A Painted Herbarium: The Life and Art of Emily Hitchcock Terry

by Beatrice Scheer Smith

Emily Hitchcock Terry (1838-1921) was the scientifically and aesthetically gifted daughter of a highly intellectual and artistic Massachusetts family. An early graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she began her formal study of art at The Cooper Union in New York City in 1865, where her training in drawing and watercolor painting was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. In 1872 Terry moved to Minnesota, where she was an avid plant collector and painted the flora she saw. Rather than creating a conventional herbarium of pressed specimens, she created instead a "painted herbarium."
Terry's passion for botany - "As long as I live I shall work in botany, if I have any eyes to see" - was communicated to others through her artistic talent. Her collection of over 140 paintings, which scientifically document the flora of several areas of America, has remained almost totally unrecognized for more than one hundred years. Her watercolor images of the Minnesota flora, painted from nature, are the earliest known botanical illustrations in the state.
Emily Hitchcock Terry's contribution to Minnesota's botanical history is unique. Her story, however, stands alongside those of countless women throughout history whose contributions have yet to be recognized. The beautiful reproductions of her work in this volume give us our first view of Terry's painted herbarium.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992