Bulletin of Remarkable Trees Vol. 3 No. 4
Visiting an East Coast Arboretum with deep ties to our beloved Arboretum in Lisle.
While vacationing in and around Boston over Labor Day weekend, I had one location on my must-visit list: The Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Like many Arboretums in the early 20th century, the Morton and the Arnold had a consistent working relationship. But beyond exchanging cuttings and seeds and discussing the latest discoveries in botany, the senior staff members of both Arboretums were friends as well as respected colleagues. I set out to visit the world-renowned Arnold Arboretum not only to enjoy what it had to offer plant-wise but to find those connecting threads that reach across both time and distance to my grandfather.
The day I ventured out to Jamaica Plains, family in tow, was beautiful, blue, and slightly less warm than it’s been in Chicagoland this summer though still toasty. I was set to meet a contact at the Hunnewell Building: Lisa, a librarian with whom I had exchanged emails to set up this meeting. Walking into the upstairs library space, the familiar, settling smell of old books hit my nostrils. The sunlight streaming through the wide windows illuminated the dark weathered wood of bookcases and tables.
An interesting contrast to the Sterling Morton Library, which even now has a distinctly modern and streamlined look, the reading room felt precisely as one might imagine a library associated with Harvard University would. Lisa, Head of the Library and Archives, brought out numerous correspondence and papers to show me while we discussed the history and connections between this Arboretum and the Morton.
The Arnold Arboretum got its start in 1872 when a portion of the land from James Arnold’s estate was donated to Harvard. In 1882, Charles Sprague Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, convinced the city of Boston to create a unique leasing arrangement wherein the city maintains the land and infrastructure of the Arboretum as part of the city’s park system while the staff and curators control the collections. The land is leased for $1.00 a year for a term of a thousand years (with one opportunity for renewal, Lisa pointed out.)
Donald Wyman, a friend and colleague of my grandfather’s, was a horticulturist at the Arnold Arboretum from 1935 to 1970. He was a similarly prolific writer to my grandpa, penning multiple books and oodles of articles related to trees and plants. He also wrote the Arnold Arboretum’s Bulletin of Popular Information, later called Arnoldia.
It was fascinating seeing the other side of the hefty amount of correspondence between my grandfather, his colleagues at the Morton, and the staff at the Arnold. Like having picked up a thread in Lisle, following its winding path to end up in Boston’s “emerald necklace” and finding the other end. It still amazes me how intertwined the Morton Arboretum was with its counterparts around the country (and the globe.) My grandpa and his contemporaries truly depended on each other for knowledge, seeds, and expertise, all in the service of celebrating and championing trees.
My parents commented that walking around the Arnold Arboretum felt like the Morton Arboretum 40-50 years ago, and not in a negative way. It seemed solidly positioned in its history and mission while also being for and of the community, centered on being the best possible steward for its land. Seeing countless people walking through the grounds, children playing in the vine garden, and hearing stories from local friends about exploits there in their younger days, I got a distinct sense of place and how the Arnold has maintained its focus on and role in the community.
I hope this newsletter continues to pull along that thread of history and community for the Morton Arboretum. By exploring my grandpa’s work and his passion for the Arboretum, I hope I can keep that thread running and make sure the deep and meaningful history of the Arboretum stays front of mind!
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Very cool to see the other side of the correspondence!