News
Experience our origin story
15 March 2023
Every organization has an origin story. Our story begins with Rachel Hunt (1882–1963), who so loved books that she became a bookbinder and then an avid collector. Few know the extent of the role played by George H. M. Lawrence (1910–1978), our founding director (1960–1970). Through a series of early letters on display in our lobby you can experience Lawrence's unbridled enthusiasm as he develops a research program for the new library and begins to visualize its potential.
About the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora.
Media Contact:
Scarlett T. Townsend
412-268-7304
st19@andrew.cmu.edu
