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Arboretum Library January 2010 E-News

January 23, 2010

News from the Library

Hello all and welcome newcomers:

     There is a nice selection of books and magazine articles this month.  Debra Lee Baldwin, whose new book Succulent Container Gardens (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2010) is just out, asked her Facebook garden writer friends to identify their favorite and indispensible garden books.  I made sure to buy all the new ones and made sure we had all the old ones so you'll see those on the January new book list.  The magazine article list is its usual eclectic self, referring to plants, gardens, etc., that I think you might like.  Let me know if you are interested in any of the articles. 

     My cataloger, Jessica Holada, has been hard at work moving our older items to the online catalog, so you will especially see that the flora section is much more richly represented in the online catalog and the books are all together in one place now, rather than split between old and new.  That makes for much easier browing and learning about the plants of California, South Africa and Australia.  I've also had Charles Falconer, an intern, work on creating records in our online catalog for our nursery catalog collections.  This link will give you a sense of the variety of catalogs, both historic and contemporary in A through G of the alphabet.  Charles also started entering records for our photograph collection, just a taste, to see how it would work.  There are descriptions now, but no actual images.  Yet to come.  The descriptions can lead you to some very interesting historical items here in the collection.  Oh boy, fun with links to the library catalog!

Cover of the Meadow

     Our Book Group, Reading the Western Landscape has been launched.  Our first book discussion will take place at the Arboretum Library on Thursday, February 4, 2010, at 7:00 p.m.  The book is The Meadow, by James Galvin (New York: Henry Holt, 1992)  Newcomers are welcome.  You need to read the book to particpate in the discussion.  Check back at the website or our Facebook Fan Page to keep up with the current readings.

     Our current exhibit in the Arboretum Library is titled: Time and the Land: The Geography of Pleasure and is curated by Mitchell Bishop, who is in charge of our historic collections.  His description of the exhibit follows:

     "Shangri-La, the Garden of Eden, Fantasy Island: landscapes of paradise have appealed to us since ancient times. The Spanish land grant Rancho Santa Anita, later the Arboretum, has been a pleasure destination and an oasis for birds, wildlife, and man for hundreds of years.
     This exhibition presents evidence of man's interaction with the Arboretum site. See a Tongva pestle for grinding acorns, a photograph depicting hay harvesting to feed Victorian-era Ranch horses, a letter hawking exotic Saurus cranes for sale for the site. Used as a film location since the 1930s, the exotic landscape of the Arboretum is familiar to people all over the world although they may not be aware of it. Travel back in time to experience the early wonders of this place of pleasure."

     I'm especially enamoured with a full-length portrait of Anita Baldwin, by Adolfo Muller-Ury and a chromolithograph of the El Tovar at Grand Canyon by Louis Akin.

Poster for Of Time and the Land

Come and visit!  Happy reading!

Susan Eubank, Arboretum Librarian