A Conversation about Catesby’s Natural History with the Plant-Loving Winterthur CEO

Abstract

THE CHARLES F. Montgomery Director of Winterthur Chris Strand reviewed the Catesby volumes in the Winterthur Library with Catharine Dann Roeber, Rebecca Parmer, and Sarah Lewis. As director of Winterthur’s gardens and estate for sixteen years prior to assuming his present position, Strand’s perspectives on Catesby’s Natural History are informed by his broad understanding of Winterthur’s collections and institutional history. As someone who has a background in biology and horticulture, what strikes you when first opening Winterthur’s volumes of Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands in person? Can you walk us through your process of looking at—and beginning to think about—a historic natural history guide like this one? I think anyone who looks at these volumes is going to be struck first by the beauty of them, at least that is the case for me. Next, it starts to sink in how brave, in a sense, his illustrations are. Let me explain what I mean by that. I started my college career as a molecular biology major at the University of Colorado, but I love plants and I got very excited about evolutionary plant ecology and taxonomy. One of the things you could still do when I was a student was learn the basics of plant taxonomy, including botanical illustration and the process for collecting specimen plants from nature. When I look at Catesby’s illustrations, I can’t help but see them through the lens of my own fumbling attempts at botanical drawing and collecting. Botanical drawings—and these illustrations— are more than just artwork, they are tools. They are meant to capture important details so that botanists can describe, and more importantly, differentiate