Wild Green Things: The Art of Anne Ophelia Dowden

Cover of Wild Green Things in the City

Wild Green Things, an exhibit running from January 18 to May 2, 2012, features the art of Anne Ophelia Dowden, a popular botanical illustrator.  The exhibit includes original artwork, original sketches, pre-publication mock-ups, and enlarged scans of her work.  All original artwork is on loan from The Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota Libraries, and is used courtesy of Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.  The exhibit is located at 11 stations, starting in the Oswald Visitor Center, continuing through the connecting walkway ramp, the Snyder Building lobby, the Library entrance, and throughout the interior of Andersen Horticultural Library.  Lucienne Taylor, the creator and curator of the exhibit, will be the speaker for an Arboretum class on Anne Ophelia Dowden held January 18, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

For a list of books written or illustrated by Anne Ophelia Dowden, click here.

To see the exhibit brochure, click here.

U Media Archive Exhibit: Three Minneapolis Seedswomen 

Miss Carrie Lippincott cover, 1896

At the beginning of the 20th century, Minneapolis was home to three seed companies owned and operated by women. These firms were unusual in their time because they were run by women, they marketed to women customers, and they focused on flower seeds. Miss Carrie Lippincott, who called herself "The Pioneer Seedswoman of America," started producing small 5 x 7 inch lithographed catalogs in 1891. Emma V. White, the "Northstar Seedswoman," produced her first catalog in 1896. Jessie R. Prior, who was in business only a short period of time, produced small catalogs simply titled "Flower Seeds."

Emma V. White cover, 1900

The Andersen Horticultural Library hosts a collection of catalogs from these three firms. Our copies of the three seedswomen's catalogs have been digitized cover-to-cover and are available online at the UMedia Archive, http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/taxonomy/term/760. All text in these catalogs is searchable. For example, type "marigold" in the search box to find links to 170+ pages within the UMedia Archives. Parameters can be chosen in the right hand column to limit your search to items from the Andersen Horticultural Library. A zoom tool allows one to view fine details.

U Media Archive Exhibit: Botanical Images from the Collections of the University Libraries

Digitized botanical images from rare and special books in the Andersen Horticultural Library and other University Libraries can viewed online at http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/69341. Many of these images were part of the Transfer of Knowledge botanical art exhibit on display in 2005 at the Reedy Gallery, located at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.