Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

To Make a Prairie: Pollination and Human Understanding

17 March – 30 June 2026

Building on the words of Emily Dickinson, "To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee," our spring exhibition explored how humanity came to understand one of nature's most essential relationships: the intricate partnership between plants and their pollinators. Although the Hunt Institute specializes in the history of botany, our Art Department presented this exhibition not as a lesson in botany but rather as an exploration of how we came to know what we know. Through historical specimens, illustrations and writings, To Make a Prairie traced the evolution of knowledge about plant reproduction from anecdotal observation to scientific fact and examined how those discoveries were shared, debated and accepted by the global community. Visitors encountered stories of curiosity, collaboration and revelation, demonstrating how centuries of observation transformed into scientific consensus. The exhibition reminded us that the relationship between humans and the natural world is one of reciprocity and wonder, each discovery deepening our understanding of the living systems that sustain us.