“Paraphernalia,” photo by Cindi (Flickr, Creative Commons)

Over the course of the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature (EABL) project, contributing organizations have shipped material to Internet Archive scanning centers around the country. A few have scanned their own material, and a few more have used third-party commercial services. One EABL contributor did things a little differently.

Betsy Kruthoffer, Librarian and Rare Books Cataloger at the Lloyd Library and Museum, selected a number of important titles from the library’s collection that were not in BHL. After weighing various scanning options, she got in touch with the digital lab at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH), which had done good work for a Lloyd patron the previous year (and, conveniently, is located right down the street). PLCH agreed to do the scanning, with the understanding that the digitized books would also be made available in a PLCH online collection.

Once the scanning was complete, Betsy considered loading all of the images onto an external hard drive and mailing it to Mariah Lewis, the EABL Metadata Specialist, in order to contribute the scans to BHL. After learning about Macaw (BHL’s metadata and upload software), however, she decided to take a stab at the uploading herself–with great success. BHL’s collection is richer thanks to her thorough work.

History of the Lloyd Library and Museum

The Lloyd Library began with three brothers: John Uri, Nelson Ashley, and Curtis Gates Lloyd. According to tradition, the first books in the library were Edward Parrish’s A Treatise on Pharmacy (1864 edition) and George Fownes’ A Manual of Elementary Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical (1864 edition). These books accompanied John Uri Lloyd, the oldest of the three, when he went to Cincinnati to become a pharmacist in 1864. His brothers soon followed after.

Eventually, the brothers joined together to form Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc. John Uri’s small library grew with the company; in 1901, it got its own building (it would move several times in following years), and in 1919, a trust was established to ensure that the library would continue and be open to the public. A new structure was erected in 1970 adjacent to the one that had housed the library for 75 years. This is where the library remains today.

The Lloyd brothers. http://www.lloydlibrary.org/history/lloyd%20pharmacy.html.

The Lloyd Library has one of the preeminent North American collections related to pharmacology and natural products, but it covers many related subjects as well: botany, pharmacognosy, herbal and alternative medicine, horticulture, eclectic medicine (an herbal medicine school), and sectarian medicine (predecessor to homeopathy), among others.

Curtis Gates Lloyd, an avid mycologist, amassed a considerable herbarium, nicknamed the “mushroom museum.” After his death in 1926, the botanical specimens were given to the University of Cincinnati, and the mushrooms went to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A small collection of medicine bottles and pharmacy implements remains; these comprise the Lloyd Museum, which features permanent and rotating exhibits.

For more detailed accounts of the Lloyd brothers, their company, and the history of the Lloyd Library and Museum, visit the Lloyd’s website.

Rare Books from the Lloyd Library

Of the titles digitized by PLCH, Betsy Kruthoffer considers one the most important: John Sibthorp’s Flora Graeca, published in 10 volumes from 1806 to 1840. This monumental work contains nearly a thousand color plates of the flora of Greece as surveyed in the late 18th century by Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer, who illustrated them. Sibthorp himself never lived to see the printed Flora–he died in 1797 of an illness contracted on one of his trips–but he provided for its publication in his will.

Sibthorp, John. Flora Graeca. v. 1 (1806). Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54016367.

Betsy has recorded the fascinating story of how the Lloyd Library came to possess a first edition of the Flora Graeca, one of only 25 printed.

Another important title is Johann Kniphof’s Botanica in originali, published in 12 volumes (1758-1764). The work uses a technique called “nature printing,” which involves creating plates or engravings from direct impressions of actual plant specimens and using those plates to print images.

Kniphof, Johannes. Botanica in originali. v. 1 (1758). Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53840216.

A third title, noteworthy for its illustrations (and its very long subtitle), is Timothy Sheldrake’s Botanicum medicinale : an herbal of medicinal plants on the College of Physicians list : describing their places of growth, roots, bark, leaves, buds, time of flowering, blossoms, flowers, stiles, chives, embrio’s, fruits, farina, colours, seeds, kernels, seed-vessels, parts used in medicine, preparations in the shops, medicinal virtues, names in nine languages : most beautifully engraved on 118 large folio copper-plates from the exquisite drawings of the late ingenious T. Sheldrake ; … To which is now added, his tables for finding the heat and cold in all climates that exotic plants may be raised in summer and preserved in winter (c. 1868).

Less an academic tome and more a physician’s quick-reference herbal, the Botanicum medicinale is organized into single-page summaries of each plant, with engraved text around a colored illustration.

Sheldrake, Timothy. Botanicum medicinale. c. 1868. Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53779797.

The complete list of titles submitted by the Lloyd Library to BHL:

• John Sibthorp’s Flora Graeca (1806-1840)
• Johannes Kniphof’s Botanica in originali (1758-1764)
  • The index to the above work: Index universalis in omnes XII centurias Botanicae in originali D. Io. Hieron. Kniphofii seu Herbarii vivi (1767)
• Timothy Sheldrake’s Botanicum medicinale (c.1768)
• Maria Sybilla Merian’s Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis (1718)
  • To learn more about this pioneering naturalist, see Grace Costantino’s 2015 blog post, “From Early Women in Science to Ultraviolet Film: Using Art to Understand Insects“
• Heinrich Witte’s Flora : afbeeldingen en beschrijvingen van boomen, heesters, éénjarige planten, enz., voorkomende in de nederlandsche tuinen (1868)

Thank you to Betsy Kruthoffer, the Lloyd Library, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for working with EABL to make these historic works available to everyone.

From April to June of this year, BHL received permission for 36 new in-copyright titles, keeping pace with the 39 added in the first quarter. The Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature project, BHL staff, and new members and affiliates all contributed to securing permission and are now working to scan and upload. To put that 36 number in perspective, there are about 650 in-copyright titles in BHL, out of 125,000 total–that’s just a half percent, but it’s growing!

BHL licenses content under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license

Below are the 36 titles added in the second quarter, in the order permission was secured. For those that have already been scanned or uploaded, links are available. Look for the rest as they’re added to the collection; you can check the recent additions, or see all the permission titles available in BHL on the permissions page. Titles in BHL have been digitized/contributed by the rights holders unless otherwise stated.

1. North Carolina Biological Survey and the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences

• A Distributional Survey of North Carolina MammalsThe Seaside Sparrow, Its Biology and ManagementAtlas of North American Freshwater Fishes (with supplement)Autumn Land-bird Migration on the Barrier Islands of Northeastern North CarolinaEndangered, Threatened, and Rare Fauna of North Carolina (Parts I-IV)Research Vessel Dan Moore station logsBird Life of North Carolina’s Shining Rock WildernessFourth Colloquium on Conservation of Mammals of the Southeastern U.S.

BHL licenses content under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share-alike 4.0 license

The first quarter of 2017 saw 39 in-copyright titles added to BHL, setting the pace for another record-breaking year. New international BHL Members and Affiliates, as well as grant projects like Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature, have contributed to the growing number of recent titles in the collection, as member libraries continue to chip away at digitizing the legacy literature.

Below is the list of titles for which BHL received permission in January, February, and March of 2017. While most of these titles have not yet been digitized, be sure to check the recent additions page, which is updated regularly. Links will also be provided on BHL’s Permissions page once they’re available.

1. Australian Garden History Society

• Australian Garden History

The last quarter of 2016 continued the year’s steady growth in new permissions for in-copyright titles: 46 in October, November, and December, bringing the year-end total to 154! Major drivers of this growth were the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature project, staff at BHL participating institutions, and the worldwide BHL user community, which regularly identifies material and recommends it for digitization.

BHL licenses content under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share-alike 4.0 license

Below is the list of new titles for which BHL received permission in the fourth quarter of 2016. Note that many of the titles are not yet available in BHL because they are still being digitized or uploaded; check the recent additions page to see if a link has been added for a specific work or peruse In-Copyright Titles on the Permissions page.

American Arachnological Society

1. Journal of Arachnology

Iowa Ornithologists’ Union

1. Iowa Bird Life

Glasgow Natural History Society

1. The Glasgow Naturalist

Instituto de Ciências Biológicas – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

1. Oreades

Virginia Museum of Natural History

1. Guidebooks
2. Insects of Virginia
3. Jeffersoniana
4. Myriapodologica
5. Special Publications: Checklist of the Millipeds of Middle and North America
6. Memoirs

The Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club

1. The History of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

1. Annals of the Carnegie Museum
2. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
3. Special PublicationsMemoirs of Carnegie Museum

Western Australian Museum

1. Records of the Western Australian Museum

South Africa Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)

1. Smithiana Bulletin
2. Smithiana Special Publication
3. Fishes of the Southern Ocean
4. Otolith Atlas of Southern African Marine Fishes
5. Biology and Ecology of Fishes in Southern African Estuaries
6. Revision of the Indo-Pacific Dottyback Fish Subfamily Pseudochromineae

American Fern Society

1. Pteridologia

Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

1. Gulf Research Reports
2. Gulf and Caribbean Research

Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union Birds Section

1. Ornithological Report
2. Bird Report

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

1. Newsletter of the Cary Arboretum
2. IES Newsletter
3. Occasional Publications of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
4. EcoFocus

American Malacological Society

1. American Malacological Bulletin
2. Bulletin (American Malacological Union)Annual Reports
3. Annual Meeting / News Bulletin & Annual Report
4. Perspectives in Malacology
5. Proceedings of the 2nd International Corbicula Symposium
6. Entrainment of Larval Oysters

American Association of Zoo Keepers

1. Animal Keepers’ Forum

Wyoming Native Plant Society

1. The Castilleja

Kentucky Society of Natural History

1. Annals of Kentucky Natural History
2. Kentucky Naturalist News

Colorado Native Plant Society

1. Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter
2. Aquilegia

Biodiversity Journal

1. Biodiversity Journal

Geological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences

1. Voprosy mikropaleontologii (Questions of micropaleontology)

So far, EABL has secured permission for 106 in-copyright titles and added 59 new contributors to BHL. The EABL collection holds 3,428 volumes from 289 titles, containing 377,924 pages. Important titles (some of which have not yet been scanned) include:

• Zoologica: Scientific Contributions of the New York Zoological Society
• Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin and Roosevelt Wild Life Annals
• Entomologica Americana
• Wilson Journal of Ornithology
• Journal of Arachnology
• North American Birds
• Kirtlandia
• Journal of the New York Entomological Society
• Journal of Raptor Research
• Memoirs of the Southern California Academy of Sciences
• Arnoldia
• The Green Scene
• Transactions of the Worcester County Horticultural Society

In-copyright titles added by BHL

For more information about EABL, please visit the wiki, where you will find an up-to-date list of digitized titles, a list of presentations given about the project, related blog posts, and the EABL Twitter feed.

Get Involved

EABL will receive new content through the fall of 2017. If you know of a publication or institution that you would like to see represented in BHL and DPLA, please contact EABL Community Manager Patrick Randall at [email protected] or Principal Investigator Susan Fraser at [email protected]. If you would like funding for digitization, please fill out the EABL interest survey.

All over North America, there are organizations that study, preserve, and promote local flora. Called by various names, these organizations fall under the umbrella term “native plant societies.” While they are independent from one state or province to the next, and while some may have a particular focus, such as wildflowers, they have many similarities: their membership is comprised of professional botanists and amateur enthusiasts; they conduct surveys and field research focusing on a specific geographic region; they are actively involved in conservation; and they usually publish a newsletter to keep members apprised of society activities.

Calypso Orchid, Calypso bulbosa. Photo by Gerry Queener. Sage Notes, v.34, no.3 (2012)

Through the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature project, BHL has received permission for the newsletters of several native plant societies and chapters:

• The Arkansas Native Plant Society
  • Claytonia

• The California Native Plant Society
  • East Bay Chapter
    • The Bay Leaf
  • Kern Chapter
    • Mimulus Memo
  • Mt. Lassen Chapter
    • The Pipevine

• The Colorado Native Plant Society
  • Aquilegia

• The Delaware Native Plant Society
  • The Turk’s Cap

• The Idaho Native Plant Society
  • Sage Notes

• The Illinois Native Plant Society
  • The Harbinger

• The Wyoming Native Plant Society
  • Castilleja

Just as native plant societies share many similarities, so do their newsletters. They typically contain updates about society-sponsored events and meetings, brief features on a particular plant group or biodiverse area, and occasionally tips for identification and cultivation. They also contain pertinent information about conservation initiatives and the kinds of administrative information common to all organizational newsletters. But the most valuable portion of each newsletter, from a biodiversity perspective, is surely the field trip summary. Field trips are a central activity of all native plant societies.

Turtle Mountains, Mojave Desert. Photo by John Game. The Bay Leaf, January 2016

While original botanical research is typically associated with books and peer-reviewed journals (and some societies do publish their own journals), these newsletters are a goldmine of information about rare plants and the ecologically sensitive areas where they’re found; over the years, repeated field trips to these areas reveal trends in the health and abundance of plants, in the same way that Christmas bird counts document changes in avian populations.

Pogonia ophioglossoides from Rosina Cox Boardman’s Lilies and Orchids (1906), Pl. XVII

For example, the Fall 1981 issue of Claytonia documents the discovery of several rare plants that hadn’t been seen in Arkansas in over 30 years, including the Rose Pogonia orchid, Pogonia ophioglossoides.

Another example: The Harbinger v.30, no.3, contains an account of how a glacial prairie came into possession of the local township after its owner–a farmer who had used the land to graze cattle–passed away. Plans for a baseball field and parking lot were scrapped when the land was found to contain rare plants like Hill’s Thistle (Circium hillii) and Prairie Buttercup (Ranunculus rhomboideus). The article describes efforts by Illinois Native Plant Society members to preserve the land and protect the plants by removing invasives and doing hydrological restoration.

We are grateful to the native plant societies who have generously shared their local expertise by making their newsletters available to researchers through BHL. In addition to the biodiversity information they contain, these publications are a wonderful snapshot of the small, dedicated groups of people working all over the U.S. to document and preserve our native plants.

Are you interested in getting involved in a native plant society near you? If you live in the U.S. or Canada, check this list compiled by the North American Native Plant Society to locate the closest organization.