The Botanical Time Capsule
Unpacking and processing plant specimens from the 1800s into the Academy's herbarium collection.
Anna Pederson Kummer looking at herbarium specimens (1940/1950) by Chicago Academy of SciencesChicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
In 1944, the Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Curator of Botany, Anna Pedersen Kummer, reflected on recent developments to the Academy’s herbarium in The Chicago Naturalist:
“Much excellent materials been discovered in this most recent attempt at good housekeeping. Just now we feel that all else can wait until we have the unmounted three-fourths of our Chicago region material in order. We would like to be able to turn at once to the Galinsoga that Moffatt collected in 1891 at the old Exposition building and labeled ‘rare,’ or the Myosotis that Babcock found ‘abundant’ in Riverside.”
And “all else” did wait. For over 75 years, most of the specimens that Kummer wrapped in 1943 remained secure in the Academy's collections, but completely inaccessible.
Historic plant specimens originally collected between 1830-1910 were wrapped up in brown paper in the 1940s by curator of botany Anna Pedersen Kummer and stored away, waiting to be fully prepared and processed into the collection.
In 2021, Chicago Academy of Sciences’ staff with the Collections & Archives Department began unwrapping these packages and processing the specimens into the herbarium as part of a project supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This project sought to make the Academy's herbarium available online, and to make the botanical specimens in the backlog finally accessible.
Botany package from backlog (2023) by Chicago Academy of SciencesChicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Each package from the backlog is a time capsule, documenting pre-industrial landscapes untouched by twentieth century urbanization and agricultural developments.
plant specimen and labels found in backlog (1872) by Elizabeth Emerson AtwaterChicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
As they were unwrapped, many of the specimens were found still wrapped in their original pressing papers and with hand-written notes from the collectors.
Fully processing one individual specimen entails numerous time consuming steps. First, the specimen is mounted onto an herbarium sheet -- it is glued to a standard sized archival cardstock sheet with archival adhesive and further secured with gummed tape to ensure it will last.
Racemed Milkwort, herbarium specimen (1871-06-30) by Henry Holmes BabcockChicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Next, information from original hand-written labels is transcribed into our online database to create a catalogue record for the specimen. The specimen is identified or, if it already has an identification, this is verified according to the most up-to-date scientific name.
The collectors and the provenance for the specimens are researched to determine how they were acquired. Each specimen is digitally scanned or photographed so that images of the specimens can be viewed online.
This specimen from the backlog was received through exchange from the herbarium of John Torrey, a famous American botanist who authored the influential book “A Flora of North America'' with his student Asa Gray who later became a leader of American botany in his own right. The backlog project is forward-looking and serves to facilitate important 21st century research, but the work also yielded fascinating insights into the origins of these specimens and the people who collected them.
Preserved specimens are used to study plant and animal species and their habitats as well as other aspects of natural history. Collections like the Academy’s herbarium can help us understand how ecosystems change over time, inform current land management decisions, and document human interactions with the environment. Studying biodiversity and the natural world is enhanced with specimens preserved in natural history collections.
Content written and researched for the initial online exhibit, “The Botanical Time Capsule,” by Alex Lorenz in December 2023. Special thanks to Collections staff for supporting this project, which counts towards the completion of my Master of Library and Information Science degree.
Content updated and split into three online exhibits ("Herbariums - A Plant Archive", “The Botanical Time Capsule”, and "The People and Places in Collections") by Dawn Roberts in June 2024.
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