, Ruth noted that a local herb society was being formed. She is a charter member with 7 others of the Twin City Herb Society and has become a noted expert on the growing of herbs in the North. One of the reasons she became an expert on growing herbs initially was that not much was known about the culture of herbs in the North and “many said it couldn’t be done”. In 1973, Ruth authored Fun with Herbs which remains the best guide to growing herbs in our area. She is honored that the National Council of State Garden Clubs has listed this guide in their member service catalog of recommended reading. Dr. Leon Snyder gave a program for The Twin City Herb Society, and out of this program the Society decided to embark on a new, exciting project - building an herb garden at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Ruth had earlier become a frequent visitor to the Arboretum and so became an active supporter of this ambi­ tious project. The Twin City Herb Society through its founding of this garden, its active participation in the annual Herb Symposium at the Arboretum, and countless other educational programs at the State Fair and elsewhere has been an important part of Ruth’s life. Soon Ruth was appointed a Trustee of the Minnesota Land­ scape Arboretum. After the first year, Ruth became Secretary of that organization, an office she held for many years. For this service, and much more, she was honored by being elected an Honorary Trustee. Finally, Ruth has been an active supporter and user of Andersen Horticultural Library. An early volunteer, she even helped make the pine cone banner which hangs over the door into the main room of the Library. She was a charter member of the Friends and served on the public­ ity committee for the celebration of the addition to the Library. She volunteered at the first book sale and has remained active at each succeeding sale (including being in charge of the sale of the special books). She served as President of the Friends for 6 years where among her many accomplishments were a new constitution, installa­ tion of a Library security system and a greatly expanded Friends membership. A grateful Friends meeting gave her a standing ovation when she retired last January. A grateful Friends have enjoyed a successful past because of the leadership shown by our first Presidents. 11 Friends of AHL, Library News Summer 1997 JK. dS, First Three Friends Presidents photos by Bill Seaman 1996 Annual Friends Book Sale 12