Biographical Portrait CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT
(‒)
BY KAREN HOVDE
his return to Boston in and his mar- and financial negotiations which preceded riage to Mary Ellen Robeson in . They the first permanent plantings in were subsequently raised a family of two sons numerous, but Sargent’s commitment and and three daughters. perseverance brought the Arboretum to It does not seem to be either a simple the attention of a public that had a grow- lack of information or a pervasive and per- ing interest in trees. Through his efforts, sistent personal reticence on Sargent’s part the Arnold Arboretum collected, propa- that leaves one with very little sense of his gated, and studied all the trees and woody early primary interests and direction. plants that could be grown outdoors in Intellectual matters had not sparked him, Boston, no matter where they originated. although his college years had been On a larger scale, the early s saw marked by the advent of Charles Darwin’s Sargent’s appointment as coordinator of The Origin of Species. Nor had the experi- a census investigation of U.S. forests for ences of war moved him, nor an extended period under the stimulus of foreign travel. A true product of his time and place, Charles Sargent was concerned with order,
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM (ACC. #11056) particularly as it was represented in the nat- Charles Sprague Sargent, circa . ural world. When he returned to Boston in , he came home to take on the man- harles Sprague Sargent, arboricultur- agement of the family estate (Holm Lea) Calist and dendrologist, was born to and especially the feature thereof to which Henrietta (Gray) and Ignatius Sargent, the he was most drawn—its trees. youngest of three children. In an era when Estate horticulture was at this time a family position largely determined one’s pursuit of wealthy individuals who had place and success in the social order, Charles both the resources and the leisure to trans- Sargent arrived in the world with impecca- form large areas of land into competitive ble credentials. His father was a wealthy showcases. Sargent’s neighbors in Brook-
Boston merchant and banker, and the fam- line were to serve as powerful mentors in PHOTO ARCH. OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM (ACC. #10802). TABER. PHOTO BY I. W. ily was counted among Boston’s elite. his chosen endeavor, providing him with Portrait of C.S. Sargent, Francis Skinner There is scant information about the network of contacts that he used both and George Engelmann taken at a studio in Sargent’s childhood years. He grew up on to initiate and sustain his career. Monterey, California during their trip in the the family estate in Brookline, acres of In Charles Sargent was appointed summer of to examine trees and forests carefully planted parkland and gardens as Curator and subsequently, Director, of of the American West for the Tenth Census that were actively planned and tended by Harvard’s newly endowed Arnold of the United States. Engelmann was an his father. He attended private schools, Arboretum. He was also named Director active physician as well as botanist, and he and entered Harvard College in . He of the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, rarely had the opportunity to leave Saint graduated four years later with an undis- being initially hired into these positions to Louis to work in the field. Nonetheless, tinguished record in classical studies. The reduce the workload of the celebrated Sargent found him an excellent traveling Civil War claimed his next three years. He American botanist Asa Gray. Sargent gave companion. Skinner was a Brookline neigh- served as an infantry officer for the North, up the directorship of the Garden in , bor who volunteered his assistance to the and was honorably discharged in . in order to devote his full energies to the Arboretum on several projects. The branch Three years of European travel preceded Arboretum. The administrative, political, held by Sargent is Pinus radiata.
38 FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING 2002 resources, Sargent was discouraged by the information, brought forestry issues for the political battles and often inauspicious out- first time into the public domain. His work comes of the legislative process. After a bridged the gap between the scientific the- final, disappointing engagement in a ories of botany and the practical knowl- Congressional Commission under Presi- edge of the gardener, and was instrumental dent Cleveland to set aside additional for- in establishing a critical initial assessment est reserves, Sargent retired from the of America’s forest resources. ■ political fray in , and returned his main attentions to the Arboretum. Fortunately, the negative conservation Karen Hovde is General Reference Librarian at
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM (ACC. #9123) experience had in no way blunted Founders Memorial Library and Associate Sargent in the Library at the Arnold Sargent’s enthusiastic and successful Professor at Northern Illinois University, Arboretum examining Quercus herbarium botanical investigations. His studies DeKalb, Illinois. specimens. Photo taken by T.E. Marr in . resulted in the volumes of The Silva of North America, (‒), Forest Flora of REFERENCES the Department of Agriculture’s new Japan, (), Manual of the Trees of North Division of Forestry. These investigations America (), and production of the Dictionary of American Biography. . “Sargent, Charles Sprague” in Malone, Dumas, ed. New produced the Report on the Forests of weekly magazine Garden and Forest York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Vol. VIII: ‒. North America. This, Sargent’s first major (‒), which served to popularize publication, was well received, and pro- forestry issues in the United States. Charles Sargent, Charles Sprague. . Manual of the vided not only a comprehensive, descrip- Sargent continued in his scholarly pursuits Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico). tive botanical reference, but also a much and in active direction of the Arboretum Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. needed authoritative baseline from which until the month of his death in . Sutton, S. B. . Charles Sprague Sargent and the conservationists and legislators could pro- Strictly speaking, Charles Sargent’s Arnold Arboretum. Cambridge, Massachusetts: duce recommendations. greatest contribution in the service of his Harvard University Press. Other surveys in which Sargent took beloved trees was neither as a conserva- part were the Northern Pacific Transcon- tionist nor as a botanist; but as a dendrolo- Thomas, Phillip D. . Charles Sprague ‒ tinental Survey of Northwest forests, and gist. His many detailed, descriptive Sargent ( ). In Richard C. Davis, ed. Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation another of Adirondack forestland for New publications, and his successful manage- History. New York: MacMillan Publishing York State. While strongly aware of the ment of the Arnold Arboretum as a nat- Company. Original manuscript by the Forest need to secure federal protection for forest ural platform for the public presentation of History Society.
Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot, edited by Harold K. Steen
From 1889, when he was 24, until 1946, the year of his death, conservationist Gifford Pinchot kept a diary in which he recorded details of his daily activities and encounters. What Pinchot and others were able to accomplish was quite extraor- dinary, and his diaries offer a unique window into the conservation movement as it evolved.
Diary entries are organized into topical sections, with a narrative introduction by the editor that offers important context and background for each section. Thus readers will be familiar with the individuals described and can fully appreciate the historical significance of entries on topics including Forest Service policies, Pinchot’s dispute with Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger, his relationship with President Teddy Roosevelt and his leadership of the National Conservation Association.
Hardback copies are $29.00 and softcover $19.00 plus $4.00 shipping and
The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot handling. FHS members do not pay S&H. Send checks made payable to the Forest Edited by Harold K. Steen History Society, 701 Vickers Ave., Durham, NC 27701. Call 919-682-9319 for credit 250 pages, illustrations, index card orders and for discounts on ten or more copies. Also available from Island published 2001 Press at www.islandpress.org.
FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING 2002 39