Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

We hope you will join us on 12 December 2024 (1–3 pm) for an open house where our curators will discuss select items from the collections. Our archivist will display fragments from De Viribus Herbarum (ca.1150, our oldest item), letters from famous writers, the slides that led to the first unshared Nobel prize in physiology or medicine given to a woman, items from Holocaust-survivor Theodor Philipp Haas and photographs from a USDA botanist in South America who counted the head of the CIA as a friend. In addition to two recent works our librarian will display several rare books, including Maria Sibylla Merian's landmark folio on the insects of Surinam. Our curators of art will showcase several historical works, including illustrations from a 1787 Spanish exploring expedition to New Spain, watercolors by some of the biggest names in botanical art from the 16th–19th centuries and pages from a ca.1200 manuscript on medicinal plants. Following the open house, the Institute will close at 3 pm that day.