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Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

 

About the Institute

Based on the private collections of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt, Hunt Institute was dedicated in 1961 as the Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library, an international center for bibliographical research and service in the interests of botany and horticulture, as well as a center for the study of all aspects of the history of the plant sciences. By 1971 the Hunt Botanical Library's activities had so diversified that the name was changed to Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Growth in collections and research projects led to the establishment of four programmatic departments: Archives, Art, Bibliography and the Library.

Mrs. Hunt's collecting interests brought together aspects of art, history, science and literature as they related to plants and gardens. Her private book collection was well known, and her scholarship led her also to collect related artworks, portraits and manuscripts significant in the history of botany. Although Hunt Institute's mission has grown and evolved since 1961, the nucleus collections and originating vision form the foundation on which the ongoing development of collections and programs is based. Today a wide variety of historical and retrospective materials, as well as their modern counterparts, is collected. The Institute's collections, holdings and staff expertise are of value not only for the study of botany and its history but also for investigations of the following topics:

 

A comparison of the original and current collections is shown below:

1961

2,961 rare books

400 portraits

1,300 prints, drawings and watercolors

410 autograph letters and manuscripts

2007

29,000 books

30,000 portraits

30,000 prints, drawings and watercolors

2,000 autograph letters and manuscripts

 

Hunt Institute, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, is located in the Hunt Library building. Roy and Rachel Hunt donated the Hunt Library building to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). They intended the building to house the botanical library as well as the main library for "Carnegie Tech," with the fourth floor left vacant at the time to allow for expansion. The building, completed in June 1961, was designed by the Harrisburg architects Lawrie & Green, along with the Pittsburgh firm of Deeter & Ritchie. The prominence of aluminum in the building's exterior and interior reflects Mr. Hunt's connection with the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa).

While many visitors to the Institute come to consult the collections or view exhibitions in the gallery, a number of visitors also come to see what Rachel Hunt, a well-known daughter of Pittsburgh, has created and to enjoy this lasting impression of her interests. If the early Library collections were the result of one individual's taste and preference, the same can be said of the furnishings of the Reading Room, an elegantly appointed library space furnished in the grand style and now used primarily for presentations, such as lectures and book talks, made to visiting groups.



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History of Collections
Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Special Collections

AWARD

Lawrence Memorial Award


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