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UNDERSTANDING+PLANTS+AND+TRADITIONAL+WISDOM+ ! Appropriation!and!Representation!of!Native!Knowledge!through!the!Ethnobotanical! Collecting!of!Richard!Evans!Schultes!in!Northwestern!Amazon!for!the!Harvard! Botanical!Museum!
! Thesis!Submitted!in!Fulfillment!of!the!Requirements!for!the!Degree!of!Master!of!Arts!
!
GIOVANNY!CASTRO!
!
Program!in!Museum!Studies!
Graduate!School!of!Arts!and!Science!
New!York!University!
May!2012
Abstract+
Regarding!the!Amazon!environment!as!a!complex!world!defined!by!the! interaction!of!natural!and!human!elements,!the!aim!of!this!thesis!is!to!present!the! intellectual!framework!that!characterized!the!ethnobotanical!collecting!of!Richard! Evans!Schultest!for!the!Harvard!Botanical!Museum.!The!thesis!contextualizes!the! case!study!as!part!of!the!scientific!drive!of!natural!history!museums!from!the! nineteenthUcentury!onwards,!and!focuses!in!the!mid!twentiethUcentury!in!regard!to! the!specific!collection!and!fieldwork.! ! The!issue!of!appropriation!refers!to!the!assumed!role!of!museums,!as! Western!institutions,!of!collecting,!describing,!and!classifying!the!natural!plant! kingdom.!Appropriation!also!refers!to!the!assimilation,!through!scientific!endeavors,! of!plants!and!knowledge!that!are!significant!to!other!cultures’!views!of!their!natural! and!social!environment.!The!issue!of!representation!deals!with!showcasing!natural! and!ethnographic!collections!in!museums!as!nonUcontested,!selfUexplanatory! identities!of!other!peoples’!culture!through!the!mediation!of!a!neutral!observer’s! standpoint!and!different!museum!practices.!! ! The!thesis!touches!upon!the!role!of!study!collections!in!a!university!museum! setting!to!further!knowledge!for!science.!In!particular,!the!Economic!Botany! Collection!was!intended!to!further!the!understanding!of!psychoactive!plants!used!by! traditional!cultures!for!medicinal!purposes.!The!outcome!was!quite!complex,!and! the!influence!of!this!surveying!effort!still!stands!as!one!of!the!most!compelling! studies!any!museum!has!engaged!with!in!the!twentiethUcentury.! ! Keywords:!Harvard!Botanical!Museum,!ethnobotany,!Amazon!cultures,! native!knowledge,!plants,!university!museums,!study!collections,!plant!specimens.!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 3
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Table'of'Contents' INTRODUCTION+ 4! Biographical+Note:+Richard+Evans+Schultes+and+his+time+ 8! I.+Natural+history+collections+and+museums+ 12! a)+Organizing+the+natural+kingdom,+a+colonial+enterprise+ 13! b)+The+role+of+a+botanical+museum+in+interdisciplinary+taxonomic+surveying+ 20! c)+Specificities+of+herbaria+specimens+as+museum+collections+ 32! II.+Botanical+specimens+and+ethnographic+artifacts+ 46! a)+Definition+of+terms+and+intellectual+framework+ 46! b)+Research+methodology+and+archival+focus+ 53! c)+Exploring+the+sources,+a+glance+at+the+ethnobotanical+collection+ 56! III.+The+Schultes’+ethnobotanic+collecting+and+his+imprint+at+the+Harvard+Botanical+ Museum+ 59! a)+Historical+background+on+the+Harvard+Botanical+institutions+ 59! b)+The+role+of+a+research+museum+in+furthering+knowledge+for+science+ 64! c)+The+Nash+Lecture+Hall+and+the+Collection+of+Economic+Botany+ 69! d)+What+happened+to+the+Schultes’+legacy+in+the+Botanical+Museum?+ 73! IV.+Forms+of+appropriation+and+representation+of+native+knowledge+ 80! a)+Framework+of+collecting+knowledge+associated+with+botanical+specimens+ 80! b)+Objectives+for+collecting+and+displaying+or+study+ 87! c)+Representation+resulting+from+the+collection+ 96! CONCLUSION+ 101! BIBLIOGRAPHY+ 104! ! !
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INTRODUCTION' !
Traditional!healers!trained!under!the!eclectic!practices!of!the!native!
Amazon’s!beliefs!commonly!say!that!plants!speak!to!them.!It!is!just!a!matter!of! listening!to!what!plants!say!about!themselves!to!get!in!synch!with!the!knowledge!of! medicine.!This!introduction,!of!course,!does!not!occur!spontaneously.!Once!an! initiated!in!shamanism!has!taken!the!learning!path,!many!sessions!of!drinking! ayahuasca!are!necessary!to!achieve!the!enlightening!that!comes!through!its!imbibed! visions.!Then,!at!some!point!in!the!learning!process,!plants!become!kind!enough!to! speak!for!themselves.!
Strolling!through!a!jungle!made!up!of!luscious,!sparkling!imagery,!like!the! way!one!does!through!any!actual!forest,!an!apprentice!is!able!to!stop!by!every!plant! and!let!it!tell!him!of!its!uses.!The!plant’s!inner!being!comes!out!thanks!to!the! catalytic!properties!of!ayahuasca,!which!opens!up!an!entrance!to!it.!Along!with! telling!its!own!properties,!the!plant!might!also!communicate!what!other!friends!it! has,!those!with!whom!it!likes!to!share!company,!in!order!to!explain!what!synergic! effects!it!has!when!mixed!with!the!appropriate!fellows.!Ayahuasca!itself!is!a! miraculous!hallucinogenic!medicine!that!blends!at!least!two!basic!plants!with! distinct!compounds,!into!a!synergic!brew;!and!these!are!two!plants!among! thousands!that!thrive!in!the!forest.!The!Amazon!cultures!have!developed!elaborate! mythologies!to!explain!such!a!feat,!this!gift!of!the!enlightening!brew.!Western!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 5 science,!which!lacks!the!privileged!access!to!knowledge!allowed!by!talking!to!plants,! has!to!rely!on!other!forms!of!letting!them!disclose!their!secrets.!!
Collecting!and!classifying,!as!first!steps!in!the!study!of!the!natural!kingdom,! are!some!of!the!tools!that!science!draws!upon!to!fulfill!its!drive!for!knowledge.!
Unlike!the!methods!of!traditional!healers!from!the!Amazon!who!feel!comfortable! experiencing!UU!and!experimenting!with!UU!themselves!as!they!make!their!way! through!learning,!the!usual!validation!methods!of!Western!science!require!its! practitioners!to!be!detached!and!not!involved!directly!with!the!subjects!under!study.!
However,!taxonomy!is!a!clever!manner!of!finding!crossUreferences!between!natural! specimens:!in!other!words,!of!making!them!speak!out!about!their!common!kinship.!
Botanic!collections,!and!the!reasoning!underlying!them,!are!among!the!most! fascinating!scientific!methods!for!trying!to!understand!our!uncertainties!about! natural!surroundings.!When!put!under!the!framework!of!the!Western!museum! tradition,!a!collection!of!this!type!becomes!an!eloquent!mediator!between!nature! and!social!history,!a!oneUinUaUclass!place!bearing!meanings!that!are!worth!tracing.!
The!Harvard!Botanical!Museum!(HBM)!stands!out!as!a!compelling!case!study!for!the! understanding!of!the!changing!strategies!and!objectives!of!surveying!the!natural! world!in!order!to!make!it!available!(i)!for!research!and,!through!it,!(ii)!to!the!broad! public.!
The!case!study!exemplifies!the!division!that!took!place!in!the!museums!of!the! northeastern!United!States!along!the!first!decades!of!the!twentiethUcentury.!
Museums!were!required!to!contribute!to!the!public!life!with!popular!education,!and!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 6 that!had!to!do!with!the!assimilation!of!immigrants!into!an!increasingly! industrialized!country.!Meanwhile,!a!universityUbased!institution!such!as!the!
Harvard!Botanical!Museum!had!to!cultivate!its!constituency,!thus!keeping!its! primary!research!focus!reserved!for!the!core!of!its!collection,!and!opening!the! exhibition!halls!for!visitors,!as!usual,!which!was,!at!the!time,!running!as!a!trended! solution!for!the!dilemma!among!the!museum!practice!called!‘dual!arrangement.’!
However,!most!of!the!institutions!that+originated!in!the!universal!survey!goals!of!the! nineteenthUcentury!turned!to!the!popular!education!model;!they!were!unable!to! compete!with!universities!and!field!stations!in!terms!of!research.!Around!the!same! time,!a!new!secular!sanctuary!was!emerging!as!well:!the!laboratory.!
The!collecting!efforts!of!Richard!Evans!Schultes!in!the!Amazon!basin!took! place!in!this!historic!process!and!context!of!top!scientific!drive.!While!he!relied!on! taxonomic!relations!to!further!botanical!knowledge,!he!was!particularly!focused!on! exploring!the!chances!of!finding!bioactive!compounds!occurring!in!a!given!family!of! plants!with!known!properties.!Thus,!he!let!the!plants’!kinship!point!out!to!the! shared!physical!characteristics,!with!the!hope!of!discovering!useful!compounds!in! those!having!an!established!cultural!relation!with!humans.!The!breakthrough!was!to! follow!the!leads!provided!by!the!accumulated!wisdom!of!native!cultures,!the!people! who!had!translated!the!plants’!language!into!legible!words.!
Nevertheless,!the!translation!of!botanical!lore!into!knowledge,!the!report!of! the!surveyor,!and!the!institution!depositary!of!the!collections!are!likely!to! experience!communication!issues!on!the!subject!matter,!as!it!happens!with!any!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 7 translation.!The!relations!between!these!three!parties!are!complicated.!The!Harvard!
Botanical!Museum!was!an!intellectual!stage!for!the!development!of!a!new!discipline,! ethnobotany,!when!it!was!seen!as!being!an!intermediary!for!the!appropriation!and! representation!of!traditional!knowledge!through!the!particular!means!of!a! university!museum.!The!Harvard!Herbaria’s!collection!became!one!of!the!most! comprehensive!in!the!world.!Meanwhile,!ancillary!materials!such!as!ethnographic! artifacts,!photographs,!field!notes,!and!the!detailed!observations!attached!to!the! specimens!enriched!their!capacity!for!conveying!meanings!about!their!social! environment!–!and!about!the!collectors’!point!of!view.!
This!thesis!presents!the!intellectual!framework!that!characterized!the! ethnobotanic!collections!of!professor!Schultes!for!this!institution!in!terms!of!the! museum!practice.!Therefore,!the!issues!of!appropriation!and!representation!become! central!points!in!analyzing!the!complexities!of!this!history.!These!two!categories! lead!to!the!key!questions!about!the!influence!of!the!HBM!in!American!society,!as! well!as!the!outcomes!of!the!Schultes’!legacy!and!the!shifting!institutional!identity! that!results!from!the!findings!of!this!study.
Biographical'Note:'Richard'Evans'Schultes'and'his'time' ! The!most!compelling!and!narrative!biography!of!Schultes!is!the!book!from!
Wade!Davis,!One+River,1!which!I!draw!from!for!much!of!this!section.!More! bibliographical!information!on!his!scientific!contributions!is!available!in!scholarly! sources.2!For!the!purposes!of!this!thesis,!I!will!focus!on!his!collecting!work!as!the! widely!accepted!father!of!ethnobotany,3!on!his!relation!with!the!Harvard!Botanical!
Museum!–!where!he!was!appointed!in!1954,!first!as!curator!of!the!Orchid!Herbarium! of!Oakes!Ames,!then!as!curator!of!Economic!Botany,!and!finally!as!Executive!
Director!from!1967!to!1985!UU!and!on!the!particularities!that!made!him!so! influential,!both!among!specialized!and!lay!audiences!in!the!United!States!and!
Colombia.!
Schultes!was!born!in!1915!on!the!East!Side!of!Boston!into!a!working!class! family!of!EnglishUGerman!immigrant!origins.!He!attended!Harvard!and!got!his! undergraduate!degree!after!writing!about!the!use!of!peyote!by!Kiowa!Indians!in!
Oklahoma.!As!a!young!doctor!in!Botany,!he!went!in!1941!to!the!Colombian!Amazon! to!identify!the!source!plant!of!curare,!a!muscle!relaxant!just!recently!chemically!
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1!Wade!Davis,!One+River,+Explorations+and+Discoveries+in+the+Amazon+Rain+Forest!(New!York:!Simon!&! Shuster,!1997). 2!For!a!comprehensive!bibliography!of!Schulte’s!publications,!see:!Ghillean!T.!Prance,!“Richard!Evans! Schultes!(12!January!1915!–!10!April!2001):!A!Tribute,”!Economic+Botany!55,!no.!3!(July!–!September! 2001):!347!–!362.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/4256450!(accessed!March!7,!2012). 3!He!proposed!an!inclusive!definition!for!the!term!due!to!the!many!fastUdeveloping!subdivisions!it! already!had!as!an!interdisciplinary!field,!which!reads!as!follows:!“the!study!of!the!uses,!technological! manipulation,!classification,!agricultural!systems,!magicoUreligious!concepts,!conservation! techniques!and!general!economic!and!sociological!importance!of!plants!in!primitive!or!preUliterate! societies”.! Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“The!Importance!of!Ethnobotany!in!Environmental!Conservation,”!American+ Journal+of+Economics+and+Sociology!53,!no.!2!(April!1994):!202.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/3487221! (accessed!December!11,!2010).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 9 isolated!by!science,!but!not!yet!related!to!a!particular!plant.!Because!of!the! gentleness!and!respect!with!which!he!treated!his!Indian!hosts,!he!was!able!to!trace! more!than!seventy!plants!involved!in!the!mixtures!used!for!arrows!poisons,!which! ultimately!revolutionized!medical!surgery.4!
Traveling!by!the!rivers!of!Northwestern!Amazon!through!Peru,!Ecuador,!
Brazil,!Venezuela!and!Colombia,!Schultes!recognized!the!western,!upper!part!of!this! area!as!the!most!botanically!promising.!According!to!him,!it!“has!probably!the! richest!flora!of!the!entire!hylea,!due!primarily!to!its!complex!geological!structure.”5!!
The!Japanese!attack!on!Pearl!Harbor!in!1941!took!place!while!Schultes!was!in! the!Amazon.!Within!six!weeks,!the!world!supply!of!the!rubber!grown!in!
Southeastern!Asia!was!under!Japanese!control,!and!Schultes!was!commissioned!by! the!United!States!Government!to!join!the!war!effort!of!countering!this!loss;!so!he! went!to!survey!the!heads!of!the!unmapped!Apaporis!River!to!establish!an! exploitation!of!natural!rubber.!When!the!war!ended!he!found!himself!in!the! dreamed!heaven!for!a!botanist.!Reluctant!to!join!the!usual!big!expeditions!of!
Western!collecting,!he!relied!upon!local!contacts!and!Indian!guides,!on!his!scientific! associates!in!Bogotá!or!the!United!States,!on!trading!goods,!but!also!on!respect!UU!to! gain!the!confidence!of!the!real!experts!of!their!habitat,!its!numerous!Indian!nations,! speakers!of!languages!sometimes!belonging!to!wholly!unrelated!linguistic!families.!
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4!Ghillean!Prance,!348. 5!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!Where+the+Gods+Reign:+Plants+and+Peoples+of+the+Colombian+Amazon!(Oracle,! Ariz.:!!Synergetic!Press,!1998),!15.! Although!I!could!not!find!the!meaning!of!hylea!in!the!reference!sources!at!hand,!I!can!explain!it,!given! the!context,!as!the!group!of!living!botanical!species!over!a!determined!geological!environment.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 10
Among!these!peoples!he!collected!intensively,!focusing!on!hallucinogenic,! psychoactive,!and!bioactive!plants!with!potential!uses!for!science.!
After!retiring!from!Harvard,!he!got!more!than!ever!focused!on!editing!and! publishing!his!lifework’s!contributions!to!science.!An!impressive!array!of!awards,! scientific!affiliations,!honors!and!official!recognitions!marked!his!career.!Schultes! died!in!Boston!in!2001.!
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Figure+1a.+Map+of+the+journeys+of+Schultes+to+South+America.++
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Figure+1b.+Map+of+the+journeys+of+Schultes+through+the+Colombian+Amazon.++
Source:+Banco+de+la+República,+exhibition+La!Amazonia!perdida:!el!viaje!fotográfo!del!legendario!botánico! Richard!Evans!Schultes,+2009.++
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 12!
I.'Natural'history'collections'and'museums' !
In!this!chapter!I!will!explore!the!context!in!which!museums!participated!as! surveyors!of!the!natural!kingdom,!particularly!from!the!nineteenthUcentury!to!the! turning!of!the!twentiethUcentury.!The!topic!is!related!to!the!case!study!in!terms!of! geopolitics,!as!well!as!with!the!development!of!the!museum!practice!in!the!midst!of! the!industrial!revolution!and!the!expansion!of!modern!colonialism,!which!had!the! pretension!of!encircling!–!factually!and!metaphorically!–!the!world!under!their!grip.!
Nature!did!not!escape!from!the!logic!of!domination!through!effective!exploration,! which!became!instrumental!by!means!of!collection!and!study.!In!the!Atlantic!world,! the!expansion!of!European!colonial!powers!led!to!a!more!detailed!prospecting!for! potentially!strategic!botanical!resources,!once!the!trading!of!massUconsumption! products!such!as!tobacco,!cacao!or!sugar!was!already!wellUestablished.!!
It!is!also!important!to!recall!the!functional!role!that!museums!and!botanical! gardens!played!in!taxonomic!surveying,!with!the!implications!this!issue!has!on! furthering!certain!fields:!the!cuttingUedge!science,!the!development!of!universal! botanical!collections,!and!the!politics!underlying!the!naming!of!nature.!The!drive!for! universalism!becomes!relevant!as!it!was!confronted!with!the!extent!of!such!an! enterprise!in!the!exuberant!Amazon,!which!made!the!HBM’s!traditional!focus!on! economic!botany!–!a!legacy!from!the!interests!of!its!former!directors!–!a!more! suitable!approach!to!carry!out!the!challenge.!It!is!also!worth!noting!the!issues! arising!from!the!role!of!the!United!States!as!the!ruling!power!of!the!hemisphere,!a! role!which!resulted!in!the!easiness!of!the!U.S.!acceding!to!the!South!American!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 13! countries’!biodiversity!resources,!thus!forging!long,!lasting!ties!between!those! countries!and!the!U.S.,!and!resulting!in!consequences!pertaining!to!several!issues;!to! mention!just!one:!the!shared!responsibility!between!the!involved!national!states!of! protecting!the!ownership!rights!and!cultural!heritage!that!are!based!on!the! knowledge!drawn!from!these!botanical!specimens.!
The!final!section!of!this!chapter!is!an!overview!of!the!particularities!of! herbaria!specimens!as!museum!collections.!From!a!museum!perspective,!it!entails! the!setting!up!of!the!reasoning!that!justifies!the!storing!of!living!organisms!through! the!collection!management!practices!in!use!by!museums.!For!instance,!the! institutional!history!of!the!HBM!has!many!references!to!collection!policies,!the! preservation!of!collections,!and!the!emphasis!on!being!primarily!a!research! institution!that!had!exhibition!halls!at!the!same!time.! a)'Organizing'the'natural'kingdom,'a'colonial'enterprise' !
It!is!necessary!to!outline!the!context!of!intertwined!relations!between! museum!practices,!natural!sciences,!colonization,!power,!evolutionism,!and!
‘primitive’!societies,!in!order!to!understand!the!conditions!that!set!the!stage!for!the! bioprospecting!that!took!place!in!the!midUtwentieth!century.!
The!breakpoint!for!the!primacy!of!natural!history!occurred!during!the!time!of! the!industrial!revolution!and!had!in!evolutionary!theory!a!major!booster.!The! challenge!that!the!development!of!natural!sciences!put!on!the!authority!of! humanities!–!which!mostly!depends!on!written!sources!UU!meant!that,!in!making! readable!the!pasts!beyond!human!memory,!natural!history!museums!rationalized!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 14! their!field!through!strategies!of!classification!and!exhibition.!Museums,!as! laboratories!of!new!disciplines!such!as!geology!and!archaeology,!served!as! incubators!for!broader!developments!that!affected!the!arrangement!of!the! artefactual!field,!and!their!exhibition!practices!translated!these!pasts!into!public! culture,!enlisting!them!in!new!strategies!of!cultural!governance.6!
The!idea!that!it!was!possible!to!read,!and!reUread,!nature,!and!even!the! human!inhabitants!of!colonized!territories,!under!the!light!of!evolutionary!theory,! implies!that!the!preUhistoric!past!could!be!seen!and!reconstructed!from!its! continuing!existence!within!the!present.7!When!surveying!the!natural!realm!of!the! jungle,!one!can!easily!identify!why!Schultes!had!a+tendency!to!romanticize!native! people!as!bearers!of!a!vanishing!time!that!is!worth!preserving!before!it!disappears.!
The!main!form!in!which!he!did!it!was!in!his!reliance!on!their!accounts!of!the!uses! and!properties!of!plants.!The!herbaria!specimens!have!a!customized!label!with!a! section!in!which!to!note!the!native!name,!usually!with!its!translation!in!English.!The! inclusion!of!these!findings!in!a!museum!setting!points!to!the!role!of!museums!in! organizing!a!new!temporal!conscience!that!still!has!to!deal!with!the!mechanisms!of! habit!and!inheritance,!through!which!this!past!beyond!memory,!which!is!produced! by!natural!sciences,!is!translated!into!a!potent!force!within!the!present.8!
In!late!Victorian!culture!–!wherein!Schultes!identified!himself!with! sentimental!attachment,!obviously!not!belonging!to!it,!despite!having!been!called! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6!Tony!Bennett,!Pasts+Beyond+Memory:+Evolution,+Museums,+Colonialism!(Florence,!KY:!Routledge,! 2004),!35. 7!Ibid.,!40. 8!Ibid.,!26.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 15!
‘the!last!Victorian!explorer’!UU!colonial!peripheries!became,!under!the!light!of!
Darwinism,!subjects!of!the!mapping!which!folds!human!and!natural!times!onto!each! other!in!a!global!and!secularized!time,!where!they!survive!as!anachronistic! constructions!of!the!past!in!the!present.9!The!representation!of!progress!was!made! evident!in!the!evolutionary!arrangement!of!museum!cabinets.!The!Victorian!fixation! with!origins,!with!genesis!narratives,!is!exemplified!through!exhibition!practices! that!bring!progress!to!a!halt!with!the!present.!This!idea!of!selfUreliance!in!how! knowledge!is!put!into!action!is!an!example!of!the!mechanisms!of!habit!and! inheritance!that!Bennett!writes!about.!
Cultural!governance!set!the!framework!in!which!the!longstanding! contradictions!of!the!museum!field!take!place:!an!underlying,!conflicting!triangle! shaped!in!between!the!presentation!of!objects!for!research,!public!understanding,! and!mass!consumption.!The!imperial!synthesis!of!knowledge!and!power!is!only! possible!when!flora!and!fauna!are!collected,!compared,!and!compartmentalized.10!
When!Schultes!claimed!to!be!following!the!leads!of!the!great!Victorian!explorer!
Richard!Spruce,!altogether!with!the!legacy!of!the!HBM’s!former!director!Oaks!Ames,! his!mentor,!he!was!recognizing!an!affiliation!that!was!not!only!affective.!Ames’!
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9!Anne!McClintock,!Imperial+Leather:+Race,+Gender,+and+Sexuality+in+the+Colonial+Conquest!(New!York:! Routledge,!1995),!37,!in!Tonny!Bennet,!25. 10!Roy!MacLeod,!review!of!Cathedrals+of+Science:+The+Development+of+Colonial+Natural+History+ Museums+During+the+late+Nineteenth+Century,!by!Susan!SheetsUPyenson,!Social+Studies+of+Science!20,! no.!1!(February!1990):!167.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/285106!(accessed!October!17,!2011).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 16! interests!in!economic!botany!were!in!the!obscure!ethnobotanical!mysteries!that! might!be!found!amid!the!remnants!of!ancient!traditions.11!!
It!is!interesting!to!note!how!far!the!influence!of!spiritual!practices!related!to! the!Indian!usage!of!traditional!knowledge,!which!draws!upon!psychoactive!plants,! has!spread!in!modern!societies,!at!least!in!the!Andean!urban!contexts!with!which!I! am!familiar,!effectively!arising!admonitions!from!conservative!sectors!worried! about!the!cultural!corruption!that!it!supposedly!causes!on!our!mainstream!side.!For! societies!used!to!be!on!a!dominant!position,!the!sense!of!uncertainty!that!such!an! overturn!brings!out!is!unbearable.!The!other!way!around!^^+that!is,!acculturation!of! nonUWestern!minorities+^^!is!called!civilization.!It!happened!that!such!remnants!of! native!practices!were!not!fading!embers,!but!a!flaming!system!of!thought!that!was! making!its!insidious!way!from!the!cultural!outskirts.!
Actually,!the!fear!is!better!explained!by!the!permanent!denial!of!the!Indian! strand!from!the!cultural!ethos!of!secular!Latin!American!societies.12!!Such!a!selfU imposed!premise!was!accepted!by!the!national!states’!elites!to!secure!their!share!of! recognition!as!natural!counterparts!to!the!ruling!British!geopolitical!system,! positioning!themselves!as!managers!of!valuable!peripheral!countries!worth!trading! with.!This!rejection!was!also!applied!to!the!Hispanic!heritage,!which!meant!the! acceptance!of!the!black!legend!promoted!by!the!British!about!it.!The!outcome,!in! terms!of!this!thesis’!main!topic,!was!the!lack!of!appreciation!of!the!rich!knowledge!
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11!Wade!Davis,!68. 12!See!Jaime!Jaramillo!Uribe,!Ensayos+de+historia+social,!4th!ed.!(Bogotá:!Alfaomega,!2001).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 17! existing!in!the!deeper!layers!of!the!national!being,!which!had!to!be!reUdiscovered!by! a!Harvard!scholar!–!and!supposes!another!compromising!twist!by!itself,!because!the! shift!did!not!come!from!inside!the!country!as!a!reevaluation!movement.!
Tony!Bennett!elaborates!on!the!role!of!museums!in!Victorian!times!as!
“evolutionary!accumulators,”!or!memory!machines,!that!were!envisaged!as!“means! for!acting!developmentally!on!the!social!by!productively!activating!the!tension! between!the!modern!and!archaic!layers!of!the!self!provided!by!the!archaeological! structure!of!the!person!so!as!to!give!this!a!progressive!momentum.”13!However,!he! points!out!that!this!effect!was!aimed!essentially!at!the!white!male!members!of! metropolitan!powers;!so!for!other!persons!in!different!contexts,!the!effect!was! determined!by!the!social!logic!of!different!local!circumstances.!Thus!the!connections! between!museums,!the!historical!sciences,!and!practices!of!governance!in!such! contexts!are!to!be!found!in!the!forms!of!colonial!administration!intended!for! regulating!the!management!of!people!in!social!space.14!
The!development!of!an!international!network!of!collecting!museums!was!a! result!of!this!context,!in!which!the!preeminence!of!natural!history!required!such!a! system!for!intellectual!exchange!based!on!specimens!and!artifacts.!For!instance,!in! the!first!decades!of!the!twentieth!century,!the!expeditions!carried!out!by!the!
American!Museum!of!Natural!History!(AMNH)!with!its!universalist!scope!in!South!
America,!were!able!to!rely!on!an!intricate!network!of!local!government!officers,! businessmen,!naturalists!and!collectors,!American!and!British!consulates,!trading! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13!Tony!Bennet,!5. 14!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 18! businesses,!and!sea!transportation,!just!to!mention!some.!The!flow!of!people!and! goods!was!facilitated!by!the!increasing!influence!of!American!interests!in!those! countries!at!the!time,!altogether!with!the!shifting!from!British!predominance.!The! purpose!was!to!further!the!taxonomicUdriven!research!carried!out!by!the!AMNH! scientific!staff,!particularly!on!birds!and!mammals,!which!needed!an!extensive! collection!of!specimens!to!compare!against.!This!process!also!involved!lending!out! and!taking!out!loans!to!and!from!other!institutions!to!advance!classificatory! conclusions!about+genus,!subUgenres,!species,!and!varieties.15!
Another!example!comes!from!one!of!Schultes’!fields!of!expertise,!rubber,!and! began!before!his!main!engagement!with!the!HBM,!but!is!related!to!the!focus!on! economic!botany!the!Museum!kept!and!to!the!primacy!given!to!the!accounts!of!local! people.!!Schultes!became!an!expert!on!the!wide!genus!Hevea+because!of!a!series!of! circumstances!that!occurred!in!the!1940s.!The!plants!that!belong!to!this!genus!yield! natural!rubber,!a!key!commodity!for!industrial!economies,!which!conveniently! grows!on!plantations.!At!the!onset!of!WWII!the!supply!of!two!essential!natural! resources!for!the!war!effort!was!cut!by!the!Japanese!invasion!of!Southeastern!Asia! and!its!plantations.!These!resources!were!rubber!and!Cinchona;!the!latter!tree!is!the! source!of!quinine,!the!medicine!that!counters!malaria!and!which!seeds!were!taken! by!Richard!Spruce!in!the!1860s!to!the!Royal!Gardens!at!Kew,!the!headquarters!of!the! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
15!See!Leo!E.!Miller,!In+the+Wilds+of+South+America:!Six+years+of+exploration+in+Colombia,+Venezuela,+ British+Guaina,+Peru,+Bolivia,+Argentina,+Paraguay,+and+Brazil!(New!York:!Charles!Scribner’s!sons,! 1919).!Joel!A.!Allen,!“List!of!mammals!collected!in!Colombia!by!the!American!Museum!of!Natural! History!expeditions,!1910U1915,”!Bulletin+of+the+American+Museum+of+Natural+History,+no.!35,!article! 18!(1916).!Frank!M.!Chapman,!“Diagnoses!of!apparently!new!Colombian!birds!3,”!Bulletin+of+the+ American+Museum+of+Natural+History,!no.!33,!article!40!(1914).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 19!
British!botanical!empire.!Once!it!thrived!there,!it!was!planted!extensively!in!India,! which!allowed+the!conquest!of!subUSaharan!Africa.!While!the!replacement!program! for!Cinchona!was!effective!in!surveying!and!exploiting!bark!along!the!natural! distribution!of!the!tree!in!the!northern!Andes!highlands,!what!began!as!a!promising! study!on!Hevea!led!by!Schultes!in!the!Colombian!Amazon!became!a!wasted!effort.!At! the!same!time!that!Schultes!worked!to!secure!a!provision!of!natural!rubber,!going! through!incredibly!hard!challenges!on!the!heads!of!the!Apaporis!River!in!Colombia,! he!envisioned!breaking!away!from+the!American!dependence!on!rubber!located! outside!the!Western!Hemisphere.!+At!the!time!of!this!war!strategy,!botanists!and! other!professionals,!American!museums!of!natural!history,!field!stations,! herbariums,!botanical!gardens!and!government!agencies!joined!a!huge!network!to! support!the!troops!on!the!battlefields.16!
This!can!be!considered!the!greatest!point!of!the!contributions!that!this! network!provided,!taking!its!part!in!the!relations!between!access!to!knowledge! through!natural!history,!and!strategic!agendas!for!global!domination.!It!also!points! to!its!own!decline,!in!the!face+of!the!emergence!of!the!new!secular!cathedrals,! namely!laboratories.!Still,!the!scholarly!affiliation!of!the!HBM!at!a!time!when! universities!had!already!taken!the!lead!in!the!field!of!science!research!makes!for!a!
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16!See!Richard!A.!Howard,!“The!Role!of!Botanist!during!World!War!II!in!the!Pacific!Theatre,”!Botanical+ Review!60,!no.!2!(April!–!June!1994):!197!–!257.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/4354228!(accessed! December!11,!2010).! For!the!Schultes’!role!see:!“The!Betrayal!of!the!Dream,!1944U54”!in!Davis,!330!–!371.! Schultes!stayed!on!the!federal!payroll,!as!a!plant!explorer,!for!a!decade,!first!in!the!Rubber! Development!Corporation,!and!then!in!the!Division!of!Rubber!Plant!Investigation!of!the!Bureau!of! Plant!Industry,!Soils,!and!Agricultural!Research!Administration!of!the!Department!of!Agriculture.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 20! more!interesting!case!study!on!the!shifting!conditions!and!outcomes!of!this!dual! identity.! b)'The'role'of'a'botanical'museum'in'interdisciplinary'taxonomic'surveying' !
The!act!of!naming!a!natural!specimen!is!a!deliberate!appropriation!of! wilderness.!It!does!not!make!sense!by!itself,!though.!Only!when!compared!and! classified!does!a!specimen!become!apprehensible.!In!this!section!I!will!draw!the! history!of!naming!plants!and!bioprospecting!in!respect!to!what!it!has!to!do!with!the! core!of!the!subject!matter.!Appropriation!of!knowledge!comes!together!with!a! careful!notation!while!collecting,!so!the!care!taken!in!recording!every!available! datum!in!the!field!is!rewarded!once!the!analysis!takes!place!in!the!comfortable! setting!of!a!laboratory.!Throughout!the!time!of!contextualization!that!I!focus!upon,! museums!were!significant!in!collecting,!comparing!and!identifying!botanic! specimens.!
In!his!first!annual!report!as!director!of!the!HBM,!Schultes!made!clear!that!the! institution!had!maintained!a!balance!in!its!three!spheres!of!activity:!public! exhibitions,!instruction!of!University!students,!and!research!and!exploration!in! botany.!He!asserted!that!the!purpose!of!a!true!museum!–!to!serve!as!a!link!between! science!and!the!general!public!U!had!been!fulfilled!by!the!HBM:!“A!function!of! growing!importance!as!scientific!knowledge!increases!while!the!gap!between!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 21! scientist!and!layman!seems!often!to!be!widening.”17!So!it!is!clear!that!one!of!the! reasons!to!process!Amazon!botanical!lore,!turning!it!into!usable!knowledge!for! industrial!societies,!was!part!of!the!longstanding!educational!mission!of!museums,! at!a!time!when!sophistication!of!technology!apparently!obscured!the!relation! between!technological!devices!and!science,!as!accessibility!to!the!later!is!impinged! by!mechanisms!of!power.!
Schultes’!reliance!on!the!account!of!natives!and!local!people!is!not!an! innovation!by!itself!in!the!history!of!how!science!has!processed!external!knowledge.!
It!had!happened!before!in!the!relations!forged!in!the!Atlantic!world!since!the!onset! of!Modern!age.!His!breakthrough!was!to!collect,!altogether!with!the!specimens,! worldUviews,!schemas!of!usage,!and!alternative!ways!of!ordering!and!understanding! the!world.!According!to!Schiebinger,!these!were!the!elements!that!Europeans! missed!in!their!bioprospecting.18!Medical!historians!have!shown!that!Europeans! could!not!set!aside!Galenic!explanations!of!disease!and!drug!classifications!when! trying!to!understand!New!World!medicinal!plants!used!by!locals!or!transplanted!
Africans,!from!whom!they!obtained!facts!and!data!–!which!in!Bennet’s!chain!of! thought!is!explained!as!mechanisms!of!habit!and!inheritance.!“Europeans’! understanding!of!medical!herbs!was!limited!to!what!made!sense!to!them!within! humoral!context!of!drugs!that!would!heat!or!cool!the!constitution.”19!Consequently,!
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17!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“Botanical!Museum,”!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard+College+and+reports+ of+departments:!1967+–+1968!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University,!1968),!408.! http://nrs.harvard.edu/urnU3:hul.arch:15008!(accessed!February!8,!2012). 18!Londa!Schiebinger,!Plants+and+Empire:+Colonial+Bioprospecting+in+the+Atlantic+World!(Cambridge:! Harvard!University!Press,!2004),!87. 19!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 22!
“they!stockpiled!specimens!in!cabinets,!put!them!behind!glass!in!museums,!and! accumulated!them!in!botanical!gardens!and!herbaria.!They!collected!the!bounty!of! the!natural!world,!but!sent!‘narratively!striped’!specimens!into!Europe!to!be! classified!by!a!Linnaeus!or!a!Jussieu.”20+Once!again,!the!institutional!ways!of! processing!knowledge!are!embedded!within!broader!mechanisms!of!power.!
However,!one!can!still!argue!that!an!epistemological!shift!took!place!by!the!time:! from+Europeans!relying!on!ancient!classical!wisdom!toward!their!appreciation!of! the!authority!of!native!peoples!encountered!through!global!expansion,!at!least! before!the!onset!of!rampant!racism!in!the!nineteenth!century.21!
The!point!of!taxonomic!research!and!naming!is!important!because!it!was!one! of!the!main!roles!of!the!HBM!when!processing!botanical!specimens!sent!there!from! everywhere!else!in!the!world.!However,!it!was!not!the!only!recipient!of!Schultes’! collecting!UU!because!of!his!previous!engagement!with!the!federal!government,!for! instance.!Furthermore,!many!students!actively!followed!his!lead!and!contributed! their!own!surveying!work.!During!Schultes’!tenure!as!director!of!the!Botanical!
Museum!from!1967!to!1985,!his!celebrity!status!was!wellUestablished!among!the! international!scientific!community,!together!with!the!HBM’s!collections,!in!an!active! role!of!interchange!with!herbariums!around!the!world,!which!forged!lasting!links!UU! for!instance,!with!the!main!Colombian!herbarium,!the!Instituto!de!Ciencias!
Naturales!of!the!Universidad!Nacional,!where!many!duplicates!of!his!specimens!are! still!available!for!study.!These!links!are!comparable!to!those!of!the!interlibrary!or!
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20!Ibid. 21!Ibid.,!75U76.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 23! museum!exchanges,!but!with!natural!specimens,!and!are!indicators!establishing!the! importance!of!a!given!institution.!!
The!fact!is!that!the!dimension!of!processing!the!Amazon!lusciousness!was!so! vast!that,!as!early!as!the!eighteenthUcentury,!the!French!explorer!La!Condamine! wrote!that!even!its!reduction!into!classes,!genera,!and!species!would!require!“years! of!toil!from!the!most!indefatigable!botanist…!and!draughtsman…!but!if!to!this!were! superadded!an!examination!of!the!virtues!ascribed!to!them!by!the!natives!of!the! country,!certainly!the!most!interesting!part!of!a!study!of!this!nature,!how!daunting! would!be!the!task.”22!As!La!Condamine!envisioned,!it!was!a!huge!project,!but!not!one! that!could!be!taken!by!a!single!person.!Plus,!with!regards+to!the!engagement!of! scientific!networks,!it!also!helped!encourage!the!development!of!a!new!discipline,! ethnobotany,!in!which!the!HBM’s!agency!was!significant.!Meanwhile,!draughtsman’s! art!is!an!indispensable!part!of!the!process!of!turning!plants!into!herbaria!collections! and!in!publishing!the!findings!of!such!work.!
In!order!to!understand!what!is!entailed!in!the!study!of!flora!once!it!becomes! a!mounted!specimen!with!an!accession!number,!it!is!necessary!to!contextualize! taxonomy!and!nomenclature.!The!main!fact!to!keep!in!mind!is!that!our!present! knowledge!about!the!mechanisms!of!inheritance!and!change!in!plants!and!animals!is! almost!completely!narrowed!to!the!causes!of!variation!within!species,!which!is! based!upon!the!observed!behavior!of!inherited!characters,!something!that!was! clouded!by!uncertainty!until!the!rediscovery!of!Mendel’s!work!at!the!beginning!of! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
22!CharlesUMarie,!de!La!Condamine,!Relation+abrégée+d’un+Voyage+Fait+dans+l’interieur+de+L’Amérique+ Méridionale+(Paris:!1745),!74U75,!in!Schiebinger,!89.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 24! the!twentiethUcentury.!Thus,!the!concept!of!a!taxonomic!species,!or!grouping!of! individuals!with!a!close!resemblance!to!each!other!in!every!aspect!of!their! morphology,!and!to!which!a!name!can!be!applied,!is!not!the!most!accurate!rendering! of!the!actual!circumstances!in!nature.!Taxonomic!grouping!defines!and!delimits!an! entity,!but!scientists!are!constantly!discovering!that!the!species!is!not!immutable.!
Therefore,!the!trouble!creates!the!need!of!internationally!accepted!rules!intended!to! prevent!the!unnecessary!proliferation!of!names.23!
The!Linnaean!binomial!system!was!a!breakthrough!in!the!effort+towards!the! solution!of!the!problem.!It!consists!in!an!artificial!system!of!classifying!plants!that!is! based!on!their!reproductive!features.!Linnaeus!used!the!number,!structure,!and! disposition!of!the!stamens!of!the!flower!to!define!twentyUthree!classes,!as!well!as!a! twentyUfourth!class!containing!those!plants!which!had!their!reproductive!organs! hidden!to!the!eye:!ferns,!mosses,!algae,!fungi!and!palms.!This!system!can! accommodate!newly!discovered!plants!into!a!group.!Linnaeus!thought!that!for!the! proper!working!of!such!standardized!nomenclature,!it!was!necessary!that!the! language!of!plant!names!should!also!be!agreed!upon,!giving!rise!to!the!modern! practice!of!naming!based!on!a!Latin!vocabulary!of!great!versatility,!but!artificial.24!
Thus,!classification!and!nomenclature!became!the!foundations!of!modern!botany.!
My!thesis!concerns!nomenclature!to!the!extent!of!what!it!can!reveal!about! the!‘cultural!history’!of!plants,!as!Schiebinger!asserted.!Underlying!nomenclature!is! how!plants!and!the!knowledge!of!them!traveled!across!early!modern!botanical! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
23!Davis,!Gledhill,!Names+of+Plants!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University!Press,!2002),!25U26. 24!Ibid.,!30,!31.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 25! networks,!how!Western!cultures!understood!the!bioUdistribution!of!plants,!and!also! how!they!evaluated!knowledge!systems!of!other!peoples.25!
In!Spain’s!viceroyalty!of!Peru!of!the!seventeenth!century,!there!was!a! discussion!at!the!Universidad!de!Lima!on!the!grounds!that!physicians!should!study!
Quechua!instead!of!botanical!medicine.!In!this!language,!plants!were!said!to!have! been!named!for!their!medical!virtues.!There!are!similar!claims!for!Nahuatl,!and! other!widespread!native!languages,!and!some!enlightened!naturalists!who!worked! for!the!Spanish!administration!in!Bourbon!times!held!such!opinions.!Meanwhile,! medicinal!usages,!biogeographical!distribution,!and!cultural!valence!were!the!types! of!information!stripped!from!plants!in!Linnaean!binomial!nomenclature.26!
Consequently,!they!were!also!removed!from!the!mental!map!of!what!is!worth! appreciating,!as!I!asserted!above!regarding!the!two!strands!of!culture!usually! undervalued!by!the!LatinUAmerican!ethos,!in!the!circumstances!I!described.27!
During!his!fieldwork,!Schultes!shipped!specimens!for!identification!to!many! herbaria!around!the!world,!keeping!HBM!the!primary!destination.!Out!of!the!more! than!24,000!specimens!he!collected!during!his!lifework,!300!were!new!to!Western! science,!and!more!than!sixty!bear!his!Latinized!name.28!On!the!online!database!of! the!Harvard!Herbaria,!at!least!700!specimens!owe!their!presence!to!him,!and!the! detailed!records!of!each!one!include!accurate!dates!and!places,!and!honorably!
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25!Londa!Schiebinger,!195. 26!Ibid.,!!197.! 27!See!for!instance!the!field!journal!translated!by!Schultes!from!Spanish:!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and! María!José!von!Thenen!de!JaramilloUArango,!The+journals+of+Hipólito+Ruiz:+Spanish+botanist+in+Peru+and+ Chile,+1777c1788!(Portland:!Timber!Press,!1998). 28!Prance,!349.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 26! recognize!the!names!of!his!associate!collectors,!whether!local!colleagues,!mestizo+ settlers!or!natives.!The!most!common!name!that!comes!out!is!that!of!his!protégé,!
Pacho!López,!a!teen!Tikunan!Indian;!many!plants!bear!the!name!Lopezii!as!a!result.!
The!point!I!want!to!highlight!among!Schultes’!contributions!to!ethnobotany! and!regarding!this!section,!is!summarized!in!this!quote:!
There!are!real!enigmas!which!botanists!cannot!easily!explain!in!the! Indian!recognition!of!“kinds”!or!“strains”!of!wild!species!which!offer! no!morphological!or!otherwise!tangible!differences!but!which!are!well! established!and!named!in!the!native!classifications…!Two!examples!–! yoco!and!yaje!–!will!illustrate!this!extraordinary!native!ability!to! distinguish!what!we!may!call!“hidden”!diversity!in!plant!species.29! !
This!simple!assertion!opened!a!huge!field!for!interdisciplinary!studies.!In!the! article!that!I!quoted!above!he!went!on!to!present!the!example!of!yaje!or!ayahuasca!
(Banisteriopsis+Caapi),!the!vine!base!for!the!brew!of!the!same!name.!Schultes!made! up!a!list!of!some!thirty!epithets!designating!the!variants!known!to!the!Indians,!each! indicating!a!type!of!liana,!most!of!which!they!could!identify!at!a!distance,!which! seemed!to!have!no!morphological!differences!to!a!WesternUtrained!botanist.!“Kinds”! of!the!vine!were!named!after!animals,!due!to!their!mythological!characters,!or!their! possession!of!different!strengths!in!connection!with!magicoUreligious!needs.!The!
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29!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“Recognition!of!Variability!in!Wild!Plants!by!Indians!of!the!Northwest! Amazon:!an!Enigma,”!Journal+of+Ethnobiology!6,!no.!2!(Winter!1986):!229.! http://wlbcenter.org/Schultes%20Publications/J.%20Ethnobiol.%206(2)229U 238%20Schultes1986.pdf!(accessed!December!12,!2010).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 27! diversity!of!categories!increases!as!well!as!the!bioactivity!of!the!brew!due!to!the! plants!used!as!admixtures.30!
!
Figure+2.+Drawing+of+Banisteriopsis+Caapi.+Source:+Botanical!Museum!Leaflets+28,+no.+1+(June+1957).!
The!point!is!that!Schultes!and!other!HBM!staff!took!part!in!academic! struggles!that!challenged!established!stances!towards!nonUscientific!information! and!its!usage,!and,!in!doing!so,!contributed!to!furthering!and!redefining!their!field!of! expertise,!while!keeping!the!authoritative!role!assigned!to,!and!expected!from,!the!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
30!Ibid.,!235.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 28! staff!of!a!university!museum.!However,!the!approach!towards!the!HBM’s!subjectU field!changed!according!to!its!different!directors’!interests,!and!had,!in!Schultes’! tenure!(1967!–!1985),!the!most!interesting!breakthrough!in!terms!of!contributions! to!science!drawing!on!challenging!ideas!of!what!botanizing!is!all!about.!
The!HBM!and!its!third!director,!Paul!Mangelsdorf!(1945U1967),!had!both!a! significant!role!in!the!soUcalled!Corn!War,!which!was!a!scientific!dispute!on!the! origins!of!corn!that!ended!up!involving!the!museum!in!an!international!crisis!with! the!Mexican!government.!It!was!an!overture!for!what!would!come!later!on!in!the! field!of!ethnobotany.!Meanwhile,!it!exemplifies!Mangelsdor’s!focus!on!paleobotany! and!maize,!which!is!very!distant!from!that!of!his!successor.!!
The!story!began!in!1961,!when!the!archeologist!Richard!MacNeish!found!in!a! cave!in!Mexico!some!tiny,!halfUinch!cobs,!seventyUtwo!hundred!years!old.!MacNeish! had!been!digging!in!the!country!since!1945,!and!eventually!accumulated!around! twentyUfive!thousand!specimens!of!ancient!maize,!which!he!had!delivered!to!the!
HBM!for!its!researchers!to!examine.!Mangelsdorf!was!the!visible!head!of!a!group!of! experts!that,!after!thorough!experimental!research,!advanced!the!theory!that!either! humans!or!nature!hybridized!long!ago!the!ancestor!of!teosinte,!a!Mexican!wild!grass,! with!corn,!producing!a!cousin!of!it.!On!the!other!hand,!another!group!led!by!the! geneticist!George!W.!Beadle,!contended!that!corn!was!not!an!ancestor!of!teosinte! but,!rather,!an!ancestor!of!corn.!Mangelsdorf!would!come!to!regret!his!tripartite! hypothesis!over!time,!but!kept!flatly!declaring,!“The!ancestor!of!cultivated!corn!was!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 29! corn,”31!calling!for!further!research!and!invalidating!the!idea!of!teosinte!as!the! progenitor!of!maize!as!one!no!longer!tenable.!
Therefore,!some!of!the!ancient!specimens!sent!to!the!HBM!by!MacNeish! looked!to!Mangelsdorf’s!delighted!eye!like!wild!corn,!hopefully!the!protomaize!he! was!seeking!for.!The!specimens!were!still!being!studied!in!1969,!when!Mangelsdorf! had!left!the!HBM;!and!that!year!an!American!scientist!who!was!a!Beadle!fan!“hinted! darkly!to!the!Mexican!government’s!Department!of!PreUHistory![or!the!respective! department!at!Museo!de!Antropología!U!INAH?]!that!Harvard!had!stolen!Mexico’s! corn!treasures,!or,!at!any!rate,!had!accessioned!the!specimens!–!put!numbers!on! them,!that!is,!as!possessive!evidence.”!Schultes!denied!it,!explaining!that!the!relics! had!been!stored!separately!from!any!permanent!acquisitions,!and!deemed!the! specimens!to!belong!to!Mexico,!where!he!expected!to!have!them!returned!when!his! associates!completed!their!assessment.!However,!the!issue!had!gotten!out!of!hand! by!then,!and!the!Mexican!government!demanded!all!the!specimens!back,! immediately.!“In!1972,!accordingly!(such!matters!take!time),!they!were!all!handed! over,!though!in!Mangelsdor’s!view!Harvard!could!have!spent!another!profitable! decade!examining!them!had!it!not!been!for!antiUHarvard,!antiUMangelsdorf,!and!proU
Beadle!interference.”32!
This!affair!demonstrates!the!type!of!research!in!which!the!HBM!staff!was! engaged,!drawing!on!its!encyclopedic!collections!of!paleobotany!and!economic!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
31!The+New+Yorker,!Profiles,!“The!Staffs!of!Life,”!June!18,!1984,!59.! http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:33368/?i=1984U06U18!(accessed!December!15,!2011). 32!Ibid.,!60.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 30! botany.!It!also!points!to!the!status!achieved!by!the!institution!within!the!scientific! community.!Nevertheless,!such!a!discussion!on!the!most!important!staple!of!
American!economy!and!sustainment!drifts!away!from!the!interests!that!would! become!more!relevant!during!Schultes’!tenure,!who!was!preoccupied!with! overlooked!or!unknown!species!that!could!be!rendered!useful!to!contemporary! society.!
Mangelsdorf’s!fixation!with!maize!also!provides!another!clue!to! understanding!the!intertwined!relations!between!collection!practices!and!scientific! research,!which!found!a!fertile!soil!in!the!HBM!context!to!thrive.!Mangelsdorf!and! his!wife!accumulated!around!five!hundred!objets+de+maïs!over!their!lifetime.!They! had,!among!other!objects,!cornhusk!fans,!cobUshaped!whiskey!bottles,!and!a! sixteenthUcentury!Chinese!ivory!ear!of!corn!–!which!was!remarkable!because!corn! had!barely!gotten!to!China!when!it!was!carved.33!!
In!1979,!after!his!wife’s!death,!Mangelsdorf!agreed!to!have!the!bulk!of!their! corn!collection!on!permanent!display!at!North!Carolina!State!University,!where!he! had!been!given!a!research!professorship.34!That!kind!of!love!for!the!subject!matter!is! well!rooted!in!the!traditions!of!the!nineteenthUcentury’s!scientific!gentlemanliness,! which!is!expressed!by!the!act!of!collecting!as!means!of!developing!skills!and! knowledge,!whether!for!amateurs!of!natural!history!or!philosophical!botanists!UU!the!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
33!Ibid.,!57. 34!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 31! latter!hovered!on!a!quite!different!status,!but!had!in!common!the!basics!of!the! trade.35!
Since!economic!botany,!paleobotany,!and!orchideology!define!the!core!of!the! research!focus!of!the!HBM,!it!is!important!to!note!that!the!interdisciplinary! approach!towards!them!is!what!produced!such!seeming!disparity!in!terms!of!the! articulated!knowledge!coming!out!of!the!specimens!collected.!The!article!“A!Native!
Drawing!of!an!Hallucinogenic!Plant!from!Colombia,”36!by!Schultes!and!Alec!Bright,!is! a!perfect!example!of!how!this!crossUreferenced!strategy!functioned.!!In!the!article,!
Schultes!went!over!the!proper!identification!of!a!voucher!specimen,!drawing!on! native!oral!sources,!pictorial!documents,!as!well!as!his!own!fieldwork!and!familiarity! both!with!the!type!area!of!the!specimen!and!another!distant!region!where!the!plant! was!also!found.!The!outcome!was!the!recognition!of!distinct!and!stable! characteristics!that!deserved!the!necessary!nomenclatural!transfer!of!the!vulcanicola! species!in!question,!from!the!Datura!to!the!Brugmansia!genera.!In!settling!the! question!in!such!an!ostensibly!authoritative!manner,!the!process!actually!involves! giving!up!part!of!the!reasoning!to!nonUscholarly!sources.!The!native!drawing!comes! out!as!a!worthy!artifact!that!tells!the!legends!of!the!plant,!and!doing!so,!it!helps!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
35!The!concept!of!philosophical!botanists!refers!to!a!midUstage!of!recognition!and!definition!of!the! botanical!specialist,!in!between!the!nobleman!naturalist!and!the!scientist!who!tried!to!make!his!or! her!living!out!of!science.!The!change!occurred!throughout!the!industrial!revolution!and!Victorian! times.!Sir!Joseph!Hooker!referred!to!himself!as!a!philosophical!botanist.!See!Jim!Endersby,!Imperial+ Nature:!Joseph+Hooker+and+the+Practices+of+Victorian+Science,!(Chicago:!The!University!of!Chicago! Press,!2008),!12!–!13.!
36!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“A!Native!Drawing!of!an!Hallucinogenic!Plant!From!Colombia,”!Botanical+ Museum+Leaflets!25,!no.!6!(September!1977):!151!U!159.! http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31874!(accessed!December!12,!2010)
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 32! localize!and!contextualize!the!specificity!of!the!plant!among!similar!borracheros!
(drunkenness!trees).!!
The!tale!of!the!evil!eagle!that!lives!in!the!plant!warns!of,!among!other!things,! the!Pijaos,!an!extinct!people!who!were!never!conquered,!at!whose!name!other!
Indians!trembled,!and!who!were!so!fierce!that!they!fed!on!the!tree’s!flowers.!The! psychoactive!toxicity!of!this!plant!is!so!powerful!that!it!is!reserved!by!medicine!men! only!for!desperate!cases,!for!it!unleashes!madness!and!can!lead!to!death.!As!seen,! the!personality!of!the!plants!under!the!scope!that!characterized!Schultes’! directorship!at!the!HBM!lays!them!far!away!from!corn!and!orchids.! c)'Specificities'of'herbaria'specimens'as'museum'collections' ! Dried!and!mounted!plants!are!not!natural!organisms.!They!are!artificial! mirrors!of!what!once!lived!in!nature.!Thus,!they!can!only!tell!us!about!their!own! characteristics,!as!far!as!they!are!allowed!to!by!the!craftsmanship!of!the!people!who! made!them.!The!skills!of!the!botanical!trade!require!plants!to!become!things!that!are! made!according!to!exacting!standards.!Therefore,!picking!a!plant!does!not!produce!a! botanical!specimen.!Collectors!have!to!gather!specific!parts!of!the!plant,!label!them! correctly,!and!preserve!and!mount!them!properly.37!Otherwise,!poorly!processed! plants!become!useless!specimens!from!which!knowledge!cannot!be!extracted.+
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
37!Jim!Endersby,!55.! For!a!comprehensive!bibliography!on!this!topic!see!James!Hicks!and!Pearl!M.!Hicks,!“A!Selected! Bibliography!of!Plant!Collection!and!Herbarium!Curation,”!Taxon!27,!no.!1!(February!1978),!63!–!99.! http://www.jstor.org/stable/1220483!!(accessed!October!18,!2011).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 33!
One!of!the!differences!between!the!imperial!collecting!network!that! converged!in!the!Royal!Gardens!at!Kew!and!the!HBM!enterprise!is!the!almost!selfU sufficiency!of!the!latter!in!the!field.!The!nature!of!the!relationships!forged!among!the! network!of!volunteer!collectors!in!the!colonies,!upon!which!the!British!institution! relied,!made!for!a!particular!set!of!tensions!and!outcomes.!Endersby,!in!tracing!
Joseph!Hooker’s!times!in!late!nineteenthUcentury!as!director!of!the!Royal!Gardens,! organized!most!of!his!exposition!around!the!process!in!which!the!production!of! knowledge!took!place.!This!was!comprised!of!traveling,!collecting,!corresponding,! seeing,!classifying,!and!publishing.!“The!seemingly!mundane!business!of!picking!and! pressing!flowers!proves!to!be!a!way!of!constructing!imperial!relationships:!when!a! collector!in!some!remote!land!accepted!the!authority!of!a!distant!metropolitan! expert!by!following!his!guidance!as!to!what!and!how!to!collect,!he!or!she!was! simultaneously!accepting!a!subordinate!role!and!thus!a!colonized!status.”38!On!the! other!hand,!local!collectors!may!feel!they!knew!their!locality’s!flora!better!than!these! distant!experts,!and!this!conviction!could!spring!them!to!devise!alternatives!to!the! metropolitan!standards!–!and!even!names.!As!a!result,!scientific!knowledge!of! classification,!distribution!and!uses!emerged!from!the!cycle!in!which!objects!and! information!about!them!moved!back!and!forth,!from!periphery!to!center!and!back! again.39!Nevertheless,!this!comparable!cycle!is!of!a!much!different!nature!when!the! botanical!scientific!discipline!is!much!better!established,!well!into!the!twentiethU century,!as!in!the!case!of!the!HBM.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
38!Jim!Endersby,!55. 39!Ibid.,!!57.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 34!
The!HBM!staff!and!students!were!actually!able!to!travel!to!the!places!where! unveiled!flora!and!people!lived,!and!to!collect!by!themselves,!following!the!standard! practices!of!the!discipline.!Fellows!in!the!field!of!biology!made!up!the!network!they! relied!on,!whether!in!South!America!or!the!United!States,!to!be!people!who!had! similar!academic!credentials!and!aspired!to!be!treated!as!equals,!and!represented! institutions!with!long!traditions,!which!were!well!respected!locally.!Skillfulness!in! turning!plants!into!specimens!was!out!of!the!question,!apparently.!Hard!conditions! in!the!Amazon!rainforest,!national!regulations,!and!the!common!sense!of!fostering! partnerships!in!the!local!scientific!community!accounted!for!the!processing!of! barely!dried,!dismounted!collections!that!were!shipped!by!Schultes!to!the!Instituto! de!Ciencias!Naturales!in!Bogotá,!Colombia’s!capital,!on!their!way!to!the!United!
States,!for!instance.40!
The!usual!way!of!doing!collections!was!to!dry!the!plants!in!the!field,!but!they! tend!to!turn!crisp!and!brittle!that!way.!It!is!also!timeUconsuming,!and!not!always!the! most!rewarding!task!under!the!normal!heavy!raining!and!high!humidity!conditions! of!the!Amazon.!To!keep!his!specimens!more!malleable!until!they!could!be!further! processed,!Schultes!introduced!the!use!of!formaldehyde.!He!would!dilute!it,!one!to!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
40!It!is!significant!that!in!the!preface!of!his!book!The+Healing+Forest,!Schultes!made!clear!that!he! avoided!listing!in!the!text!the!herbaria!in!which!the!cited!specimens!are!deposited,!inasmuch!as!most! material!is!represented!in!the!Herbario!Nacional!de!Colombia!in!Bogotá!(Instituto!de!Ciencias! Naturales),!and!the!Economic!Botany!Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames!or!the!Gray!Herbarium!at!Harvard! University.! In!the!acknowledgments,!he!dedicated!in!the!first!place!“very!special!thanks!(…)!to!several!directors! and!staff!members!of!the!Instituto!de!Ciencias!Naturales,!Bogotá,!particularly!during!the!early!phases! of!our!research;”!and!then,!in!the!second!place,!to!the!staff!of!technicians!“for!the!care!of!specimens! sent!in!from!the!field.”! Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Robert!F.!Raffauf,!The+Healing+Forest:+Medicinal+and+Toxic+Plants+of+the+ Northwest+Amazonia!(Portland:!Dioscorides!Press,!1990),!35,!37.
!
Figure+3.+Sheet+specimen+collected+by+Schultes+(Costus+chartaceus).+Source:+Harvard+Botanical+Herbaria+ Digital+Database+
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 36! three!parts!water,!soak!the!plants!in!it,!and!then!sandwich!them!between!sheets!of! newspaper.!Then,!“he!would!bundle!up!his!damp!cache,!stow!it!in!rubber!or!plastic! bags,!and!hope!that!a!hydroplane!or!another!accommodating!carrier!would!turn!up! before!too!long!and!deliver!them!to!the!Institute!of!Natural!Sciences.”41!If!more!than! six!weeks!or!so!had!passed,!he!would!open!up!the!bundles!and!pour!in!some!more!of! the!solution.!However,!this!method!could!have!its!drawbacks,!as!became!evident!in!a! field!journal,!where!Schultes!wrote:!“I!am!discouraged!because!the!formaldehyde!I! bought!is!very!inferior!and!nearly!all!of!my!collections!for!the!past!month!and!a!half! are!rotten.”42+
The!point!is!that,!to!make!plants!readable!and!of!the!worth!to!be!accessioned! and!kept!in!herbaria,!the!scientific!network!had!to!grow!increasingly!sophisticated! in!the!twentiethUcentury,!and!the!first!step!in!the!path!was!to!be!played!by!the! university!herbaria!of!a!country!with!huge!natural!richness!but!limited!means!to! turn!it!into!useful!knowledge.!So!the!dependence!was!mutual,!and!the!outcome!of! such!experience!is!puzzling!in!certain!fields,!and!clearly!rewarding!in!others,!as!I! will!elaborate!further!in!later!chapters.!
In!the!development!of!a!new!discipline!that!stands!for!an!old!practice,!this! network!was!functional!in!cementing!an!ethnobotanical!focus!for!certain! institutions.!According!to!Wade!Davis,!what!ethnobotanists!must!record!are!not!only! lists!of!plant!uses!but!a!vision!of!life!itself.!In!accomplishing!this!challenge,!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
41!The+New+Yorker,!Profiles,!“Jungle!Botanist,”!June!1,!1992,!48.! http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:33368/?i=1992U06U01!(accessed!December!15,!2011). 42!Ibid.,!49.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 37! researchers!pioneered!quantitative!and!qualitative!methodologies!for!documenting! folk!knowledge,!specially!at!the!Institute!of!Economic!Botany!of!the!New!York!
Botanical!Garden,!at!the!Harvard!Botanical!Museum!(Laboratory!of!Economic!
Botany),!and!at!Colombia’s!Instituto!de!Ciencias!Naturales.!The!goal!for!the! contemporary!discipline!has!become!“to!understand!not!just!how!a!specific!group!of! people!uses!plants!but!how!that!group!perceives!them,!how!it!interprets!those! perceptions,!how!those!perceptions!influence!the!activities!of!members!of!that! society,!and!how!those!activities,!in!turn,!influence!the!ambient!vegetation!and!the! ecosystem!upon!which!the!society!depends.”43!
However,!the!movement!of!herbaria!specimens!was!still!quite!an!issue,!and! tensions!between!the!people!involved!in!the!scientific!network!sometimes!arose.!In! a!letter!from!Bogotá!dated!March!2,!1961,44!Álvaro!Fernández!Pérez,!director!of!the!
Department!of!Botany!at!the!Instituto!de!Ciencias!Naturales,!complained!about!the! unfair!accusations!voiced!by!Dr.!Schultes!in!regards!to!the!processing!of!certain! collections!by!the!Instituto!staff.!Fernández!argued!that!the!qualification!of!
“miserable”!given!by!Schultes!to!the!shape!of!some!specimens!sent!from!Bogotá!to!
Cambridge,!applied!to!the!shape!in!which!these!and!other!specimens,!made!directly! by!Shultes,!were!found!at!the!Instituto.!Also,!he!disagreed!on!“the!large!amounts”!of!
Apocynaceae!that!Schultes!claimed!to!had!left!there,!saying!that!they!only!have!one!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
43!Wade!Davis,!“An!Old!Practice,!a!New!Discipline,”!in!ed.!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Siri!von!Reis,! Ethnobotany:+Evolution+of+a+Discipline!(Portland:!Dioscorides!Press,!1995),!44. 44!Álvaro!Fernández!Pérez!to!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!March!2,!1961,!Collection!Richard!Evans! Schultes,!series!II!(Identification!and!Classification!notes),!box!1,!folder!8,!Harvard!University! Herbaria!Library!and!Archives!(hereafter!cited!as!Collection!R.E.S.!and!HUHLA,!respectively),! Cambridge,!MA.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 38! specimen!for!each!collection!number,!also!in!bad!shape!but!enough!to!draw!four! inconclusive!determinations,!which!he!communicated!to!him.!Fernández!said!he!had! the!staff!of!the!herbaria!looking!for!the!supposedly!lost!specimens!to!no!avail,!and! explained!that!Schultes!himself!should!have!misplaced!them!or!is!not!possessing!an! exact!memory.!
What!seemed!to!be!just!an!issue!of!logistics!and!misplaced!specimens!goes! further!into!scientific!zeal,!however;!for!Fernández!took!the!opportunity!to! remember!that!some!five!to!eight!years!before,!Schultes!had!publicly!blamed!the!
Instituto!for!having!lost!the!fruits!of!Methysthicodendron.45!However,!it!turned!out! that!the!information!collected!later!on!at!the!typical!locality!of!the!plant!showed!that! it!was!fruitless,!and!further!studies!on!the!morphology!of!its!flower!indicated!that! the!plant!could!not!fructify.!Once!again,!local!specialists!could!claim!to!have!closer! familiarity!to!the!natural!specimens!under!study,!which!allegedly!allowed!them!to! draw!more!accurate!insights,!once!the!standards!of!the!craftsmanship!part!of!the! discipline!have!long!ago!agreed!upon.46!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
45!Methysticodendron!amesianum!is!a!beautiful!shrub,!the!strongest!of!all!the!solanaceous!plants! employed!as!medicines!or!narcotics!in!the!Valley!of!Sibundoy,!southwestern!Colombian!Andes.!It!is! the!preferred!hallucinogen!of!Camëntsá!payés!for!divination!and!prophesy.!Its!leaves!and!stems!yield! scopolamine!(hyoscine),!a!substance!with!more!than!one!hundred!years!of!use!by!Western!medicine.! Richard!E.!Schultes!and!Robert!Raffauf,!Vine+of+the+Soul:+Medicine+Men,+their+Plants+and+Rituals+in+the+ Colombian+Amazonia!(Oracle,!AZ:!Synergetic!Press,!1992),!52. 46!Apparently,!this!episode!did!not!affect!too!much!of!the!mutual!understanding!and!good!will! between!the!parties!in!the!long!term.!Dr.!FernándezUPérez!is!mentioned!in!several!annual!reports!of! the!Botanical!Museum.!He!worked!there!after!field!trips!in!the!jungle,!first!for!some!months!between! 1973!–!1974!as!an!Honorary!Research!Fellow!in!Medicinal!Plants,!laying!the!groundwork!for!a!joint! book!with!Schultes!on!ethnopharmacology!of!the!northwest!Amazon!region,!and!the!entire!year!of! 1975!as!a!Guggenheim!Fellow!carrying!on!research!on!Colombian!Orchidaceae!and!Violacea!towards! the!publishing!of!volume!3!of!orchids!of!the!Real+Expedición+Botánica+al+Nuevo+Reino+de+Granada.! These!two!fields!marked!the!affiliation!of!Fernández!to!the!HBM!onwards.! Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1973!–!1974,!1974!–!1975,!and!1975!–!1976.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 39!
There!is!still!another!set!of!issues!related!to!the!processing,!movement,! shipping,!and!tracking!of!specimens,!in!which!the!Schultes’!correspondence! consistently!shows!the!dedication!of!the!people!involved,!but!the!nature!of!these! issues!is!quite!different!from!that!of!those!faced!by!their!counterparts!of!the! nineteenthUcentury.!Customs,!paperwork,!and!air!transportation,!for!instance,! became!a!major!preoccupation.47!
In!the!educational!mission!of!the!HBM,!the!Ware!Collection!of!Blaschka!Glass!
Models!of!Plants,!popularly!known!as!the!Glass!Flowers,!also!played!an!important! role!in!introducing!botany!to!wide!audiences.!Their!treatment!as!the!HBM’s!primary! display!collection!lends!us!insights!of!nature!turned!into!museum!artifacts!as!well.!
Leopold!and!Rudolf!Blaschka,!father!and!son!respectively,!made!the!models!between!
1887!and!1936!in!Dresden.!The!Glass!Flowers!consistently!appear!in!the!Annual!
Reports!of!the!Museum!as!a!means!of!establishing!good!will!among!the!community! surrounding!the!university,!as!the!Harvard’s!major!tourist!attraction,!and! consequently!helping!in!its!public!relations.!With!their!annual!attendance! surpassing!180,000!visitors!in!1972,!and!still!on!view!as!the!only!substantial!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
47!In!1959,!Jesús!Idrobo,!a!botanist!who!was!one!of!the!main!Schultes!associate!collectors,!wrote!to! him!from!the!Instituto!de!Ciencias!Naturales:!“Dear!don!Ricardo,!as!you!know,!I!am!trying!again!on! the!Marantaceas,!and!it!turns!out!difficult!for!me!to!go!to!the!States!to!finish!them.!I!will!have!to! request!a!loan!of!your!undetermined!material!after!all.!I!think!is!quite!safe!now!as!far!as!the!Aduana! employees!is!concerned!(sic),!and!Dr.!Leyva!will!get!an!special!permit!from!the!Jefe!de!Aduanas!so!to! have!any!one!of!us!to!be!present!when!herbarium!specimens!are!to!be!inspected.!In!this!way!we!feel! safe!to!request!for!a!loan.”! Jesús!Idrobo!to!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!November!19,!1959,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!II! (Correspondence),!box!1,!folder!5,!HUHLA.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 40! remaining!exhibit+of!the!now!deceased!institution!that!is!accessible!to!visitors,!the! models!accounted!for!the!main!public!face!of!the!Museum.48!
A!Museum!brochure!of!1965!reads:!
“You!are!visiting!us!primarily!to!see!the!renowned!collection!of! Glass!Flowers!(…),!but!much!of!the!work!of!the!Botanical!Museum!is! not!known!to!the!public,!since!it!is!hidden!behind!laboratory!doors!or! carried!out!in!the!fields!and!forests!of!many!distant!parts!of!the!world.! (…)!Our!active!contemporary!research!has!emphasized!the! origin,!history,!morphology!and!genetics!of!the!corn!plant;!wild! species!of!rubber!trees;!poison!and!narcotic!plants,!specially! hallucinogens;!the!importance!of!hallucinogenic!mushrooms!to!the! religious!and!cultural!development!of!ancient!civilizations!of!Mexico! and!India;!archaeological!plant!remains!of!Peru!as!they!indicate! evolution!of!cultivated!species!and!evolution!of!man!and!his!social! culture!(…);!evolution!of!the!Orchid!Family!and!exploration!of!and! preparation!of!the!orchid!floras!of!Colombia,!Ecuador,!Peru,! Venezuela,!Okinawa!and!other!tropical!areas.”49! The!models!of!plants!made!out!of!glass,!as!well!as!scientific!drawings,!are! manners!of!coping!with!the!decay!of!plants,!so!as!to!attain!the!closest!possible! resemblance!to!the!living!ones!for!study!purposes.!The!models!of!this!collection!–! which!is!unique!in!the!world!UU!are!arranged!in!cases!following!a!phylogenetic! continuity,!i.e.!by!the!evolutionary!development!and!diversification!of!the!natural!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
48!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1971!–!1972,!471.! Despite!this!fact,!and!the!existence!of!other!public!exhibits!in!place!at!that!time,!in!this!same!report! Schultes!did!not!miss!the!chance!to!remind!the!Dean!of!the!Faculty!of!Arts!and!Sciences!that!“Among! the!Museum’s!many!contributions!to!public!relations!which!are!seldom!mentioned!are!included! identification!of!plant!material!for!laymen!and!industrial!establishments,!participation!of!its!staff!in! radio!and!television!programs!and!public!lectures,!service!to!schools!and!major!participation!as!a! consulting!agency!for!the!Poison!Centre!of!the!Children’s!Hospital!in!Boston.”!Ibid.,!472. 49!Botanical!Museum!pamphlet,!Collection!Botanical!Museum!Papers,!Series!V,!box!2,!folder!18,! HUHLA.!! In!an!envelope!marked!“Keepsake!of!the!visit!of!the!Garden!Club!of!America!to!the!Botanical!Museum! of!Harvard!University,!May!12,!1970.”
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 41!
!
Figure+4.+The!Glass!Flowers!Exhibit,+Harvard+Museum+of+Natural+History,+2012.+Photograph+by+author.+
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 42! species!within!groups,!so!as!to!be!useful!for!teaching!purposes,50!just!as!herbaria! specimens!are!kept!using!this!arrangement!in!cabinets!to!easily!retrieve!them!for! study!by!specialists.!The!glass!models!showing!seeds!and!reproductive!organs,! among!other!parts,!and!the!process!of!pollination,!achieve!the!magnification! necessary!for!detailed!teaching!favored!by!the!artistic!rendering.!Meanwhile,! herbaria!specimens!could!be!studied!under!the!microscope!by!monographers.!The! care!given!to!these!scientific!assets!is!noteworthy,!and!made!for!an!accessibility! issue!characteristic!of!a!research!museum:!while!teaching!exhibits!like!the!Glass!
Flowers!could!be!viewed!by!the!lay!public,!only!qualified!researchers!were!allowed! to!handle!the!herbaria!specimens,!many!of!them!rare!and!endangered!in!nature.!Dr.!
Leslie!Garay,!curator!of!the!Orchid!Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames,!reported:!“Apparently! there!is!renewed!interest!in!searching!for!data!on!rare!and!endangered!species.!If! the!trend!continues…!our!herbarium!specimens!will!come!endangered!even!to!the! point!of!extinction.”51+
In!tracing!the!conservation!and!curatorial!efforts!dedicated!to!the!Glass!
Flowers,!there!emerges!part!of!the!clues!that!help!to!shed!light!on!the!decline!of!the!
Museum!itself!as!it!was,!but!I!will!focus!on!this!topic!in!the!last!chapters.!For!now,!
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50!William!A.!Davis,!“The!Ware!Collection!of!Blaschka!Glass!Models!of!Plants,”!Botanical+Museum+ Leaflets!30,!no.!1!(November!1984):!47.!http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31877!(accessed! January!19,!2012). 51!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard+College+and+reports+of+departments,!1978!–!1979,! Botanical!Museum,!473.! Most!of!the!visitors!of!the!Orchid!Herbarium!are!trained!botanist;!however,!in!agreement!with!the! Museum!director,!it!is!only!up!to!the!discretion!of!the!Curator!to!permit!access!to!and!use!of!the! facilities.!The!movement!of!materials!is!intense:!“Cooperation!with!other!scientific!institutions!has! involved!the!loan!for!study!of!139!herbarium!specimens,!the!return!of!2,641!specimens!of!unsolicited! material!sent!on!loan!to!us!for!identification,!the!reception!as!gifts!from!seven!institutions!of!617! specimens!for!identification!and!of!461!specimens!as!gifts!or!exchanges.”!Ibid.,!474.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 43! there!are!many!examples!of!how!particular!the!care!of!this!collection!was.!The! detailed!models!are!incredible!fragile,!and!over!the!years!a!few!of!the!flowers!had! been!cracked!by!sonic!booms!coming!from!planes!stationed!at!an!Air!Force!base!in!
Bedford,!MA.!Upon!Schultes!request,!“the!Air!Force!graciously!reined!in!its!pilots! until!they!were!over!the!Atlantic.”52!In!1976,!when!twentyUfive!of!the!models!were! lent!for!a!charitable!exhibition!at!Steuben!Glass’s!Fifth!Avenue!store,!the!Museum! staff!chartered!a!plane!from!a!company!with!a!long!record!of!gentle!landings.!To! ferry!the!cargo!to!and!from!airports,!the!Keeper!of!Scientific!Exhibits!made!some! research!and!found!that!the!springs!on!most!ambulances!did!not!absorb!shocks!as! well!as!those!on!most!hearses.!Accordingly,!“Schultes!hired!hearses!for!the!ground! legs!of!the!trip!south,!and!they!proved!so!successful!that!hearses!took!the!flowers!all! the!way!home.”53!
!
Figure+5.+Professor+Schultes+explaining+the+Glass+Models+to+Queen+Sirikit+of+Thailand.+Source:+Botanical! Museum!Leaflets+30,+no.+1+(November+1984).+Photograph+by+Hillel+Burger.+! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
52!The+New+Yorker,!“Jungle!Botanist,”!53. 53!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 44!
The!display!of!the!collection!was!–!and!still!is!–!not!very!satisfactory.!It!is! housed!in!horizontal!and!vertical!cases,!which!poses!some!drawbacks!in!terms!of! lighting!and!for!the!accessibility!of!viewers.!The!reflection!of!light!coming!from! overhead!fluorescent!fixtures!on!the!horizontal!cases,!and!the!shadows!that!such! arrangement!causes!in!the!vertical!ones,!made!for!a!somewhat!deficient!viewing! experience.!Aware!of!this,!William!Davis,!Keeper!of!Scientific!Exhibits,!wrote:!“If!the! entire!collection!were!to!be!housed!in!vertical!cases!equipped!with!interior!lighting,! these!drawbacks!could!be!eliminated;!then,!all!the!models!on!exhibit!could!be!seen! by!viewers!at!close!range,!an!advantage!not!now!possible!for!the!models!in!the! horizontal!cases.”54!The!most!important!remark!here!is!‘close!range’.!For!study! purposes,!and!even!for!wellUinformed!curiosity,!the!ability!of!a!viewer!to!bend!over! the!case!or!somehow!get!closer!to!the!model!is!really!helpful.!!
Therefore,!the!comparison!between!the!accessibility!to!the!dual!arrangement! of!this!science!museum!–!Herbaria!and!Glass!Flower!exhibit!UU!yields!some! longstanding!issues!on!the!matter.!Herbaria!specimens!can!be!studied!in!detail,! borrowed,!lent,!shipped,!interchanged,!returned,!sampled,!but!are!not!open!to!the! lay!public.!Actually,!it!is!possible!to!make!quite!interesting!exhibits!drawing!on! them,!with!the!help!of!contextualizing!visual!aids!and!attractive!artifacts,!such!as!in! the!exhibit!that!the!current!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History!has!in!place,!New+
England+Forests!that!inaugurated!the!joyful!Zofnass!Family!Gallery,!opened!in!May!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
54!William!A.!Davis,!47.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 45!
21,!2011.55!There!is!also!the!mostly!photographic!exhibit!La+Amazonia+Perdida,+el+ viaje+fotográfico+del+legendario+botánico+Richard+Evans+Schultes,+organized!by!a! partnership!between!the!Smithsonian!Institution!and!the!Banco!de!la!República!and! now!touring!in!Colombia,56!which!showcases!some!herbaria!sheets!of!specimens! that!were!collected!by!Schultes.!!
On!the!other!hand,!regular!botanical!exhibits!and!associated!artifacts,!such!as! the!Glass!Flowers,!are!useful!for!basic!teaching!in!botany,!but!are!not!primarily! intended!for!scientific!research!and!are!not!suitable!for!inUdepth!scrutiny,!since!their! conservation!is!of!foremost!importance,!and!even!because!of!displaying!issues.!The! creation!of!knowledge!still!bends!the!balance!towards!what!is!hidden!behind! laboratory!doors!and!deep!in!the!fields!and!jungles!of!remote!countries!–!and! towards!what!gets!published!about!it.!
!
Figure+6.+New!England!Forests!Exhibition,+Harvard+Museum+of+Natural+History,+2012.+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
55!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History,!“New!England!Forests!Exhibition!Opens!May!21!at!Harvard! Museum!of!Natural!History’s!new!Zofnass!Family!Gallery.”! http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/exhibits/index.php#new!(accessed!February!17,!2012).! 56!Exhibition!opened!on!April!17,!2008,!in!its!original!English!version,!at!the!Smithsonian!National! Museum!of!Natural!History!in!Washington!D.C.!“The!Lost!Amazon”! http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/lost%20amazon/index.html!(accessed!February!17,!2012).!
II.'Botanical'specimens'and'ethnographic'artifacts' ! In!this!chapter,!I!will!briefly!contextualize!some!terms!and!explain!the! research!methodology,!towards!a!better!understanding!of!the!main!topic.!Therefore,! it!is!necessary!to!further!define!ethnobotany,!trying!to!focus!on!what!is!relevant!to! the!museum!field.!Also,!there!is!a!geographical!and!cultural!background!still!needing! a!more!precise!outline.!
Next,!I!will!introduce!the!research!methodology,!so!as!to!afford!the!reasoning! that!led!to!the!findings!of!the!archival!research!and!the!literature!review.!In! exploring!these!sources,!and!especially!in!trying!to!get!access!to!the!documentation! on!the!ethnobotanical!collection!itself,!additional!issues!came!out!that!will!become! part!of!this!thesis’!thrust.! a)'Definition'of'terms'and'intellectual'framework' ! Ethnobotany+
As!seen!in!the!first!section!of!this!paper,!underlying!imperialist!motives! shaped!the!collection!of!plants!and!knowledge!associated!with!them.!Commercial! exploitation!by!the!modern!world!was!a!primary!goal.!In!today’s!concerns,! ethnobotany!is!rather!involved!in!collecting!data,!whereby!it!contributes!to!the! development!of!worldwide!welfare!and,!especially,!to!planned!development!in!the!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 47 region!from!which!that!knowledge!comes.57!Although!this!sounds!idealistic,!the!title! of!this!article,!“The!Scope!and!Aims!of!Ethnobotany!in!a!Developing!World,”!is! significant!because!it!defines!the!discipline!in!a!framework!of!increasing!awareness! and!developing!ideas!about!how!to!deal!with!environmental!issues.!So!this!approach! targets!policyUmakers!in!need!of!information!about!“economically!valuable!natural! resources!and!the!ways!in!which!those!resources!are!used!so!they!can!predict!the! outcome!of!development!programs!and!facilitate!the!development!and!introduction! of!new,!locally!adapted!crops!and!agricultural!techniques.”58!What!is!more! interesting!for!my!line!of!thought!is!that!ethnobotanical!inquiry!becomes!a!sort!of! text,!“as!plant!use!and!plantUhuman!relationships!are!shaped!by!history,!by!physical! and!social!environments,!and!by!inherent!qualities!of!the!plants!themselves,”59!in! which!its!meaning!is!derived!partially!from!the!natural,!social,!and!cultural!contexts! where!that!text!is!played!out.!Then,!it!evolves!around!a!human!community’s!use!and! management!of!vegetation,!and!determines,!as!in!a!script,!the!role!that!those!
“actors”!will!play.!Changes!in!the!use!of!plants!influence!human!strategies,!they! cause!interactions!in!which!new!elements,!such!as!politicoUeconomic!exigencies,! modify!the!“stage,”!thus!precipitating!new!roles!and!producing!new!directions!in!the! text’s!“story.”60!
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57!Janis!B.!Alcorn,!“The!Scope!and!Aims!of!Ethnobotany!in!a!Developing!World,”!in!ed.!Richard!Evans! Schultes!and!Siri!von!Reis,!23. 58!Janis!B.!Alcorn,!“Ethnobotanical!Knowledge!Systems:!Resource!for!Meeting!Rural!Development! Goals,”!in!ed.!D.!M.!Warren,!et!al.,!Indigenous+Knowledge+Systems:+The+Cultural+Dimensions+of+ Development,!(London:!Kegan!Paul,!1992),!in!Janis!B.!Alcorn,!23. 59!Janis!B.!Alcorn,!“The!Scope!and!Aims!of!Ethnobotany,”!24. 60!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 48
In!today’s!Colombia,!the!development!of!such!texts!led!to!an!increasing! awareness!of!the!different!actors!that!play!in!the!surveying!of!biodiversity.!The!legal! framework!now!in!place!is!tight!to!the!point!of!discouraging!any!formal!research!at! all.!According!to!Colombian!experts,!it!is!easier!to!get!mineral!exploitation!rights,! which!are!issued!in!90!days,!than!a!permit!to!carry!out!projects!in!biodiversity! research,!which!may!take!threeUandUaUhalf!years!and!many!headaches.!If!a!projected! collection!is!to!be!made!in!native!Indian!or!Afrocolombian!communal!territory,! researchers!have!to!fulfill!the!requirement!of!previous!consultation,!which!is! unaffordable!for!the!limited!budgets!of!their!institutes!and!some!times!impractical,! due!to!the!many!scattered!communities!that!may!be!involved!in!a!given! monographic!study!because!of!the!spread!of!the!species!themselves.!While!the!main! research!institutions!–!many!of!them!governmental!UU!are!lobbying!for!loosening!the! procedures,!there!is!not!much!willingness!from!their!bureaucratic!and!policyU making!counterparts!to!do!so,!nor!to!understand!that!getting!access!to!biogenetic! resources!should!be!a!priority!for!a!country!with!10%!of!the!worldwide!biodiversity! in!its!territory.61!
What!does!all!this!have!to!do!with!the!museum!field?!It!allows!us!develop! insights!into!what!role!museums!could!play!in!the!potential!and!surely!forthcoming! management!of!this!natural!richness!and!its!related!knowledge!to!the!education!of! the!public!in!mainstream!society.!Study!collections,!such!as!the!one!kept!in!the!case! study!museum,!are!readily!a!natural!resource!that!can!be!tapped!without!waiting!for! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
61!El+Espectador,!“Científicos!en!la!Ilegalidad,”!January!4,!2012.! http://www.elespectador.com/impreso/cultura/vivir/articuloU319593UcientificosUilegalidad! (accessed!January!4,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 49 resolutions!coming!from!the!slow!pace!of!bureaucracy.!Their!use!may!not!be!so! suitable!that!it!can!replace!fieldwork!and!laboratory!processing!and!further!cuttingU edge!science,!but!they!are!the!indispensable!libraries!of!specimens!to!start!out!the! work,!as!ever.!Meanwhile,!this!type!of!collection!presents!a!potential!use!for! exhibition!purposes!aimed!at!the!lay!public,!as!a!strategy!of!promoting!the!subject!of! appreciation!of!biodiversity!towards!agendas!of!national!interests!and!development.!
Finally,!this!potential!rendering!of!plants!and!knowledge!should!aim!to!learn! the!language!that!the!ethnobotanical!field!worker!is!ideally!perceptive!enough!to! understand:!the!one!being!spoken!by!and!indigenous,!native!person:!!
“Who!is!an!insider!and!sees!an!integrated!association!of!biotic! and!abiotic!elements!interacting!over!time.!Thus,!for!the!insider,!a! particular!plant’s!chemistry,!phenology,!community!associates,! habitat,!uses,!cultural!value,!mythic!associations,!growth!curve,! physical!properties,!and!usual!management!come!to!mind!in!a! constellation!of!associated!knowledge!whenever!the!plant!or!its!name! is!encountered!in!walking,!thought,!or!conversation.”62!! Furthermore,!the!insider!is!determined!by!his!or!her!place!in!society,!the! family!background,!the!politicoUeconomic!setting,!which!are!reflected!in!the!way!the! environment!is!seen;!but!this!is!an!aspect!of!the!environment!invisible!to!the! outsider,!who!must!be!attentive!to!that!unspoken!part!of!the!text.63!
Northwestern+Amazon:+cultural+and+geographical+context+
As!Northwestern!Amazon!is!a!term!that!I!have!used!too!broadly,!it!is!time!for! a!definition!that!helps!the!reader!in!locating!where!all!this!history!happened.!The!
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62!Janis!B.!Alcorn,!25. 63!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 50 delineation!of!the!area!follows!the!criteria!given!by!Schultes!in!The+Healing+Forest,! which!includes:!!
“All!of!the!Colombian!and!Ecuadorean!watershed!from! approximately!11,000!ft!(3350!m.)!on!the!eastern!slopes!of!the!Andes! to!the!planada!300!ft.!(90!m.)!above!sea!level,!the!Peruvian!territory! north!of!the!Rio!Pastaza,!and!the!western!third!of!the!Brazilian!Estado! do!Amazonas.!(While!its!area)!represents!only!a!small!part!of!the! whole!Amazonian!drainage!area,!it!is,!in!many!respects!–!geologically,! floristically,!demographically,!linguistically!and!culturally!–!the!most! complex!and!varied!part!of!the!hylea.”64! !The!eastern!slopes!of!the!Andes,!floristically!very!different!from!the! lowlands,!are!considered!part!of!the!area!given!the!fact!that!their!waters!flow!into! the!Amazon!drainage!basin,!and!also!because!of!the!intense!cultural!contacts! between!the!Indians!of!both!regions.65!In!view!of!the!outstanding!collections!of! specimens!and!their!related!information!that!come!from!this!latter!area,!as!found! either!in!Schultes’!literature!or!in!my!own!archival!research,!it!is!worth!noting!that! its!highly!endemic!diversity!seems!to!be!a!product!of!the!geological!history!of!the!
Amazon!forest.!At!some!point,!the!forest!shrank!and!moved!back!to!the!Andes!due!to! global!climate!changes,!and!then!spread!out!again,!leaving!behind!a!cradle!of! biodiversity!on!the!eastern!mountain!slopes.!If!one!adds!to!this!fact+the!wisdom!of! people!who!took!advantage!of!their!environment,!domesticating,!hybridizing!and! experimenting!with!its!flora,+one!can!see!how!it!turned!out!to!be!a!fortunate+ conjunction!to!be!studied!by!an!insightful!twentiethUcentury!botanist.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
64!Schultes!and!Raffauf,!The+Healing+Forest,!9U10.! 65!Ibid.
+
Figure+7.+Some+of+the+tribes+among+which+Schultes+carried+out+his+studies.+Source:+Botanical!Museum! Leaflets!28,+no.+1+(June+1957).+
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 52
The!general!northwest!part!of!Amazonia!is!the!home!of!a!large!number!of!
Indian!tribes!in!varying!degrees!of!acculturation.!The!languages!they!speak!are! classified!(often!uncertainly)!into!10!or!more!linguistic!groups.!Most!of!the!tribes!of! the!Colombian!Amazonia!have!been!exposed!to!Western!influences,!and!in!result!of!! this!Indians!have,!whenever!necessary,!adapted!to!them!and!have!accepted!many!of! the!foreign!habits!and!beliefs,!but!almost!without!exception!only!as!a!superficial! overlay!–!a!long!lasting!one,!however.!Their!knowledge!of!plant!medicine!and!poison! has!not,!in!most!instances,!been!lost.66+
Another!distinctive!feature!of!the!Colombian!drainage!is!that!all!but!one!of! the!tributary!rivers!to!the!Amazon!are!impossible!to!navigate!upstream!due!to! rapids!and!waterfalls!at!certain!points,!which!helps!to!reduce!any!penetration!by! boats!coming!from!Brazil.!Also,!in!Schultes’!times,!few!settlers!had!left!the!fertile!
Andean!highlands!to!venture!into!the!jungle,!so!it!remained!“one!of!the!vegetatively! least!disturbed!and!anthropologically!one!of!the!most!traditionally!intact!parts!of! the!entire!basin.”67!This!is!something!under!major!threat!in!present!times,!because! since!the!1950s!the!harsh!political!conflict!in!the!cordilleras!prompted!a!series!of! peasant!migrations!from!the!highlands!to!the!Amazonia!plains,!which!is!a! recognized!origin!of!the!Fuerzas!Armadas!Revolucionarias!de!Colombia!(FARC),!a! guerrilla!group!that!has!influenced!the!area.!The!struggle!for!land!is!quite!an!issue,! and!the!erratic!strategies!of!successive!governments!to!cope!with!it!account!for!an!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
66!Ibid.,!17. 67!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!Where+the+Gods+Reign,!14.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 53 unstable!situation.68!Actually,!Wade!Davis!explained!the!popularity!of!his!book,!One+
River,!among!Colombians,!saying!that!it!appeals!to!the!generation!that!could!not! travel!inside!the!country!because!of!the!war.!For!that!generation,!this!story!is!like!a! map!of!dreams.69!For!mine,!it!is!a!dream!within!our!hand’s!reach!–!hopefully.! b)'Research'methodology'and'archival'focus' ! The!books!and!articles!I!have!included!are!part!of!two!basic!contextualizing! fields!for!the!thesis:!history!of!science!and!scientific!collecting!for!Western! museums,!and!the!material!directly!related!to!the!case!study.!!
Therefore,!while!the!contextualizing!literature!is!mostly!about!the! development!of!science!museums!in!England!and!America!from!its!landmark! moments!to!the!points!of!intersection!with!the!case!study,!well!into!the!twentiethU! century,!the!literature!directly!related!to!the!Botanical!Museum!can!be!divided!into! two!kinds:!first,!that!which!deals!with+the!historical!context!and!scientific!premises! of!the!botanical!institutions!that!converged!in!the!Museum;!and!second,!the!material! about!the!Schultes’!collecting!and!the!knowledge!that!draws!from!his!discoveries! and!from!Amazon!Indian!lore.!
I!have!also!visited!the!Botany!Libraries!at!Harvard!University!Herbaria,! which!houses!most!of!the!archival!collections!pertaining!to!the!University’s! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
68!See!Alfredo!Molano,!“La!Macarena:!Zona!de!Conflictos!Especiales,”!El+Espectador,!January!28,!2012.! http://www.elespectador.com/impreso/nacional/articuloU323451UmacarenaUzonaUdeUconflictosU especiales!(accessed!February!22,!2012).! 69!Pablo!Correa,!“Esas!600!Páginas!son!una!Carta!de!Amor!a!Colombia,”!El+Espectador,!December!4,! 2010.! http://elespectador.com/impreso/cultura/vivir/articuloimpresoU238674UesasU600UpaginasUsonU unaUcartaUdeUamorUcolombia!(accessed!December!4,!2010).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 54 botanical!institutions!as!well.!The!plural!name!of!the!Library!refers!to!the!several! bibliographic!collections!that!are!now!in!the!same!place,!which!is!not!superfluous!to! mention,!since!the!merging!strategy!is!part!of!the!history!I!will!touch!upon!later.!So! the!Botany!Library!comprises!the!Library!of!the!Arnold!Arboretum,!the!Farlow!
Reference!Library!of!Cryptogamic!Botany,!the!Library!of!the!Gray!Herbarium,!the!
Economic!Botany!Library!of!Oakes!Ames,!and!the!Oakes!Ames!Orchid!Library.!
Hence,!the!archival!collections!are!diverse,!mostly!according!to!these!same! origins.!I!studied!two!collections!of!the!Economic!Botany!Archives:!the!Archives!of! the!Harvard!University!Botanical!Museum,!and!the!Richard!Evans!Schultes’!Papers.!
Because!of!a!shortage!of!time,!I!mainly!focused!on!going!through!this!latter!group!of! papers,!in!which!I!studied!the!series!I.!Correspondence,!II.!Identification!and!
Classification!notes!and!IV.!Ethnobotany!research.!However,!the!majority!of!Schultes! papers!are!at!the!University!Archives,!where!his!materials!were!transferred!after!he! passed!away.!!What!were!left!in!the!Library!are!the!materials!that!were!being!used! for!research!at!that!time,!or!which!were!later!turned!over!from!other!offices!or!from! his!assistants!when!they!retired.!!So,!the!University!Archives!keeps!almost!all!the! administrative!papers,!material!in!regards!to!funding!his!expeditions,!running!the! department,!meetings,!etc.70!Unfortunately,!the!lack!of!an!agreement!in!place!with! the!Schultes!family!on!the!accessibility!and!use!of!these!papers!makes!it!impossible! to!see!them!at!the!present,!which!is!something!the!Archives!staff!regrets!because!it!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
70!Lisa!DeCesare,!Reference!Librarian,!Harvard!University!Herbaria!U!Botany!Libraries,!interview!by! author,!Cambridge,!MA,!January!26,!2012.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 55 is!not!uncommon!that!researchers!ask!for!access.71!Had!I!been!able!to!check!this! collection,!we!could!have!seen!if!it!would!have!shed!light!on!articulated!goals!of! specific!Museum!projects!and!expeditions.!
Nevertheless,!the!Schultes’!materials!kept!in!the!Library!were!quite! illustrative!and!good!enough!for!the!specific!purposes!of!this!paper.!While!seeking! for!information!unknown!in!the!literature!or!overlooked!by!it,!the!question!I! brought!to!the+material!was!what!were!the!goals!of!studying!native!knowledge!in!a! research!museum!setting.!Another!question!was!why!the!HBM!began!to!decline!until! finally!merging!into!the!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History.!The!information!of! interest!filled!out!more!than!forty!research!cards.!What!I!found!supplemented!my! contextual!research!and,!overall,!gave!me!a!broad!image!of!how!the!processing!and! production!of!knowledge!was!carried!out!through!the!resources!of!the!Museum,!like! laboratories,!facilities,!university!teaching,!staff,!faculty,!libraries,!scientific! networking,!publications,!collections,!public!outreach!programs,!and!exhibitions.!
There!was!a!significant!drawback,!though.!Due!to!restrictions!in!place,!which! are!intended!to!protect!sensitive!administrative!papers,!I!was!not!allowed!to!check! the!folders!titled!Economic!Specimens!Transfer!to!Harvard!University!Herbaria,!
1985U1986;!Archaeoethnobotanical!Collections!Report!by!Kristine!L.!Forsgard,!
1987;!and!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall!Inventory,!1998!U!2000,!in!the!collection!Papers!of! the!Harvard!Botanical!Museum,!which!would!have!been!really!insightful!to! determine!what!happened!to!this!collection!and!what!it!consisted!of.!As!I!will! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
71!Timothy!Driscoll,!Senior!Reference!Archivist,!Harvard!University!Archives,!interview!by!author,! Cambridge,!MA,!January!31,!2012.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 56 elaborate!further!on,!most!of!the!teaching!duties!of!the!Museum!faculty!took!place!in! the!Nash!Lecture!Hall,!where!the!ethnobotanical!artifacts!were!employed.!So!this!is! a!regrettable!gap!that,!even!though!hard!to!fill!by!drawing!from!secondary!sources,!I! will!try!to!overcome!with!the!material!at!hand.! c)'Exploring'the'sources,'a'glance'at'the'ethnobotanical'collection' ! Specimens!and!artifacts!from!around!the!world!comprise!the!Economic!
Botany!Collection,!although!Asia,!South!America,!and!North!America!are!especially! well!represented.!It!is!intended!to!illustrate!the!significant!role!of!plants!in!human! culture!and!development,!and!includes!fibers,!fruits,!flowers,!leaves,!resins,!tubers,! bark!and!other!plant!parts,!mounted!on!paper!or!contained!in!jars,!bags,!cans!or! bundles,!as!well!as!manufactured!objects.!The!Collection!was!part!of!the!Botanical!
Museum,!in!which!it!belonged!to!these!groups:72!
• The!Oakes!Ames!Collection!of!Economic!Botany!(2082!specimens)!
• The!Economic!Botany!General!Collection!(9425!specimens)!
• The!Ethnobotanical!Collection!(about!150!specimens)!
• The!Freeman!Bean!Collection!(604!specimens)!
• The!ParkeUDavis!Drug!Collection!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
72!Harvard!University!Herbaria,!“Economic!Botany!Collection”! http://www.huh.harvard.edu/collections/econ_coll.html!(accessed!February!23,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 57
• The!Economic!Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames!(ECON)!(about!40,000!
specimens,!now!integrated!within!the!University!Herbaria).!
When!the!exhibits!and!collections!were!taken!down!from!the!extinct!
Botanical!Museum!by!the!end!of!the!1990s,!most!of!them!were!moved!to!storage! facilities!on!the!fourth!floor!of!the!Herbaria!that!were!designed!specifically!to!house! them.!The!storage!is!climateUcontrolled!and!provides!special!security!for!items!of! sensitive!handling,!such!as!the!physicoactive!materials.73!Another!part!of!the! collection!is!housed!in!the!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History.!
Although!the!website!emphasizes!that!the!Economic!Botany!Collection!is! utilized!for!educational!purposes,!for!historical!research,!and!for!museums!exhibits,! it!is!likely!that!these!activities!are!quite!limited,!due!to!the!accessibility!issues! inherent!to!a!university!setting!and!its!regulations.!Only!the!Herbaria!faculty!and! curators!have!access!to!it,!and!furthermore,!only!they!know!what!exactly!is!in!it.!The! lack!of!a!thorough!descriptive!inventory!is!a!drawback!the!staff!is!aware!of;!they! have!gotten!some!grants!in!the!past!for!this!purpose,!but!there!has!not!been!much!of! an!advance!on!it,!mainly!because!of!budget!shortage.74!Hence!an!improvement!is!not! likely!to!happen!unless!the!institution!channels!major!investment!in!hiring! personnel!to!handle!such!an!extensive,!challenging,!and!staffUdemanding!project.!
During!my!visit!to!the!Herbaria!Library,!there!were!some!artifacts,!such!as! wooden!bowls!in!the!librarian’s!office,!which!the!librarian!said!were!requested!by!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
73!Lisa!DeCesare,!interview!by!author. 74!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 58 faculty!members!for!teaching.!There!was!also!an!astounding!cylinder!of!natural! rubber!from!the!Amazon!(ca.!1910),!the!type!of!teaching!artifact!that!was!used!in!the!
Nash!Lecture!Hall.!The!more!reliable!information!that!every!artifact!has!is!attached! to!it!on!a!tiny!tag,!and!this!information!is!also!dependent!on!the!care!given!to!the! original!accession!or!by!its!collector!in!the!field.!The!next!table!shows!the! classification!in!progress,!intended!to!sort!the!artifacts!to!make!them!searchable!to! the!public.!It!draws!on!the!guidelines!outlined!in!the!Economic!Botany!Data!
Collection!Standard!by!Frances!E.!M.!Cook.!
!
Figure+8.+Classification+of+artifacts+and+plant+products+according+to+their+use.75
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
75!Source:!Harvard!University!Herbaria,!“Economic!Botany!Collection,”! http://www.huh.harvard.edu/collections/econ_coll.html!(accessed!February!23,!2012).!
III.'The'Schultes’'ethnobotanic'collecting'and'his'imprint'at'the' Harvard'Botanical'Museum' ! In!this!section,!I!will!go!over!the!history!of!the!botanical!institutions!at!
Harvard!that!are!related!to!the!creation!and!progress!of!the!Botanical!Museum,!and! will!outline!the!challenges!it!went!through!in!the!mid!1980s,!which!ended!up!with! its!merging!with!the!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History.!Next,!I!will!outline!the!role! it!played!in!furthering!knowledge!to!specific!fields!of!science.!Then,!a!description!of! the!teaching!activities!that!had!a!stage!in!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall!will!help!clarify!the! relationship!between!plants!and!ethnographic!artifacts.!Finally,!I!will!explain!what! happened!to!the!Schultes’!legacy,!in!terms!of!the!reasons!and!consequences!of!the! changes!suffered!by!the!HBM,!and!the!contributions!it!made!to!several!fields.!! a)'Historical'background'on'the'Harvard'Botanical'institutions76' !
There!are!many!founding!seeds!for!what!today!has!become!the!Harvard!
Museum!of!Natural!History!(HMNH),!an!institution!organized!in!1998!as!the!public! face!of!three!research!museums:!the!Museum!of!Comparative!Zoology,!the!Harvard!
University!Herbaria,!and!the!Mineralogical!and!Geological!Museum.77!The!origins!of! the!Botanical!Museum!began!in!the!middle!of!the!nineteenthUcentury!thanks!to!the! efforts!of!Asa!Gray,!a!young!botanist!from!upstate!New!York!who,!after!having! reached!prominence!as!author!of!a!botanical!textbook,!explored!the!American!west! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
76!Partially!based!on!my!own!final!paper!for!the!History!and!Theory!class,!“The!Role!of!Harvard! Botanical!Museum!and!Richard!Evans!Schultes’!Collecting!in!Northwestern!Amazon!in!Broadening! Audiences!to!Ethnobotany,”!Fall!2010. 77!Harvard!Museum!of!Natural!History,!“About!us”! http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/about_the_museum.html!(accessed!February!24,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 60 and!was!commissioned!to!forge!a!scientific!network!for!the!University!of!Michigan,! which!took!him!to!Europe.!Gray!was!hired!by!Harvard!in!1842,!where!he!saw!the! opportunity!to!use!its!dilapidated!Botanical!Garden!as!a!laboratory!in!which!to! exchange!specimens!with!his!colleagues!across!the!Atlantic.!In!1858,!as!a!response! to!a!letter!from!Gray,!in!which!he!said!that!in!humble!imitation!of!Kew!he!would! establish!a!museum!of!vegetable!products,!Sir!William!Hooker!sent!over!to!
Cambridge+duplicate!economic!botany!material!from!the!Royal!Botanical!Gardens,! and!this!became!the!nucleus!of!the!collection.78!Then,!he!strived!to!increase!the! collection’s!numbers,!as!he!“believed!that!his!time!was!better!spent!on!managing!the! thousands!of!specimens!sent!by!his!growing!network!of!collectors!than!on!trying!to! grow!comparatively!few!species!on!the!grounds.”79!
Despite!these!contributions,!Gray’s!futile!dedication!during!his!lifetime!to! preventing!the!acceptance!of!Darwinism!set!back!the!study!of!biology!at!Harvard.80!
Actually,!the!complexity!of!the!roots!of!the!HMNH!is!partially!due!to!the!contending! personalities!and!scientific!orientations!behind!the!establishment!of!its!several! father!institutions!during!the!second!half!of!the!nineteenthUcentury.!This!is!the!case! with!the!Gray!Herbarium;!the!Arnold!Arboretum!in!Jamaica!Plain,!directed!by!
Charles!Sargent,!supporter!of!Gray;!and!the!Botanic!Garden,!led!by!the!plant!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
78!“An!acquisition!of!undetermined!size!of!wood!samples,!pods,!cones,!nuts,!witches!broom,!palm! trunks,!monkey!pots!and!other!vegetable!products!of!economic!value!for!teaching!purposes.”! Scott!E.!Wilder,!“The!Economic!Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames!and!the!Teaching!Collection!of!Useful!Plant! Products,”!Botanical+Museum+Leaflets!30,!no.!1!(November!1984):!36.! http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31877!(accessed!January!19,!2012). 79!Judith!Warnement,!“Botanical!Libraries!and!Herbaria!in!North!America.!3.!Harvard’s!Botanist!and! Their!Libraries,”!Taxon!46,!no.!4,!(November!1997):!651.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/1224473! (accessed!December!11,!2010). 80!Wade!Davis,!66.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 61 physiologist!George!Lincoln!Goodale!(opposed!to!Sargent),!where!he!introduced! economic!plants!and!improved!its!arrangement!in!making!the!beds!more!attractive! to!the!public,!then!getting!more!interested!in!fundraising!for!the!building!of!the!
Harvard!Botanical!Museum,!which!opened!in!1890.!The!Glass!Flowers!were!
Goodale’s!most!notable!acquisition.81!However,!the!appointment!of!Oaks!Ames!as! the!Museum’s!director!in!1937!possesses!the!most!relevance!for!this!story.!An! aristocratic,!wealthy!Bostonian,!oldUfashioned!as!a!man!yet!well!ahead!of!his!time!as! a!scientist,!Ames+was!the!most!influential!contemporary!figure!for!Schultes,!and!his! personal!funding!of!the!Institution!determined!its!orientation!towards!his!own! interest,!which!was!economic!botany,!i.e.!the!collecting!and!research!on!plants!of! economic!use.!
!
Figure+9.+Harvard+Museum+of+Natural+History,+2012.+Photograph+by+author.+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
81!Judith!Warnement,!653.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 62
The!various!institutions!dealing!with!botanical!collections!at!Harvard!were! independent!of!each!other!but!became!increasingly!intertwined!due!to!the!efforts!of! the!College’s!Board!to!consolidate!them.!The!plans!that!led!to!the!opening!in!1955!of! the!new!building!of!the!Harvard!University!Herbarium!lend!insight!to!this.!The! building!did!not!house!the!HBM,!although!it!ended!up!housing!a!major!portion!of!the! herbarium!and!library!of!the!Arnold!Arboretum,!the!Gray!Herbarium,!the!Orchid!
Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames,!as!well!as!the!Herbarium!of!the!New!England!Botanical!
Club,!the!palaeobotanical!collections!of!the!Botanical!Museum!and!the!wood! collections!of!the!Arnold!Arboretum.!At!its!outset!conception!the!building!was! intended!to!house!the!Botanical!Museum!too,!but!its!famous!collection!of!glass! models!of!plants,!visited!by!that!time!by!50.000!persons!each!year,!was!a!very! complicated!issue!to!solve.!Providing!a!public!area!for!the!steady!flow!of!these! visitors,!and!preserving,!at!the!same!time,!the!suitable!space!necessary!for!effective! research!and!teaching!was!unaffordable.!The!result!was!a!facility!completely! devoted!to!scientific!research,!although!close!enough!to!the!Botanical!Museum!and! with!the!library!connected!by!a!passage!to!that!of!the!Museum!of!Comparative!
Zoology,!but!with!every!main!collection!still!separately!endowed!and!maintained!as! a!distinct,!administrative!entity.82+
Although!there!were!some!collections!at!the!Botanical!Museum!that!appealed! to!the!lay!public,!such!as!the!popularly!known!Glass!Flowers!and!the!Paleobotanical!
Collection,!its!core!focus!was!based!on!the!particular!concept!of!economic!botany!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
82!Reed!C.!Rollins,“The!Harvard!University!Herbarium,”!Taxon!4,!no.!2!(March!1955):!25,!27.! http://www.jstor.org/stable/1217481!(accessed!December!11,!2010).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 63 held!by!its!directors.!The!Library!and!the!Ethnobotanical!Laboratory,!together!with! its!shared!function!of!processing!of!specimen!acquisitions,!among!other!aspects,! made!the!Museum!a!nonUprimarily!visitorUdriven!institution.!However,!the! contributions!of!the!people!involved!with!the!Museum!and!the!influence!that! resulted!from!there!to!the!broader!public!during!the!sixties!are!striking.!
It!is!out!of!my!focus,!but!I!just!want!to!mention!the!role!the!rising!counter! culture!played!in!this!circle!of!fortunate!conjunctions!around!Harvard!at!the!end!of! the!fifties,!as!is!well!known,!with!the!figures!of!Timothy!Leary!and!Allen!Ginsberg! being!the!main!public!representatives!in!the!psychedelic!trend.!While!Schultes!was! an!odd!character!to!have!a!public!role!in!this!movement,!his!ethnobotanical! investigations!made!the!link!between!ancient!traditions!and!the!Western!system!of! thought,!thus!providing!grounds!for!the!reckless!and!cheerful!search!for!existential! sense!of!the!baby!boomers.83!
The!HBM!continued!its!spheres!of!activity!over!the!years:!public!exhibitions,! instruction!of!University!students,!and!research!and!exploration!in!botany.!In!1979! its!global!activity,!which!increased!in!the!previous!two!decades,!was!carried!out!in! eighteenth!countries.!A!visiting!foreign!scientist!remarked!that!he!had!never!seen! such!a!small!institution!with!a!research!program!so!widely!known!and!respected!in!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
83!Schultes!had!a!particular!view!on!the!famous!affair!in!which!Leary!got!fired!from!Harvard!after! experiments!with!LSD.!Although!he!never!put!his!remarks!in!writing,!Schultes!said!he!found!Leary! unimpressive,!and!that!Leary!had!committed!three!unforgivable!sins:!he!persisted!in!using!the!word! “psychedelic,”!which!he!maintained!was!both!biologically!inaccurate!and!etymologically!unsound!(he! belonged!to!the!“psychodelic”!school);!he!misled!an!emissary!of!Harvard’s!President!when!he!said!he! would!not!experiment!on!undergraduates;!and!he!misspelled!the!Latin!names!of!plants!! The+New+Yorker,!“Jungle!Botanist,”!52.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 64 the!world.84!Its!decline!as!an!independent!institution!is!marked!by!a!series!of!issues! regarding!internal!struggles!over!the!physical!space!of!the!building,!which! eventually!led!to!its!closure!and!merging,!first!into!the!University!Herbaria!in!the! midUeighties,!and!then!into!the!HMNH!during!the!end!of!the!nineties.! b)'The'role'of'a'research'museum'in'furthering'knowledge'for'science' ! The!Botanical!Museum!contributed!to!science!through!interdisciplinary! research!that!drew!on!several!fields!of!science!and!the!arts,!such!as!anthropology! and!archaeology,!chemistry!and!pharmacology,!history,!geology,!and!horticulture,!to! mention!some!of!them.!The!reputation!of!the!Museum!secured!a!place!for!it!among! the!world!centers!of!research!in!the!plant!sciences.!Yet!this!reputation!developed! differently!from!that!enjoyed!by!other!outstanding!botanical!institutions,!in!part! because!the!Museum’s!activities,!both!university!and!public!oriented,!were! interdisciplinary!and!transcended!the!boundaries!of!the!plant!sciences.85!
In!his!last!Annual!Report!as!director!of!the!HBM,!Paul!Mangelsdorf!asserted! that!one!of!the!aspects!of!ethnobotany!in!which!the!institution!had!worked! impinged!on!medicine!and!public!health.!This!gave!way!to!the!rising!of!an!appealing! name,!ethnopharmacology,!which!is!concerned!with!the!use!of!plants!for!medical!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
84!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1978+–+1979,!469. 85!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“The!Botanical!Museum!of!Harvard!University!in!its!125th!Year,”!Botanical+ Museum+Leaflets!30,!no.!1!(November!1984):!1,!2.!http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31877! (accessed!January!19,!2012).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 65 purposes!by!nonUliterate!cultures,!for!arrow!and!fish!poisons,!and!for!creating! hallucinations!and!visions!as!part!of!healing!practices.86!
One!of!the!activities!that!consistently!appears!in!the!documentation!as!a! means!of!furthering!science!is!the!organization!of!several!symposiums!and! seminars.!In!1968,!the!HBM!organized!jointly!with!the!American!Academy!of!Arts! and!Sciences!an!interdisciplinary!symposium!on!Plants+in+the+Development+of+Modern+
Medicine,!which!brought!together!twelve!specialists!from!five!countries,! summarizing!progress!during!the!past!thirty!years.!The!papers!covered!a!range!of! disciplines!from!anthropology!and!folklore,!economic!botany!and!chemotaxonomy,! pharmacognosy,!pharmacology!and!phytochemistry,!to!medicine.!An!atmosphere! that!encouraged!discussion!and!fraternization!among!the!participating!specialists! and!attending!scientist!and!students!characterized!the!meeting.87!
In!1979,!the!Museum!organized!and!sponsored!jointly!with!the!Casa!de!la!
Cultura!del!Ecuador!a!significant!symposium!in!Quito!on!Erythroxylon,+New+
Historical+and+Scientific+Aspects,!financed!by!a!gift!from!an!anonymous!American! foundation.!At!the!beginning!of!the!seventies,!the!growing!economic!importance!of! the!coca!plant!was!as!great!as!the!lack!of!understanding!of!its!botanical! characterization.!Meanwhile,!the!HBM!staff!was!in!the!lead!in!filling!in!this!gap!right! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
86!Paul!Mangelsdorf,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1966c+1967,!433. 87!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1967+–+1968,!411.! Chemotaxonomy!is!the!use!of!biochemistry!in!taxonomic!studies.!Pharmacognosy!means!knowledge!of! drugs,!and!is!focused!on!the!mode!of!action!of!drugs!of!natural!origin,!with!attention!to!their!sources,! and!to!the!biosynthesis!and!identity!of!their!pharmacodynamic!constituents.!Phytochemistry!is!the! study!of!chemicals!derived!from!plants,!and,!in!a!narrower!sense,!the!study!of!the!large!number!of! secondary!metabolic!compounds!found!in!plants.!Its!commonly!used!techniques!are!extraction,! isolation,!and!structural!elucidation,!as!well!as!chromatography.! www.answers.com!(accessed!February!25,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 66 in!the!field.!While!harsh!clouds!were!gathering!around!the!topic,!Schultes;!Timothy!
Plowman,!Associate!in!Economic!Botany;!and!Dr.!Andrew!Weil,!Associate!in!
Ethnopharmacology,!were!working!hard!in!organizing!and!participating!in!this! symposium!that!would!bridge!traditional!usage!and!contemporary!developments,! drawing!from!inUdepth!studies!with!potential!uses!for!medicine.!The!meeting!would! take!place!in!no!other!country!but!in!the!Andean!Ecuador!–!at!the!center!of!the!area! of!cultivation.!However,!the!symposium!was!limited!to!the!history!and!science!of! coca!use!and!purposely!did!not!include!legal,!social!or!political!considerations,!even! though!the!editor!of!the!publications!that!came!out!recognized!it!as!a!provocative! meeting,!whose!articles!would!be!of!interest!not!only!to!the!bioscientific!community,! but!also!to!a!much!broader!audience,!including!anyone!who!had!a!stake!in!the!coca! controversy.88!
Other!contributions!were!possible!through!services!to!industry!and! pharmaceutical!companies,!as!well!as!through!partnerships!with!them!and!agencies! of!the!federal!government.!For!instance,!the!United!States!Department!of!Agriculture! contracted!the!HBM!for!the!research!on!Erythroxylon!that!Plowman!carried!out!over! the!seventies.89!Leading!pharmaceutical!firms!such!as!Pfizer!and!Sandoz!appear!in! the!documentation!in!various!levels!of!involvement.!Major!funding!institution!such!
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88!Laurent!Rivier,!“Introduction,”!Journal+of+Ethnopharmacology!3,!no.!2U3!(1981):!111,!112.! The!paper!by!Plowman!on!coca!leafs,!“Nutritional!Value!of!Coca,”!would!strongly!contradict!views! that!coca!is!a!narcotic!virtually!devoid!of!nutritional!value. 89!“Biosystematic,!Chemotaxonomic!and!Ecological!Study!of!Erythroxylon!Coca!and!its!Wild! Relatives,”!in!which!Plowman!collected!voucher!herbarium!specimens,!cytological!materials,!soil! samples,!and!bulk!material!for!chemical!analysis,!as!well!as!hundreds!of!photographs.! Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1974+–+1975,!476.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 67 as!the!Rockefeller!Foundation,!CIBA!Foundation,!National!Science!Foundation,!
National!Institute!of!Health,!and!the!World!Wild!Fund!appear!consistently!as!well.!
Phytochemistry!is!worthwhile!to!illustrate!the!practices!that!furthered! science!at!the!HBM.!The!specialized!collection!of!voucher!specimens!in!the!
Economic!Herbarium!was!intended!for!reference!use!by!scholars!–!extensive! collections!devoted!to!a!single!genus!or!species,!which!they!would!use!to!endorse! their!publications.!It!also!was!the!repository!of!voucher!specimens!of!chemical! analyses!of!plants!by!schools!of!pharmacy!and!chemistry!and!pharmaceutical! establishments.90!
The!studies!of!Tony!Swain,!Honorary!Research!Associate!in!Phytochemistry! at!the!HBM,!emphasized!an!inUdepth!interpretation!of!chemical!and!biochemical! data!to!establish!their!potential!as!tools!in!taxonomic!and!phylogenetic!analyses.!
One!of!the!problems!of!typical!field!collecting!was!that!sheet!specimens!became! unsuitable!for!the!determination!of!compounds,!either!because!of!their!condition!as! manUmade!artifacts!that!went!through!a!reduction!process,!or!because!natives!yield! their!medicines!from!a!certain!part!of!the!plant!that!is!not!evidently!and!sufficiently! represented!in!them.!!
There!are!some!field!tests!for!alkaloids,!but!they!are!just!indicative!and!not! completely!reliable,!since!the!plant!in!question!may!carry!only!trace!amounts!of! active!compounds,!which!only!come!out!in!full!intensity!after!the!extraction!process! performed!by!natives.!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
90!Scott!E.!Wilder,!39,!41.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 68
Swain!developed!a!simplified!testing!kit!for!a!wide!range!of!compounds,!for! use!in!the!field!and!herbarium.!In!1969,!Schultes!and!Swain,!accompanied!by!several! graduate!students,!made!a!trip!to!the!Colombian!Amazon!and!collected!hundreds!of! toxic!plants!for!botanical!and!chemical!study.!Among!the!Witoto,!they!had!the! chance!to!try!the!testing!kit,!performing!a!botanical,!biochemical,!and!phytochemical! survey!of!plants!used!in!preparing!the!orally!ingested!hallucinogen!elaborated! basically!from!Virola!resin.91!
Another!field!of!activity!that!is!indicative!of!the!HBM!influence!in!the! scientific!community!is!publishing.!The!Museum!made!available!a!comprehensive! catalogue!of!its!publications!up!to!1965,!titled!A+Quarter+Century+of+Publications+of+ the+Botanical+Museum+of+Harvard+University,+1940+–+1965.!In!a!brochure!intended!to! introduce!this!bibliography,!Schultes!remarked!that!the!interdisciplinary!character! of!the!works!called!for!such!a!catalogue.!As!most!of!the!contributions!impinged!upon! several!fields,!but!were!published!usually!in!botanical!journals!or!in!other! publications!of!distribution!within!a!narrow!field,!it!was!necessary!to!make!the!titles! available!in!a!wider!approach!to!science.!Therefore,!all!interested!teachers,!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
91!The!Swain’s!kit!sought!discrete!chemical!compounds,!and!traced!positive!reactions!in!more!than!a! half!of!the!species!examined.!! Schultes,+Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1969+–+1970,!436;!1972+–+1973,!371.! The!most!common!field!test!that!Schultes!used!was!the!Dragendorff!presumptive!test!for!alkaloids.!It! comes!out!frequently!in!his!identification!field!notes,!usually!with!negative!results.!Collection!R.E.S.,! series!II!(Identification!and!Classification!notes),!box!1,!folder!1,!HUHLA.! The!Dragendorff!reagent!has!two!solutions.!One!is!bismuth!nitrate!in!acetic!acid,!the!other!a!sodium! nitrate!solution.!A!reddishUbrown!deposit!indicates!alkaloids.! http://www.answers.com/topic/dragendorffUtest!(accessed!February!26,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 69 researchers!and!bibliographers!would!be!able!to!improve!their!chance!of!accessing! the!accumulated!contributions!of!a!quarter!century.92!
The!inUhouse!printing!shop,!equipped!with!a!handUset!press!that!came!from!
Ames’!times,!made!for!a!welcoming!feeling!among!staff!and!students.!It!was! intended!primarily!to!print!the!Botanical+Museum+Leaflets,!which!provided!an!outlet! for!research!of!staff!and!students,!much!of!which,!because!of!its!interdisciplinary! nature,!might!not!have!been!appropriate!for!journals!limited!to!orthodox!fields!of! botany.93! c)'The'Nash'Lecture'Hall'and'the'Collection'of'Economic'Botany' ! Located!on!the!fourth!floor!of!the!building,!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall!was!the! main!stage!in!which!the!teaching!mission!of!the!Museum!took!place.!Classes!for!both! undergraduate!and!graduate!students!drew!on!ethnobotanical!artifacts!and! specimens,!which!were!also!on!display!in!wooden!cabinets!and!cases,!along!with! posters,!maps,!and!other!printed!materials.!This!remarkable!setting!accounted!for!a! very!unique!teaching!lab!any!museum!has!ever!had,!and!only!possible!thanks!to!the! university!affiliation!of!the!Museum.!
According!to!Dr.!Mangelsdorf,!almost!since!the!beginning!the!Economic!
Botany!Collection!was!the!basis!of!a!course!in!the!subject.!In!1967,!he!explained!the! growing!interest!in!this!field!since!World!War!II!when,!living!in!a!modern!industrial!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
92!A+Quarter+Century+of+Publications+of+the+Botanical+Museum+of+Harvard+University,+1940+–+1965,! Collection!Botanical!Museum!Papers,!Series!V,!box!2,!folder!18,!1966,!HUHLA. 93!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1969+–+1970,!433;!1975+–+1976,!495.! The!Botanical+Museum+Leaflets!was!published!from!1932!to!1984!and!reached!30!volumes.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 70 civilization,!Americans!were!forced!once!more!to!learn,!through!painful!experience,! the!fact!that!peoples!of!“more!primitive!cultures”!do!not!so!easily!forget:!that! humankind!is!still!dependent!upon!the!plant!kingdom!not!only!for!basic!necessities! and!many!niceties!and!luxuries,!but!also!for!many!of!the!materials!needed!in!the! prosecution!of!war.!The!wartime!recognition!was!responsible!for!courses!in! economic!botany!that!were!implemented!in!many!colleges!and!universities,!which! followed!the!Harvard’s!course!model!throughout!the!U.S.!and!in!several!Latin!
American!countries.94!
Most!of!the!teaching!activities!of!the!Museum!were!offered!through!the!
Department!of!Biology.!The!course!in!economic!botany,!known!as!“Plants!and!
Human!Affairs,”!influenced!many!of!its!students!who!continued!in!academia,!in! science,!in!industry,!and!in!medicine.!It!was!also!taught!on!several!occasions!in!
Harvard’s!Summer!School!program;!advanced!courses!in!medical!botany!were!part! of!the!offerings!of!the!Department!of!Biology!as!well.!Other!courses!in!specialized! phases!of!economic!botany!and!in!the!effect!of!plants!on!history!were!also!offered!to! the!public!in!Harvard’s!Commission!on!Extension.95!Graduate!student!doctoral! research!supervised!by!the!Museum!staff!had!encompassed!topics!in!economic! botany!such!as!ethnoecology!of!Amazonian!and!Mexican!tribes,!generic!
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94!Mangelsdorf,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1966+–+1967,!432.! Upon!his!retirement!from!Harvard,!Mangelsdorf!would!establish!a!course!modeled!on!it,!at!North! Carolina!State!University.!Ibid.,!1970!–!1971,!406.! 95!In!1976,!for!instance,!the!following!additional!courses!were!taught:!“Hallucinogenic!Plants,!their! Biology!and!role!in!Cultural!History,”!“Plants!in!the!Life!and!History!of!the!Bible!Lands,”!(Extension! School),!and!“Bioeconomics!of!Food”!(Summer!School).! Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1976+–+1977,!499.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 71 monographic!treatment!of!economic!plants!of!tropical!America,!and!ethnobotany!of!
American!Indians.96!
So,!it!was!in!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall!where!Schultes!held!court,!surrounded!by! elegant!wooden!cabinets!displaying!every!known!narcotic!and!hallucinogenic!plant,!
“in!the!midst!of!enough!psychoactive!drugs!to!keep!the!DEA!busy!for!a!year.”97!
Schultes!would!bring!out!a!sixUfoot!blowgun!in!class!and!give!a!demonstration!of! how!to!manipulate!it!as!was!possible!in!a!cramped!lecture!room!–!loading!it!with! undipped!darts,!by!the!way.!He!would!remark!that!even!if!ineptly!handled,!a! blowgun!is!more!effective!than!a!shotgun:!“With!the!former,!if!you!miss!your! monkey!you!can!get!in!several!more!shots!before!he’s!aware!of!you.!With!a!shotgun,! the!damn!monkey!is!in!New!York!before!you!can!reload.”98!
!
Figure+10.+Dr.+Schultes+teaching+in+the+Nash+Lecture+Hall.+Painting+by+Hannah+Barret,+1994.+Source:+ Harvard+University+Herbaria.! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
96!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“The!Botanical!Museum!of!Harvard!University!in!its!125th!Year,”!3. 97!Wade!Davis,!22. 98!The+New+Yorker,!“Jungle!Botanist,”!53.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 72
What!is!most!interesting!for!my!thesis!is!how!artifacts!were!used!in!a!class! setting!and!still!kept!under!the!collections!management!of!museum!practices.!In!
1970,!the!Museum!appointed!Scott!Wilder!as!Curatorial!Assistant!to!take!care!of!the!
Economic!Botany!Herbaria!and!its!teaching!collection!of!useful!plant!products,! which!in!terms!of!making!useful!the!latter!basically!meant!he!was!in!charge!of!the!
Nash!Lecture!Hall.!In!addition,!he!also!assisted!the!Keeper!of!Scientific!Exhibits!in! maintaining!them!and!in!the!daily!visitorUrelated!routine!of!the!Museum.!In!1978!he! started!revising!the!teaching!collection!and!exhibits!in!economic!botany,!which!had! not!had!reorganization!since!the!1940s.99!His!daily!duties!were!accessioning!new! materials,!fumigation,!and!preservation!and!labeling!of!specimens,!keeping!up!the! modernization!of!the!collection!at!the!same!time.!As!a!result,!in!1981!Wilder!had! nearly!completed!relocation!and!renovation!of!the!different!teaching!collections,! and!had!developed!a!“Curator’s!Manual”!for!easy!access!to!them.!Much!of!his!effort! went!to!developing!new!teaching!exhibits!in!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall,!the!first! renovation!of!these!exhibits!since!the!1930s.100!The!separation!of!a!number!of! herbarium!specimens!for!laboratory!use!in!teaching!made!for!a!more!effective!use!of! the!collection.!Graduate!students,!as!part!of!their!training!within!the!Biology!
Department,!assisted!the!Curator!–!Schultes!–!and!Mr.!Wilder!in!the!dayUtoUday! management!of!the!Herbarium.101+
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99!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1977+–+1978,!510. 100!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1980+–+1981,!520.! There!also!was!a!manual!of!the!course,!see!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Albert!Hill,!Plants+and+Human+ Affairs:+Laboratory+Manual!(Cambridge:!Harvard!Botanical!Museum,!1968). 101!Scott!E.!Wilder,!40U41.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 73
The!teaching!collection!of!useful!plant!products!numbered!well!over!14,000! entries!and!had!had!a!100%!increase!in!accessions!since!1940.!It!also!comprised!
4,000!habit!photographs!of!economic!plants,!300!related!charts!and!graphics,!and!a! clipping!file!assembled!over!the!previous!decades.102!!
As!a!result!of!the!renovations!in!the!building,!in!1985!Mr.!Wilder!was!more! occupied!than!ever!with!housekeeping!and!transfer!of!specimens!and!other! materials.!He!finished!the!modernization!of!plants!exhibits!in!the!lecture!room,! while!keeping!up!with!his!daily!duties!for!the!Herbarium!and!classes,!such!as! exchanging!plant!specimens!with!other!institutions,!packaging!and!sending!out! materials,!and!arranging!table!displays!for!the!course!lectures.103! d)'What'happened'to'the'Schultes’'legacy'in'the'Botanical'Museum?' ! Although!there!is!a!set!of!circumstances!that!conspired!against!the!HBM’s! historical!identity!–!which!was!an!achievement!of!Schultes!and!its!former!directors!U
U!the!reasons!underlying!the!actual!decline!of!the!Museum!as!it!was!are!quite!simple.!
Despite!the!outstanding!realizations!that,!in!one!way!or!another,!drew!upon! traditional!knowledge!of!plants,!and!the!influence!that!such!a!feat!had!for! mainstream!society,!the!managerial!decisions!that!led!to!the!closure!of!the!HBM!are! paradoxically!intertwined!with!the!imprint!of!Schultes!and!with!his!personal!legacy.! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
102!Ibid.,!40.! A!catalogue!of!the!graphic!material!(maps,!posters!and!prints)!is!available!at!Harvard!University! Herbaria,!“Economic!Botany!Maps,!Posters!and!Prints!Collection”! http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/Nash/Maps.html!(accessed!February!28,!2012).! An!alphabetically!organized!list!of!the!clipping!file!of!small!manuscripts,!photographs,!magazine!and! newspaper!articles!is!available!at!HUH,!“Economic!Botany!Historic!Clipping!File”! http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/clippings.htm!(accessed!February!28,!2012).! 103!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1984+–+1985,!522.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 74
Therefore,*what*becomes*evident*from*the*sources*is*that*there*was*a* struggle*going*on*over*the*physical*space*of*the*Museum*since*the*1970s.*A*series*of* failed*attempts*to*get*renovations*and*changes*done*for*the*benefit*of*the*core*of*the*
HBM*exhibits*and*behindDtheDscenes*space*seemingly*gave*place*to*a*weakened* position*for*it*to*hold*grounds*against*contending*bureaucratic*infighters.*
Paul*Mangelsdorf*had*warned*of*how*the*institution*he*led*was*overlooked.*
In*his*last*Annual&Report*he*asserted*that,*partly*because*of*the*spectacular* advances*that*had*been*made*in*other*areas*in*biology,*questions*had*been*raised* about*the*usefulness*to*Harvard*biology*that*institutions*such*as*the*Botanical*
Museum*had,*the*importance*of*the*research*it*supported,*or*the*necessity*of* maintaining*public*exhibits*such*as*the*Glass*Flowers.*But*he*merely*pointed*out* that*such*questions*did*not*take*into*account*that*the*University,*in*accepting* certain*gifts*and*bequests*in*the*past*for*the*HBM,*had*also*instituted*mandates*it* could*not*fail*to*honor.*Nevertheless,*he*was*confident*that*the*Museum*would* flourish,*and*that*its*recognition*as*a*center*for*research*and*teaching*in*certain* branches*of*botany*that*did*not*compete*with*other*areas*of*biology*but* complemented*them,*would*secure*its*place*as*a*contributor*among*the*wholesome* diversity*of*biology*at*Harvard.104*
During*the*seventies,*the*HBM*staff*developed*plans*to*improve*the*care*of* the*collections*and*its*service*to*the*public.*The*staff*increased*its*attention*to*the* safety,*security,*and*efficient*use*of*the*physical*plant*and*to*the*safeguarding*of*the*
********************************************************
104*Mangelsdorf,*Report&of&the&President&of&Harvard:*1966&–&1967,*439.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 75 exhibits.!The!most!pressing!problem!was!the!adequate!care!and!preservation!of!the!
Glass!Flowers,!the!plans!of!which!contained!within!them!the!trace!of!how!things! turned!out!unfortunate!for!Museum.!
Studies!showed!that!physical!and!chemical!deterioration!of!some!models! would!stop!or!slow!down!by!implementing!control!of!relative!humidity.!Air! conditioning,!furthermore,!was!needed!to!protect!the!models!from!dust!coming! from!excessive!construction!in!the!vicinity.!Issues!around!the!inadequacy!of!the! quarters!for!the!large!number!of!visitors,!around!how!to!relieve!congestion!and!how! to!better!utilize!the!facilities!for!public!education,!were!considered!in!the! submission!of!final!proposals!to!University!officials!for!study.105!
The!plans!aimed!at!reUlocating!the!Glass!Flowers!from!the!third!floor,!where! they!have!always!been!displayed,!to!new,!upright,!interior!lit!metal!cases!in!larger,! modernized,!environmentally!controlled!quarters!on!the!first!floor.!The!staff! launched!a!drive!to!fund!the!project.106!The!outcome,!however,!was!disappointing,! and!the!progress!of!the!fund!lagged!by!1976.!Physical!improvement!of!the!building! and!alterations!aimed!towards!a!more!efficient!use!of!the!space!continued,!but!the! expanding!research!and!teaching!program,!the!acquisition!of!new!collections,!and! the!utilization!of!space!for!new!facilities!created!a!straitened!situation!and!some!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
105!Ibid.,!1970!–!1971,!412. 106!Ibid.,!1973!–!1974,!499.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 76 overUcrowding,!which!was!hoped!to!be!relieved!once!the!relocation!plans!were! accomplished.107!
The!implementation!of!an!overall!entrance!charge!for!the!exhibitions!of!the!
Harvard’s!several!science!museums!at!the!University!Museum!building!involved!the! creation!of!an!ample!lobby!at!the!HBM’s!Oxford!Street!entrance.!Consequently,!it! required!reorganization!and!dismantling!of!some!of!the!botanical!exhibits.!
Nevertheless,!the!innovation!was!successful!in!drawing!visitors.108!
In!1983,!and!despite!further!disruptions!due!to!construction!and!spatial! readjustments!that!resulted!in!the!moving!of!the!Economic!Botany!Library!and!the!
Herbarium!of!Economic!Botany!to!the!Herbaria!building,!finally!the!longUdesired! air–conditioning!setting!for!the!Glass!Flowers!was!completed,!an!improvement! implemented!in!the!inner!room!that!houses!the!collection!and!in!each!exhibit!case!as! well.109!
However,!next!year!the!situation!became!despairing!enough!to!prompt!
Schultes!to!make!a!protest!that,!still,!lacks!energy!and!denotes!resignation:!
To!the!Dean!of!the!Faculty!of!Arts!and!Sciences:!! SirUUDuring!part!of!the!past!year,!the!normal!activities!of!the! Botanical!Museum!have!been!seriously!interrupted!by!the!extensive! architectural!alterations!in!the!basement!and!first!floor!U!space!which! has!been!taken!from!the!Museum!to!house!the!numerous! administrative!offices!of!the!OEB!section!of!the!Biology!Department.! This!work!has!not!only!required!extensive!moving!of!the!offices,!staff! and!students,!fossil!plant!collections,!many!boxes!of!publications,!and! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
107!Ibid.,!1975!–!1976,!504. 108!Ibid.,!1977!–!1978,!503. 109!Ibid.,!1982!–!1983,!474.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 77
herbarium!and!other!facilities,!but!our!Museum!printing!press!was! demolished.!Perhaps!the!most!serious!handicap!was!the!months!of! fine!dust!that!sifted!throughout!the!building,!a!condition!especially! serious!to!the!Glass!Flower!collection,!where!cases!had!to!be!dusted! four!and!five!times!a!day.!Our!hope!is!that!this!move!U!costly!in!money,! human!effort!and!time!and!prejudicial!to!the!Museum's!future!with! the!resulting!serious!loss!of!space!U!may!eventually!prove! advantageous!to!the!biological!activities!of!the!University.!We!must! here!commend!the!staff!and!students!for!their!forbearance!and!spirit! of!cooperation!with!this!operation.110! During!these!last!two!years!of!the!Museum!(1984!–!1985),!its!budget!was!no! longer!prepared!by!its!director,!and!the!Orchid!Herbarium,!already!moved!to!the!
University!Herbaria,!was!not!included!in!a!National!Science!Foundation!threeUyear! grant!awarded!to!the!Herbaria.!The!director!of!this!latter!institution,!after! complaining!about!the!budgetary!issues!of!the!Botanical!Museum,!which!prevented! a!contribution!towards!the!care!of!its!collections!in!the!Herbaria,!justified!all!the! rearrangements!as!beneficial!for!the!consolidation!of!the!botanical!collections,! which!would!make!them!more!efficiently!accessible!and!of!use!for!researchers.111!
Hence,!apparently!the!reasons!behind!the!closure!of!the!Museum!were:!
• The!consolidation!strategy!towards!the!merging!of!the!several!
institutions!pertaining!to!natural!history.!
• A!harsh!context!in!the!eighties!for!the!type!of!topics!the!Museum!
touched!upon.!
• The!shifting!climate!for!research!in!medicines,!which!led!to!the!
preference!of!chemical!research,!as!opposed!to!seeking!useful!compounds!in! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
110!Ibid.,!1983!–!1984,!522.! OEB!stands!for!Department!of!Organismic!and!Evolutionary!Biology.! The!handset!press!was!donated!to!a!printing!museum. 111!Donald!Pfister,!“University!Herbaria,”!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1985!–!1986,!520,!521.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 78
nature.!
• Finally,!in!regard!to!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall,!the!end!of!the!manner!of!
teaching!that!drew!from!ethnobotanical!artifacts!and!specimens,!upon!
Schultes’!retirement.!
There!is,!however,!a!more!authoritative!opinion!on!the!matter!than!mine.!!In! a!straightforward!remark,!Wade!Davis!told!me:!
They!all!hated!Schultes,!who!admittedly!did!not!do!a!good!job! defending!his!institution!or!building!a!cadre!that!might!keep!alive!his! legacy.!But!they!hated!him!because!of!three!things.!He!was!more! famous!than!any!of!them!in!the!faculty!at!the!time.!He!was!happy,!and! third!he!was!loved!by!his!students.!Three!strikes!against!him!at! Harvard.!He!was!brought!down!by!bureaucratic!infighters!who! coveted!the!space!in!the!museum!to!house!offices!to!expand!the! administrative!staff.!Everything!else!is!revisionist!window!dressing.112! So,!while!the!continuity!of!Schultes’!scope!of!knowledge!and!legacy!at!
Harvard!stopped!after!his!retirement!without!having!a!direct!scientific!heir,!which!is! evident!by!the!dismantling!of!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall,!the!influence!over!his!renowned! students!and!fellows!who!were!inspired!by!him!is!outstanding.113!Among!them!were!
Davis,!Timothy!Plowman,!Michael!Balick,!Marc!Plotkin,!Andrew!Weil!and!the!
Colombian!Cristian!Samper,!who!is!a!world!authority!in!conservationism!and!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
112!Wade!Davis,!eUmail!message!to!author,!February!22,!2012.! There!is!a!greeting!card!that!shows!the!students’!empathy!toward!Schultes.!It!was!given!to!him!after! he!had!them!at!his!home,!upon!the!finalization!of!the!semester,!and!is!signed!by!several!of!the! students.!One!of!the!messages!reads:!“The!course!was!wonderful,!the!afternoon!was!delightful!(the! company,!the!food,!the!atmosphere)U!truly!the!“Harvard!experience”!at!its!best!!All!I!can!say!is!thank! you,!though!that!seems!inadequate!to!express!the!wondrous!discoveries!of!a!whole!semester![signed]! Jacqueline!Coutreau.! Collection!R.E.S.,!series!I!(Correspondence),!box!1,!folder!5,!HUHLA. 113!Santiago!Madriñán,!“El!legado!intangible,”!in!ed.!Wade!Davis,!La+Amazonia+perdida:+el+viaje+ fotográfico+del+legendario+botánico+Richard+Evans+Schultes+(catalogue!of!the!exhibition)!(Bogotá:!Banco! de!la!República,!2009),!105.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 79 current!director!of!the!National!Museum!of!Natural!History!of!the!Smithsonian.!The! fact!that!Schultes’!foremost!students!went!on!to!pursue!their!own!projects!in!the! field!he!helped!open!for!them!probably!accounted!for!the!lack!of!a!cadre!that!could! keep!on!the!HBM’s!125!years!of!history!alive!–!for!instance,!in!1979,!Plowman!left! the!HBM!to!become!Curator!of!Economic!Botany!in!the!Field!Museum!of!Natural!
History,!in!which!later!on!he!chaired!the!Botany!Department,!but!he!had!an!early! death.!!!
On!the!other!hand,!Schultes’!consultation!activities!led!to!the!development!of! an!environmental!management!framework;!so!the!main!legacy!of!all!this!story!to!
Colombia!is!the!conservationist!legislation!and!a!wellUdeveloped!system!of! protecting!institutions,!to!ensure!the!sustainability!of!the!rainforest!and!of!the! diverse!ecoUhabitats,!together!with!their!peoples.!But!this!legal!umbrella!is!often! weakened!in!the!actual!field!by!the!many!harsh!challenges!that!the!Colombian! institutional!order!faces.
IV.'Forms'of'appropriation'and'representation'of'native' knowledge' +
In!this!chapter,!I!will!outline!the!principles!and!framework!that!characterized! the!collection!of!knowledge!among!native!and!local!peoples.!Next,!I!will!present!the! objectives!that!such!a!work!had,!and!the!outcome!and!issues!arising!from!it,! according!to!the!discussion!on!botanical!surveying!in!present!times.!
Finally,!an!overview!of!the!forms!of!elaboration!and!representation,!in!which! this!knowledge!was!given!shape!through!the!activities!of!the!HBM,!will!provide! insights!into!the!role!of!a!university!museum!in!furthering!science!while!keeping!its! public!outreach.! a)'Framework'of'collecting'knowledge'associated'with'botanical'specimens' !
In!the!midst!of!the!rainforest’s!lusciousness,!there!had!to!be!some!clues!that! botanists!could!follow!so!as+to!narrow!down!the!odds!of!finding!useful!plants.+The! fact!that!a!plant!is!known!to!be!useful!or!harmful!to!man!indicates!that!it!deserves! further!studies!to!determine!supporting!evidence!of!people’s!claim!about!it.!The! general!classes!of!economic!plants!that!were!accessioned!to!the!Economic!
Herbarium!of!Oakes!Ames!are!related!to!their!interaction!with!people.!They!include:!
1)!plants!of!importance!in!agriculture!(including!the!principal!forage!crops),! industry!and!the!arts;!2)!plants!used!in!primitive!societies;!3)!plants!connected!with! superstition!and!religious!rites;!4)!plants!of!interest!because!of!former!uses!or! because!of!association!with!old!herbals;!5)!wild!species!of!significance!because!of!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 81 their!known!or!presumed!association!with!the!origin!of!cultivated!plants!and!6)! voucher!specimens!of!phytochemical!analyses.114!The!often!complex!relation! between!preUliterate!cultures!with!their!ambient!floras!determined!a!research!focus! on!medicinal,!narcotic,!and!toxic!plants!that!were!used!by!these!cultures.!Even!when! plants!were!not!used,!just!the!prevention!of!people!towards!their!perceived! properties!would!make!the!botanist!aware!of!their!potential!value.!
Surprisingly,!as!late!as!1986,!Schultes!maintained!that!Indians!of!the! northwest!Amazon!discovered!through!millennia!of!trial!and!error!these!properties! of!plants.!Modern!phytochemists!and!pharmacologists!were!supposed!to!draw!on! this!accumulated!wisdom!rather!than!on!a!random!sampling!of!the!more!than!
80,000!species!in!the!Amazon!Valley.115!More!recent!studies!still!look!for!the!basis!of! the!discovery!process!entailed!in!such!a!feat,!which!certainly!is!not!easy!to!explain.!
Lacking!better!explanations,!the!elaborate!cosmologies!through!which!these!Indian! peoples!tell!the!origins!of!their!main!staple!crops!and!medicines!afford!as!valuable! an!insight!on!the!matter+as!any!other!account.!The!books!Vine+of+the+Soul,!and!the! photographic!Where+the+Gods+Reign,+Plants+and+Peoples+of+the+Colombian+Amazon,!by!
Schultes,!are!a!sort!of!amendment!to!the!simplistic!assumption!mentioned!above.!
Both!my!archival!research!and!the!works!of!Schultes!consistently!show!his! fixation!in!collecting,!together!with!the!specimens,!their!uses,!forms!of!preparation,! and!their!diverse!native!names!according!to!every!tribe.!One!of!the!field!notebooks! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
114!Scott!E.!Wilder,!38. 115!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Robert!Raffauf,!“Miscellaneous!Notes!on!Medicinal!and!Toxic!Plants!of! the!Northwest!Amazon,”!Botanical+Museum+Leaflets!30,!no.!4!(June!1986):!255.! http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31877!(accessed!January!19,!2012).
!
Figure+11.+Sheet+specimen+collected+by+Schultes+including+native+name+(Sobralia+rosea).+Source:+Harvard+ University+Herbaria+Digital+Database.+
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 83 in!the!archive!contained!detailed!information!on!each!specimen,!such!as!its! description;!its!native!name!and!meaning,!usually!in!English!and!Spanish;!and!its! uses,!whether!for!healing,!food,!crafts,!dye,!fish!poison,!etc.!My!interest!was!in! tracing!back!the!process!of!elaboration!of!scientific!knowledge,!from!the!moment!it! came!as!raw!material!out!of!the!field,!to!the!changes!in!its!interpretation!resulting! from!the!processing!of!the!information!in!a!research!museum!setting.!
For!instance,!one!of!the!Schultes’!field!diaries!shows!a!bilingual!list!of!plants! that!he!used!to!link!the!vernacular!Spanish!names!to!those!employed!by!the!Huitoto! people:116!
u! Yuca!brava:!huUhe [manioc]! Maiz:!beuájeu![corn]! Tabaco:!deuUweu![tobacco]! Piña:!roUsee’!djeu![pineapple]! Caña!de!azúcar:!rroUnóUmoUkó![sugar!cane]! Ñame:!haUkaiUteu![yam]! ! And!so!on,!the!list!continues!with!orange,!peanut,!cucumber,!chontaduro,! grape,!etc.!The!assumption!is!that!further!studies!in!the!field!could!draw!on!this! information!to!accurately!ascertain!the!identity!of!a!plant!under!question,!once!it!is! related!to!the!voucher!specimen!kept!in!the!Herbaria,!in!which!sheet!the!vernacular! names!are!included.!The!compilation!of!these!field!notes!is!the!foundation!for!The+
Healing+Forest,117!which!brought!together!more!than!forty!years!of!fieldwork!on! plant!lore!and!its!processing!in!herbaria.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
116!Field!notebook,!Collection!R.E.S.,!series!II!(Identification!and!Classification!notes),!box!1,!folder!2,! HUHLA. 117!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Robert!Raffauf,!The+Healing+Forest.!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 84
The!comparison!of!uses,!among!different!peoples,!of!a!range!of!plants!related! to!each!other!also!may!determine!the!scope!for!scientific!attention.!For!instance,! sundried!species!of!the!family!Myristicaceae!were!employed!widely!in!the!Amazon! to!combat!fungal!infections!of!the!skin.!Schultes!observed!that!so!many!species!in! one!family!utilized!over!a!great!area!by!several!different!people!to!treat!the!same!or! similar!ailments,!might!be!indicative!of!highly!valuable!active!principles,!which! should!focus!pharmacological!attention!on!these!plants.118!
The!botanical!determination!of!the!brew!called!ayahuasca!also!lends!insight! into!the!processing!of!knowledge.!Schultes!outlined!the!understanding!that!Western! science!had!attained!on!the!matter!in!1957,!in!the!article!“Malpighiaceous!Narcotics! of!South!America.”119!He!summarized!what!was!known!about!the!identity!of!the! malpighiaceous!narcotics!and!tried!to!make!some!order!from!the!rather!chaotic! state!of!the!literature.!This!survey!was!evaluated!in!the!light!of!his!field!experience,! taking!into!account!the!myriad!of!native!names!and!uses!that!referred!to!distinct!–!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In!the!same!manner,!a!monograph!on!a!given!species!could!draw!on!the!broad!scientific!network!in! which!representative!plant!material!was!distributed.!For!the!monograph!on!Desfontainia!spinosa,!a! relative!to!daturas!and!one!of!the!last!species!in!which!Schultes!worked,!he!consulted!specimens! from!these!herbaria!and!museums:!Arnold!Arboretum,!Gray!Herbarium!et!Economic!Herbarium!of! Oakes!Ames!at!Harvard!University;!British!Museum!(Natural!History);!Royal!Botanic!Gardens,!Kew;! Oxford!University!Herbarium;!Field!Museum!of!Natural!History;!Missouri!Botanic!Gardens;!United! States!National!Herbarium;!Herbario!Nacional!Colombiano!(Bogotá);!Herbario!del!Instituto!del! Museo!de!la!Plata!(La!Plata);!Herbarium!Jutlandicum!(Aarhus);!Rijksmuseet!(Stockholm);!Herbarium! Zürich!Botanical!Garden;!Herbarium,!Royal!Botanical!Garden,!Madrid.! Desfontainia!spinosa,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!IV!(Ethnography!research),!box!1,!folder!10,!page!6,! HUHLA. 118!Notes!for!and!undetermined!paper,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!II!(Identification!and!Classification! notes),!box!1,!folder!11,!page!11a,!HUHLA.! The!species!mentioned!are!Compsoneura!debilis,!Dialyanthera!otoba,!Iryathera!crassifolia,!I.! longifolia,!I.!polyneura,!I.!tricornis,!I!ulei;!Virola!bicuhyba,!V.!carinata,!V.!elongate,!V.!flexuosa,!V! melinonii!and!V.!Schultesii. 119!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“Malpighiaceous!Narcotics!of!South!America,”!Botanical+Museum+Leaflets! 18,!no.!1!(June!1957):!1!–!49.!http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7810681!(accessed!January! 12!2012).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 85 or!matching!–!source!plants.!Eventually,!the!result!was!a!much!more!clear! understanding!of!the!identities!of!the!herbaria!material,!once!it!was!compared!with! new!collections!in!the!field!and!thanks!to!the!participation!in!ceremonies!in!which!
Indians!made!and!drank!the!brew.!From!this!threshold!the!ethnobotanical!practice! would!advance!during!the!next!several!years!until!getting!to!a!pretty!clear! identification!of!the!basic!plant!of!the!brew!and!its!most!usual!admixtures.!This! process!would!reevaluate!the!previous!nomenclature,!so!as!to!arrive!at!the! conclusive!determinations!and!now!broadly!accepted!names,!through!the!scientific! network!and!specialized!activities!of!the!HBM.120!
In!the!same!manner!that!Indians!were!not!considered!by!Schultes!to!be!a! whole!entity,!but!rather!distinct!nations!with!their!own!field!of!specialized! knowledge!and!particular!relations!when!it!concerned!plants!lore,121!Schultes! complained!of!how!plants!were!treated!by!monographers!as!isolated!entities.!In!a! report!to!the!Bureau!of!Plant!Industry,!which!ran!the!Natural!Rubber!Development!
Program,!he!remarked!that!plants!are!often!treated!as!one!might!discuss!a!series!of! telegraph!poles!along!the!highway:!“Hevea![brasiliensis],!as!all!other!plants,!does! not!grow!alone!in!the!forest!but!in!close!association!with!very!definite!species.!Each! species!of!Hevea!as!well!as!the!varieties!and!other!subspecific!variants!grow!in!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
120!See!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!Albert!Hoffman,!and!Christian!Rätsch,!“The!Magic!Drink!of!the! Amazon,”!Plants+of+the+Gods:+their+Sacred,+Healing,+and+Hallucinogenic+Powers!(Rochester,!VT:!Healing! Arts!Press,!1998),!124!–!136.! Diplopterys!cabrerana,!one!of!the!two!most!important!admixtures!to!Banisteriopsis!caapi,!was! known!before!as!Banisteriopsis!rusbyana.!It!owes!its!name!to!Isidoro!Cabrera,!from!the!Instituto!de! Ciencias!Naturales,!Bogotá. 121!See!Richard!Evans!Schultes!and!Robert!Raffauf,!The+Healing+Forest,!36.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 86 readily!definable!ecological!associations.”122!He!made!the!collections!of!those! important!or!dominant!trees!in!each!cluster,!distributing!them!among!specialists! during!his!stay!in!Boston,!and!hoped!to!have!their!definitions!upon!returning!from! his!next!twoUyear!period!in!the!field.!!
Although!he!had!not!found!stable!floral!characters!in!those!variants!of!Hevea,! other!features!allowed!them!to!be!considered!subspecific,!because!“they!have!very! precise!ecological!predilections,!and!are!not!found,!with!very!few!exceptions,! outside!of!their!chosen!habitats.”123!The!golden!rule!for!him!to!assert!such! specificity!was!the!word!of!siringueiros:!!
“So!definite!are!these!variants!that!the!tappers!have!common! names!for!them;!and!so!different!are!their!barks!in!ease!of!tapping!and! so!different!are!their!lattices!and!yields!of!rubber!that!the!assignment! of!the!tapper!to!an!estrada![track]!in!which!the!poorer!variant! predominates!is!often!the!cause!for!violent!objection!on!his!part.”124!! What!rank!these!variants!deserved,!Schultes!hadn’t!yet!fully!decided!at!the! time.!He!began!these!remarks!by!making!clear!that!he!was!not!a!splitter,!i.e.!one!who! makes!out!names!of!plants+indiscriminately,!the!worst!kind!of!botanist!since!
Hooker’s!times,!so!it!would!take!thorough!studies!to!decide.!
Therefore,!the!complex!background!of!a!plant!and!the!knowledge!based!on!it! was!made!up!of!crossUreferences,!of!which!the!voices!of!native!and!local!people!were! a!reliable!source.!
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122!Richard!Evans!Schultes!to!Dr.!R.!D.!Rands,!October!12,!1950,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!I! (Correspondence),!box!1,!folder!2,!HUHLA.! 123!Ibid. 124!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 87 b)'Objectives'for'collecting'and'displaying'or'study'' ! The!main!goal!of!the!interdisciplinary!studies!on!useful!or!harmful!plants!at! the!HBM!was!to!seek!valuable!compounds!for!medicine.!Investigation!of! commercially!important!groups!of!plants!characterized!much!of!the!effort!of!the!
Museum!during!the!1970s!as!well:!Hevea!and!other!rubber!producing!plants,!
Brugmansia,!Erythroxilon,!Theobroma,!and!Cannabis.!The!most!ambitious!study! that!exemplifies!the!concentration!in!potential!medical!uses!was!carried!out!by!Siri! von!Reis,!under!the!sponsorship!of!the!Museum!and!the!supervision!of!Schultes.!Von!
Reis,!Research!Associate!in!Ethnopharmacology,!searched!through!the!4,500,000! specimens!in!the!Herbaria!for!collector’s!notes!on!the!native!uses!of!food!and! medicinal!plants.125!
This!study!began!by!justifying!its!scope!with+the!fact!that!herbaria!are! important!and!muchUoverlooked!source!of!data.!Then,!there!was!the!logic!of! furthering!the!usefulness!of!work!already!done,!which!lay!in!the!form!of!field!notes! that!in!many!instances!had!not!been!published.!Essentially,!searching!herbaria! combines!the!accuracy!of!fieldwork!with!the!facility!of!using!a!library,!and!data!on! labels!are!firstUhand!sources.!Information!accompanying!collections!makes!it!easy!to! return,!if!necessary,!to!the!original!locality,!to!collect!fresh!material,!and!to!study!an! exact!genetic!strain!or!a!plant!more!intensively.126!
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125!Schultes,!“The!Botanical!Museum!of!Harvard!University!in!its!125th!Year,”!5. 126!Siri!Von!Reis,!“Herbaria:!Sources!of!Medicinal!Folklore,”!Economic+Botany!16,!no.!4!(October!–! December!1962):!283.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/4252380!(accessed!October!18,!2011).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 88
A!preliminary!breakdown!of!the!notes!from!just!six!plant!families!comprised! these!categories!of!use:!
About!18%!for!ailments!of!the!digestive!tract;!about!16%!for! relief!from!various!kinds!of!pain;!about!11%!for!the!treatment!of!cuts! and!wounds;!another!11%!for!the!treatment!of!specific!illnesses;!9%! for!pulmonary!diseases;!8%!for!skin!problems;!6%!for!fevers;!another! 6%!for!circulatory!difficulties;!5%!for!irregularities!of!the!female! reproductive!system;!3%!for!use!as!antidotes;!2%!for!use!as! astringents;!another!2%!for!panaceas;!1%!for!worm!infections;!½!%! for!treatment!of!fatigue;!a!last!½!%!for!depuratives.127!
It!is!also!interesting!that!von!Reis!registered!notes!showed!when!the! common!names!were!of!particular!interest!or!when!other!data!suggested!medical! application!or!possible!physiological!activity.!The!meanings!of!these!names!may!be! associated!with!drugs,!medicines,!stimulants,!narcotics,!poison,!magic!or!religion.!
The!substances!that!were!eaten!though!not!as!staples!of!the!diet,!such!as!rare!and! prized!fruits,!spices,!masticatories,!tonics!and!stimulants,!comprised!a!third! category.!Poisons!were!represented!in!a!separated!category!as!well.128!!
The!hope!of!this!study!was!that!the!resulting!compilation!of!notes!would!be! checked!against!the!literature!of!pharmacology!to!ascertain!what!chemical!work!had! been!performed!upon!the!species!in!question.!If!the!outcome!of!this!checking!would!
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The!information!contained!in!the!sheet!plants!is!as!follows:!the!geographic!area!to!which!the! particular!collection!is!referred!in!the!Herabarium;!the!country!and!state!or!province!of!collection;! the!altitude!of!the!locality!of!collection;!the!collector!and!number;!the!date!of!collection;!the!presence! of!flowers!or!fruits;!the!common!name;!if!given;!the!quoted!statement!of!medical!or!physiological! significance.!Ibid.,!284.! 127!Ibid.,!285. 128!Ibid.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 89 show!that!the!studies!done!were!insufficient,!it!would!encourage!further! investigation!by!interested!and!able!parties.129!
The!studies!the!Museum!staff!carried!out!in!the!seventies!on!the!coca!plant! are!insightful!for!determining!their!objectives!as!well.!While!Timothy!Plowman’s! focus!on!Erythroxylon!was!more!taxonomic!and!phytochemical!when!tracing!its! geographical!distribution,!the!interests!of!Andrew!Weil,!Honorary!Research!
Associate!in!Ethnopharmacology,!were!the!therapeutic!properties!of!the!coca!leaf,! which!saw!him!lecturing!in!several!symposia!and!contributing!to!a!book!on!herbal! medicine,!on!the!use!of!botanical!versus!chemical!drugs.!Dr.!Weil!spent!several!years! in!the!field,!investigating!native!systems!of!medicine,!and!was!active!in!preparing! documentary!films!on!the!preparation!and!use!of!ayahuasca,!the!caffeineUcontaining! yoco,!and!coca!in!the!Amazon.!After!the!coca!symposium!in!Quito,!Weil!would! become!president!of!the!Beneficial!Plant!Research!Association,!a!nonUprofit! corporation!aimed!at!investigating!and!promoting!the!use!of!plants!to!improve! human!life.130!Hence,!the!HBM!background!would!give!place!to!Weil’s!successful!and! influential!career!as!alternative!researcher!and!advisor!on!public!health,!and!to!his! muchUcontended!integrative!medicine.131!
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129!Ibid.,!286.! The!results!of!the!study!were!published!as!follows:!! Siri!von!Reis,!Drugs+and+Foods+from+Littlecknown+Plants:+Notes+in+Harvard+University+Herbaria,! (Cambridge:!Harvard!University!Press,!1973).! A!similar!review!was!carried!out!by!the!same!author!at!the!New!York!Botanical!Garden,!see!Siri!von! Reis!and!Frank!J.!Lipp,!New+Plant+Sources+and+Drugs+and+Foods+from+the+New+York+Botanical+Garden+ Herbarium!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University!Press,!1982). 130!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1977!–!1978,!507;!1978!–!1979,!471;!1979!–!1980,! 492. 131!See:!Dr.!Weil!official!website,!www.drweil.com!(accessed!March!5,!2012).!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 90
However,!the!developments!in!the!field!of!mainstream!pharmaceutical! research!accounted!for!uneven!outcomes!regarding!the!appreciation!of!botanical! sources!for!medicine.!In!1994,!British!science!historian!Jordan!Goodman!tried!to! interview!Schultes!on!this!matter.!Goodman!was!at!that!time!involved!in!a!large! project!on!the!history!of!pharmaceutical!research!and!development!in!Europe!and! the!Unites!States!since!the!late!eighteenth!century.!One!of!his!main!goals!was!to! analyze!the!life!cycle!of!different!–!and!often!competing!–!research!processes.!He! therefore!aimed!at!investigating!the!search!for!pharmaceuticals!based!on!alkaloids,! on!synthetic!chemistry!and!biotechnology.!His!research!in!the!archives!of!the! pharmaceutical!company!Burroughs!Wellcome!confirmed!the!existent!tensions! among!the!culture!of!pharmaceutical!knowledge!based!on!synthetic!chemistry.!
Goodman!guessed!that,!if!he!was!not!mistaken,!a!similar!tension!had!emerged! in!Schultes’!fieldwork.!The!powerful!statement!that!Schultes!had!made!in!many!of! his!publications!about!the!role!of!the!ethnobotanist!in!the!discovery!of! pharmacologically!active!substances,!and!their!transformation!into!commercial! products,!impressed!him.!So!he!wanted!to!know!about!Schultes’!view!of!this! relationship!over!the!period!in!which!he!had!so!actively!participated!in!drawing! attention!to!the!“enormous!opportunities!for!tapping!local!knowledge!and! resources.”132!For!some!reason,!Schultes!turned!down!the!meeting,!and!asked!one!of!
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University!of!Arizona,!Arizona!Center!of!Integrative!Medicine,“Founder!&!Program!Director”! http://integrativemedicine.arizona.edu/about/directors/weil!(accessed!March!5,!2012).! 132!Jordan!Goodman!to!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!September!12,!1994,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!II! (Identification!and!Classification!notes),!box!1,!folder!11,!HUHLA.! Although!I!could!not!find!the!reference!directly!related!to!this!request!in!Goodman’s!bibliography,!the! most!similar!book,!according!to!the!context!is:!Goodman,!Jordan,!Vivien!Walsh,!The+Story+of+Taxol:+
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 91 his!colleagues!–!whom!he!believed!knew!more!about!the!topic!or!problem!than!he!–! to!handle!it.!
Actually,!the!HBM!agenda!influenced!broad!developments,!as!seen!in!the!field! of!ethnobotany.!Its!research!goals!encouraged!and!set!the!model!for!studies!in!South!
America!by!local!specialists,!which!became!visible!through!its!networking!activities.!
In!1988,!Carlos!Cerón!Martínez,!an!Ecuadorian!researcher,!responded!to!a!letter! from!Schultes,!saying!that!he!felt!honored!in!receiving!it!and!would!mail!to!him!and!
Dr.!Mark!Plotkin!a!copy!of!his!own!work!on!ethnobotany!of!the!Cofan!of!Dureno,!
Napo!Province,!Ecuador.133!The!main!goals!of!this!study!were!to!contribute!to! knowledge!of!the!flora!of!northeast!Ecuador,!and!to!identify!and!describe!the!use!of! native!plants!by!the!Cofan!ethnic!group!in!the!village!of!Dureno.!The!book!published! as!a!result!of!the!study!included!ecological!information!and!cultural!aspects,!and! more!than!170!drawings!of!plants!as!well.!Cerón!identified!seventyUthree!species! that!had!medicinal!uses,!sixtyUnine!were!used!for!food,!fortyUsix!for!construction,! twentyUfour!for!crafts,!and!others!were!used!as!dyes,!arrow!and!fish!poisons,!etc.!
The!study!was!funded!by!a!grant!from!the!Ecuadorian!Ministry!of!Agriculture!and! the!United!States!Agency!for!International!Development.!
The!HBM!agenda!and!activities!influenced!environmental!management! policies,!especially!in!Colombia.!It!is!not!clear!whether!it!was!an!articulated!goal!or!
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Nature+and+Politics+in+the+Pursuit+of+an+Anticcancer+Drug!(New!York:!Cambridge!University!Press,! 2001). 133!Carlos!Cerón!Martínez!to!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!July!1,!1988,!Collection!R.E.S.,!Series!VII!(Subject! files),!box!4,!folder!3,!HUHLA.! See!Carlos!Eduardo!Cerón!Martínez,!Etnobiología+de+los+cofanes+de+Dureno:+Provincia+de+Sucumbíos,+ Ecuador,!(Quito:!Editorial!Abya!Yala,!Museo!Ecuatoriano!de!Ciencias!Naturales,!1995).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 92 just!an!offshoot!that!was!produced!by!the!way!in!which!this!story!came!to!be.!In! terms!of!Tony!Bennett,!when!he!wrote!about!cultural!governance!in!colonial! contexts,!this!fact!referred!to!the!connections!between!museums,!the!historical! sciences!and!practices!of!governance,!which!in!peripheral!countries!are!to!be!found! in!the!forms!of!administration!for!regulating!the!management!of!people!and! space.134!
The!fact!is!that!Schultes!ended!up!advising!the!Colombian!government!in! several!policies!and!projects!regarding!the!prospection,!management,!and! exploitation!of!the!country’s!territory!and!biodiversity,!which!impinged!on!its! inhabitants!too.!Schultes’!major!involvement!was!related!to!the!Hevea!research.!In!a! report!to!the!Colombian!Ministry!of!Agriculture,!he!outlined!the!situation!of!the! natural!rubber!exploitation!and!the!progress!of!an!experimental!field!station!in!the!
Caribbean!region.135!He!foresaw!the!definite!decline!of!the!tapping!in!the!Amazon! forest,!and!remarked!promising!perspectives!for!plantations!in!agricultural!areas,! based!on!blightUresistant!clones!UU!a!wasted!effort!that!came!to!be!a!rampant! example!of!bureaucratic!idiocy,!by!policyUmakers!in!both!the!U.S.!and!Colombia.!
Schultes!included!his!work!as!consultant!for!the!Colombian!government!as! an!achievement!for!the!HBM!in!its!Annual!Reports.!In!1970!he!was!appointed!to!the!
Committee!for!Development!of!New!Territories,!a!group!dubbed!“Colombia!Año!
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134!Tony!Bennet,!5. 135!Report!to!the!Colombian!Ministry!of!Agriculture,!1958,!Collection!R.E.S,!Series!I!(Correspondence),! box!1,!folder!2,!HUHLA.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 93
2000,”!specifically!for!studying!problems!of!growth!of!the!Amazonian!regions.136!He! directed!the!group!and!attended!its!meetings!over!the!next!few!years.!In!1979,!he! addressed!an!official!meeting!in!Bogotá!devoted!to!“Renewable!Natural!Resources! and!Development!of!the!Amazon,”!speaking!on!the!Amazon!flora!as!a!source!of!new! economic!plants.137!Over!the!years,!Schultes’!voice!was!heard!by!those!at!the!highest! levels!of!the!Colombian!political!establishment,!influencing!decisions!that!still!shape! the!environmental!management!in!this!country.!
On!the!other!hand,!the!model!of!ethnobotanical!bioprospecting!and!its!aim!at! natural!sources!for!medicine!have!come!through!hard!challenges!over!the!last!thirty! years.!The!era!of!Schultes,!who!contently!gathered!plants!and!asked!shamans!about! them!with!few!political!constrains,!is!now!definitively!over.!The!very!same!idea!that! rainforests!should!be!preserved!for!the!sake!of!their!biochemical!wealth!has! resulted!in!a!few!encouraging!developments!and!a!great!deal!of!polarizing! conflict.138!The!global!shift!in!awareness!about!tropical!deforestation!provided!an! opening!for!ethnobotanist!to!insist!on+conservationism.!The!argument!that! bioprospecting!could!help!solve!the!problem!persuaded!a!few!governments!to!forge! alliances!with!transnational!drug!companies.!However,!the!increased!awareness! also!meant!the!parties!involved!made!sure!the!cry!of!“Biopiracy!”!bellowed!from! indigenousUrights!activists!and!critics!of!globalization.!By!the!end!of!the!1990s,! public!discussions!on!the!matter!became!so!toxic!that!Mark!Plotkin!and!others!
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136!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1970+–+1971,!412. 137!Ibid.,!1978!–!1979,!470. 138!Michael!Brown,!“Ethnobotany!blues,”!in!Who+Owns+Native+Culture?!(Cambridge:!Harvard! University!Press,!2003),!143.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 94 expressed!regret!that!they!ever!promoted!commercialization!of!the!forest’s!assets.!
In!less!than!a!decade,!ethnobotany!had!become!for!its!critics!a!simple!instrument!of! theft.139!
The!breakdown!in!the!once!clear!distinction!between!products!of!nature!and! those!of!human!ingenuity,!linked!to!advances!in!molecular!technology,!contributed! to!the!arguments!as!well.!In!the!United!States,!a!1980!decision!of!the!Supreme!Court! was!a!major!turning!point!in!the!economic!trajectory!of!biological!research.!After! this!ruling,!fears!of!privatization!of!genetic!resources!became!real.!Granting!patents! for!plant!varieties!based!on!material!freely!shared!by!farmers!in!other!countries! symbolically!underscores!the!lack!of!reciprocity!in!relations!between!the!people! whose!ancestors!bred!these!plants,!and!the!corporations!now!able!to!claim!them!as! a!monopoly.140!
A!framework!called!the!International!Cooperative!Biodiversity!Groups!
Program!(ICBG),!created!in!1991,!aimed!to!defend!the!rights!of!local!communities!in! their!botanical!heritage,!while!protecting!endangered!environments!and! encouraging!forms!of!drug!exploration!that!would!yield!needed!income!for!the! developing!world.!The!results!of!such!initiative!have!been!uneven!and!its! implementation!contended!by!activists!as!well.!On!the!other!hand,!big! pharmaceutical!companies!are!not!so!eager!to!get!involved!in!bioprospecting!as!is! sometimes!supposed.!The!industry!is!far!more!focused!on!research!methods!that! design!synthetic!drugs!to!meet!molecular!requirements,!but!the!ICBG!program!may! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
139!Ibid.,!100. 140!Ibid.,!101,!102,!108.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 95 still!be!attractive!enough!for!them!to!join!in,!seemingly!because!of!the!low!cost!of! participation,!while!they!still!can!get!some!favorable!publicity.141!
What!is!definite!is!that!developments!in!such!a!polemic!field!are! unpredictable;!national!and!international!regulations!got!increasingly!stringent,!so! the!odds!of!major!breakthroughs!to!happen!are!remote.!In!actual!terms,!biological! research!among!ethnic!communities!is!closed,!as!I!mentioned!regarding!how! despaired!Colombian!scientists!find!themselves!in!the!midst!of!such!a!paralyzing! situation.!Something!that!only!favors!much!less!scrupulous!agents,!actual!biopirates! who!may!not!care!much!about!acting!out!of!the!legal!framework.142!There!is,! however,!a!muchUoverlooked!field!of!action,!which!is!shaded!by!the!allure!given!to! native!people,!but!this!one!is!wide!open.!It!is!comprised!by!traditional!knowledge!to! be!found!in!rural!communities,!farmers!markets!–!even!right!in!the!middle!of!major! cities!UU!makeshift!‘witches’!stalls!in!urban!markets,!town!festivals!in!which!farmers! interchange!seeds,!and!so!on.!Here,!there!is!still!a!space!in!which!institutions! committed!to!research,!education,!and!conservationism!–!museums!among!them!U! have!a!role!to!play!in!a!laissezUfaire!approach!looking!for!the!promotion!of!cultural! and!biodiversity!heritage.!
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141!Ibid.,!109,!110. 142!Meanwhile,!in!the!central!Andes,!there!are!a!few!encouraging!models!of!biodiversity!research!and! management!that!are!based!on!community!initiatives!with!the!support!of!NGOs!and!international! cooperation,!see!for!instance:!Vladimir!Morales!and!Miguel!Chirveches,!Gestión+Sustentable+de+la+ Diversidad+Biocultural,+Estrategias+y+Metodologías+de+Incidencia+Política+para+Vivir+Bien,!(La!Paz,! Bolivia:!AgrucoUBioAndes,!Plural!Editores,!2010).! For!a!summary!of!the!international!framework!for!the!conservation!and!sustainable!use!of!plants,! see:!María!Ripa!de!Marconi,!“Marco!Legal!Internacional!para!la!Conservación!y!Uso!Sostenible!de! Plantas,”!in!Mónica!Moraes!(et.!al.),!Botánica+Económica+de+los+Andes+Centrales,!(La!Paz,!Bolivia:! Herbario!Nacional!de!Bolivia,!Universidad!Mayor!de!San!Andrés,!2006).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 96 c)'Representation'resulting'from'the'collection' ! It!is!hard!to!assert!how!public!exhibits!looked!like!when!they!have!been! dismantled,!as!it!happened!with!those!at!the!HBM.!A!few!years!before!its!closure,!the!
Museum!had!two!rooms!that!housed!extensive!exhibits!of!economic!plant!products,! and!an!entrance!hall!presented!displays!of!–!by!then!U!ongoing!Museum!research!on! the!origin!of!maize,!on!archaeoethnobotany!and!on!narcotic!and!hallucinogenic! plants!of!the!Americas.!These!widely!acclaimed!exhibits!were!dismantled!due!to!the! reshuffling!of!space!and!its!loss!to!the!Museum.143!
Hence,!any!assertion!about!how!native!knowledge!was!displayed!has!to!rely! mainly!upon!the!representation!that!comes!out!of!the!teaching!exhibits,!on!the!little! that!is!known!about!the!dismantled!ones,!and!on!the!broad!image!afforded!by!the! public!activities!of!the!Museum!staff.!It!is!almost!the!same!as!outlining!the! interpretive!narrative!that!drew!on!the!economic!botany!collection.!
The!resulting!image!of!Indian!people!is!shaped!by!a!rather!romantic!and! patronizing!view.!Their!representation!showed!them!perfectly!fitted!to!their! environment,!thanks!to!their!reliance!upon!plants!to!afford!every!necessity!of!life.!
Curiosity!for!their!exotic!–!in!terms!of!Western!viewpoint!U!use!of!hallucinogens!was! mediated!by!contextualizing!strategies,!which!tried!to!introduce!their!significance!in!
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143!Schultes,!“The!Botanical!Museum!of!Harvard!University!in!its!125th!Year,”!4.! There!is!a!diorama!that!belonged!to!the!HBM!in!the!Peabody!Museum!of!Archaeology!and!Ethnology.! It!depicts!the!Niman!(Going!Home)!Ceremony!at!the!Hopi!village!of!Waipi.!Piles!of!cornstalks!are!for! distribution!to!members!of!the!audience!after!the!dance.!The!diorama!went!to!the!Peabody!as!a!gift!of! the!Botanical!Museum!in!1979!(979U12U10/58792).
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 97 traditional!settings!where!psychoactive!plants!and!preparations!were!used!under! the!guidance!of!trained!practitioners.144!
Nevertheless,!it!was!a!representation!intended!to!show!the!sophistication!of! otherwise!preUliterate!people,!from!whom!it!was!worth!learning.!And!that!learning! was!to!be!turned!into!useful!applications!for!mainstream!society,!which!would!have! to!find!the!purpose!for!them!in!its!own!terms!and!context.
!
Figure+12.+Diorama+of+the+Niman+ceremony+at+a+Hopi+village.+Peabody+Museum+of+Harvard+University,+ 2012.+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
144!For!instance,!through!the!exhibition!“Transcultural!Significance!of!‘Magic!Plants,’”!an!exhibit! arranged!by!the!Committee!on!Transcultural!Psychiatry!of!the!American!Psychiatric!Association,! loaned!by!the!HBM.!Brochure!prepared!by!Max!Rinkel!and!Richard!E.!Schultes.,!Cambridge,!1965.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 98
The!thorough!approach!to!teaching!in!the!Nash!Lecture!Hall!demonstrates! that!knowledge!of!Indian!people!was!taken!seriously.!Yet!it!was!an!image!that!only! became!apprehensible!once!it!had!gotten!translated!into!the!Western!system!of! thought.!Diversity!of!Indian!identities,!as!opposed!to!the!usually!homogenizing!view! of!them,!was!conveyed!through!their!different!relations!with!the!plant!kingdom.!If! there!was!something!to!underscore,!it!was!that!native!people!had!to!deal!with!the! same!challenges!as!us;!it!is!just!that!they!found!their!own!way!to!cope!with!them! according!to!the!resources!they!had!at!hand.!The!popularization!of!the!Indian!usage! of!their!environment!was!a!result!of!this.!!
Actually,!there!is!an!appealing!example!of!this!increasing!awareness!from! mainstream!society.!In!1982,!an!ad!in!The+New+Yorker!beckon!joining!the!M.S.!
Lindblad!Explorer,!a!tourist!vessel,!on!“an!incredible!journey!to!Amazonia!(in! which)!the!world’s!most!adventurous!ship!returns!to!the!earth’s!most!dazzling! river.”145!The!Amazon!was!advertised!as!a!wonderland!instant!of!drawing!upon! staggering!statistics!of!wildlife,!but!one!so!fragile!it!could!die!in!a!single!generation.!
One!of!the!lecturers!and!naturalists!to!be!onboard:!Dr.!Richard!Evans!Schultes,! named!together!with!his!authoritative!position.!
Another!side!activity!of!Schultes!was!his!appointment!as!Honorary!Advisor!in!
Ethnobotany!on!the!staff!of!the!Museo!del!Oro!in!Bogotá!in!1974.!This!involvement!
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145!The+New+Yorker,!“Jungle!Botanist,”!63.
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 99 helped!in!shaping!the!understanding!of!part!of!the!archaeological!collection!under! the!interpretative!framework!of!the!HBM!focus.146!
Altogether,!the!representation!resulting!from!the!collection!allows!for!a! diverse!range!of!interpretations!through!the!scope!of!choices!the!HBM!offered,! depending!on!how!the!public/student!fulfilled!his!or!her!learning!expectations! regarding!the!usefulness!of!native!knowledge!UU!that!is,!on!the!relevance!this! knowledge!made!sense!for!them.!
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146!Schultes,!Report+of+the+President+of+Harvard:!1973+–+1974,!504.! See!also!Richard!Evans!Schultes,!“Ancient!Gold!Pectorals!from!Colombia:!Mushroom!Effigies?”! Botanical!Museum!Leaflets!27,!no.!5U6!(May!1980):!113!–!141.! http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7466723!(accessed!February!16,!2012).!
!
Figure+13.+Advertisment+of+the+Lindblad+Explorer+featuring+Dr.+Schultes+as+a+lecturer+in+its+trip+to+the+ Amazon.+Source:+The!New!Yorker,+August+9,+1982.
CONCLUSION' ! During!this!thesis,!I!outlined!the!most!important!aspects!of!the!case!study!in! its!changing!contexts!over!time.!I!underlined!the!role!of!staff!members!in!leading!an! institutional!identity,!which!they!exercised!through!the!Museum!resources!and! activities.!In!the!first!chapter,!the!context!of!colonial!bioprospecting!and!botanical! collections!opened!the!discussion!over!the!legacy!of!the!Western!stance!towards! peripheries,!which!had!an!outlet!in!natural!history!museums,!as!memory! accumulators!intended!to!influence!the!social!field!through!the!accessioning!of!the! natural!kingdom.!
The!particular!rank!of!herbaria!specimens!as!museum!collections!led!to! contextualizing!the!scope!of!terms!such!as!ethnobotany!and!the!geographical!area.!
The!relations!between!natural!specimens,!artifacts,!and!plant!products! demonstrated!the!complexities!of!this!collection!for!the!museum!field.!ObjectUbased! teaching!and!scholarship!became!a!functional!activity!in!which!traditional!wisdom! of!native!peoples!was!translated!into!knowledge!to!the!science!field.!
The!historical!background!of!the!case!study!ascertained!its!roots!in!the! nineteenthUcentury!discussion!about!the!role!of!natural!history!collections!and! museums.!It!also!was!useful!in!understanding!the!developments!that!the!HBM!has! faced!since!the!midUtwentieth!century:!changes,!contributions,!and!challenges!that! accounted!for!an!exciting!time!in!science!history!that!would!have!a!deep!impact!for! the!mainstream!society.!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 102
The!goals!of!this!pursuit,!and!the!framework!that!allowed!the!collection!of! knowledge!altogether!with!plants,!were!substantial!for!understanding!how!a!wide! range!of!Museum!activities!contributed!to!the!public!field.!I!also!traced!the!specific! movements!and!surrounding!circumstances!that!led!to!the!decline!of!the!HBM!as!it! was.!While!I!may!have!been!quite!selfUindulgent!in!pointing!out!the!reasons!behind! its!closure,!I!could!not!end!without!voicing!encouraging!signals!showing!the! developments!that!such!a!rich!collection!and!institutional!legacy!may!still!yield.!
In!particular,!I!want!to!point!out!the!discussion!of!objectUbased!scholarship! and!the!increasingly!blurring!boundaries!among!Harvard’s!museums,!which!might! be!worth!the!pain!of!the!strategy!that!led!to!the!consolidation!of!its!diverse!natural! history!collections.!Although!the!plans!so!far!only!include!the!Harvard!University!Art!
Museums!and!the!Peabody!Museum,!the!remarks!of!the!current!discussion!are! enticing.!The!staff!involved!in!the!future!development!of!these!museums!in!a! projected!new!campus,!which!they!will!share,!recognizes!the!place!of!their! neighboring!and!sister!institutions!–!the!HMNH!among!them!UU!in!their!transU disciplinary!goals.!They!are!also!aware!of!the!implications!of!their!discussion!for!the! development!of!museums!as!sites!of!scholarship!more!generally.!According!to!them,! no!museum!can!fulfill!its!many!functions!and!serve!its!various!constituencies! without!being!an!independent!site!of!scholarship.!While!many!boards!of!trustees! behave!as!though!this!were!not!the!case,!intellectual!inquiry!underlies!and!sustains! anything!else!these!institutions!do!or!might!ever!do!that!could!be!of!worth.!Not!to! recognize!this!within!research!universities!with!constituent!museums,!is!to! acquiesce!in!intellectual!impoverishment,!by!diminishing!what!ought!to!be!among!
Understanding Plants and Traditional Wisdom 103 their!most!significant!engines!of!research,!instruction,!and!inspiration.147!The! history!and!legacy!of!the!Harvard!Botanical!Museum!is!a!vivid!reminder.!
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147!Ivan!Gaskell!and!Jeffrey!Quilter,!“Editorial”!in!“Museums:!Crossing!Boundaries,”!special!issue,!RES:+ Anthropology+and+Aesthetics,!no.!52,!(Autumn!2007),!6.!http://www.jstor.org/stable/20167733! (accessed!January!17!2012)! This!special!issue!of!RES!came!out!as!a!result!of!the!conference!“Crossing!Boudaries:!Art!and! Anthropology!Museums!in!Search!of!Common!Ground,”!conceived!by!the!World!Visuality!Committee! of!the!Harvard!University!Art!Museums!and!organized!by!it!and!the!Peabody!Museum,!in!April!2006.! See!also!in!the!same!issue:! Henry!S.!Kim,!“Crossing!Cultures:!Redefining!a!University!Museum,”!44!–!50.! William!Fash,!Barbara!Fash,!“Boundaries!Crossed!at!the!Peabody!Museum:!The!Interplay!of! Anthropology,!Art,!and!Textual!Studies,”!28!–!36.! Thomas!W.!Lentz,!“The!Common!Path:!Possible!Futures!for!Art!and!Anthropology!Museums,”!20!–!27.
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