The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

at 22 Divinity Avenue,

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the

Harvard Museum of Natural History The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum housed in the University Museum Building, located on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It features 16 galleries with 12,000 speciments drawn from the col ...

. The

Herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

, founded in 1842 by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

, are one of the 10 largest in the world with over 5 million specimens, and including the Botany Libraries, form the world's largest university owned herbarium. The Gray Herbarium is named after him. HUH hosts the Gray Herbarium Index (GCI) as well as an extensive specimen, botanist, and publications database. HUH was the center for botanical research in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

by the time of its founder's retirement in the 1870s. The materials deposited there are one of the three major sources for the

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

. The Botanical museum was founded in 1858. It was originally called the ''Museum of Vegetable Products'' and was predominantly focused on an interdisciplinary study of useful plants (i.e.

economic botany ''Economic Botany'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers all aspects of economic botany. The editor-in-chief is Robert A. Voeks (California State University, Fullerton). The journal was established in 1947 and is published b ...

and

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

). The nucleus of materials for this museum was donated by Sir William Hooker, the Director of the Royal Botanic Garden. Professor

George Lincoln Goodale George Lincoln Goodale (August 3, 1839 – April 12, 1923) was an American botanist and the first director of Harvard’s Botanical Museum (now part of the Harvard Museum of Natural History). It was he who commissioned the making of the Univ ...

became the museum's first director in 1888; under his direction the building was completed in 1890 and provided both research facilities and public exhibit space, which were the botanical complement to the "

Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. Three successive directors substantially enlarged the collections of economic products,

medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

, artifacts,

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

materials,

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

, and

photographs A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

. Faculty and

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s continue to add significantly to the extensive

paleobotanical Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

collections, particularly

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

material containing early life forms. The

Oakes Ames Oakes Ames (January 10, 1804 – May 8, 1873) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. As a congressman, he is credited by many historians as being ...

Collection of Economic Botany, the Paleobotanical Collection (including the Pollen Collection), and the

Margaret Towle Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

Collection of Archaeological Plant Remains are housed in the Botanical Museum building. The Botany libraries and various herbaria are located in the Harvard University Herbaria building. The Botany Libraries collectively are a founding member of the

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

. The Ware Collection of Glass Models of Plants, popularly known as the "

Glass Flowers The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants (or simply the ''Glass Flowers'') is a collection of highly realistic glass botanical models at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Created by Leopold and Rudol ...

," are considered one of the University's great treasures. Commissioned by Goodale, sponsored by Elizabeth C. Ware and her daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

(Goodale's former student), and created by

Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka Leopold Blaschka (27 May 1822 – 3 July 1895) and his son Rudolf Blaschka (17 June 1857 – 1 May 1939) were glass artists from Dresden, Germany, native to the Bohemian (Czech)–German borderland, and known for the production of biological m ...

from 1887 through 1936, the collection comprises approximately 4,400 models including life-size and enlarged parts for over 840

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

. This is the only collection of its type in the world. The Botanical Museum of Harvard University and the other museums that comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural History are physically connected to the

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...

and one admission grants visitors access to all museums. The Herbaria publishes the journal ''

Harvard Papers in Botany ''Harvard Papers in Botany'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published twice a year, in June and December. It covers all aspects of plants and fungi including longer monographs, floristics, economic botany, and the history of botany. ''Harva ...

''.

References

External links

HUH.harvard.edu: Harvard University Herbaria websiteHarvard Museum of Natural History
* {{Coord, 42, 22, 43.75, N, 71, 06, 52.52, W, display=title Harvard University museums Herbaria in the United States Natural history museums in Massachusetts Research institutes in Massachusetts Economic botany Harvard University buildings Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts University museums in Massachusetts Museums established in 1842 Scientific organizations established in 1842 1842 establishments in Massachusetts