Women Botanists & Botanical Artists
19th and 20th Century Plant Pioneers
In the winter 2018 to 2026 issues of the Arboretum Bulletin, manager of the Elisabeth C. Miller Library Brian Thompson wrote an eight-part book-review series about the lives and achievements of early women botanists and botanical artists in Europe, North America, and beyond.
These fearless, pioneering women upended stereotypes and broke down barriers of male hierarchy, while contributing to the advancement of our knowledge and appreciation of plants. Read about their lives, the books they published, and their biographies, and visit the Miller Library to see and learn more.
- Part 1: Jane Webb Loudon, Frances Perry, Wendy Walsh, Ellis Rowan
- Part 2: Emma Thayer, Mary Elizabeth Parsons, Margaret Armstrong, Julia Henshaw, Edith Clements
- Part 3: Margaret Stones, Helen O’Gorman, Audrey Eagle, Emily Carr
- Part 4: Catherine Parr Traill, Mary Schäffer Warren, Mary Vaux Walcott, Julia Henshaw
- Part 5: Alice Eastwood, Katherine Brandegee, Kate Sessions, Ynés Mexía, Sara Plummer Lemmon
- Part 6: Matilda Smith, Lilian Snelling, Arabella Elizabeth Roupell, Elinor Frances Vallentin, Harriet Isabel Adams
- Part 7: Kate Furbish, Caroline Dormon, Lester Rowntree, Marianne North
- Part 8: Louise Beebe Wilder, Helen Morgenthau Fox, Louise Mansfield, Elsie Reford
Mary Schäffer Warren exploring in the Canadian Rockies, circa 1911.
Meconopsis × sheldonii ‘Slieve Donard’, by Wendy Walsh, circa 1983.
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