The cornerstone of Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure will be a scholarly exhibition of stunning botanical prints and Charles Darwin's original writings, field notebooks, and plant collections. This exhibition of 62 rare books and objects will be displayed in the William D. Rondina and Giovanni Foroni LoFaro Gallery of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. It will reveal how Darwin came to be an evolutionary botanist and will show how his interest in plants integrated with his most fundamental contribution to science: a comprehensive view of life.
The Mertz Library exhibition will explore Darwin's interest in plants through biographic and thematic approaches. Illustrated books, manuscripts, and other published materials from the Mertz Library's extensive collection of Darwiniana will form the greater part of the exhibition, with additional materials on loan from the collections of private individuals and institutions such as the Cambridge Herbarium, Cambridge University Library, Down House, the archives and library of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, and the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Scholarly Catalog and Guided Tours
The Botanical Garden is publishing an illustrated catalog of the exhibition's contents, including a checklist of all items in the show, as a guide for visitors and as an enduring reference.
Guided tours of the exhibition will also be scheduled periodically during the exhibition. The schedule of tours will be available via the Botanical Garden's Web site at www.nybg.org

Major Sponsors
National Endowment for the Humanities:
great ideas brought to life.

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Davidson

Additional support has been provided by:
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Nolen
Ms. Weslie R. Janeway
Mr. and Mrs. Coleman P. Burke
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Cullman
The Kurt Berliner Foundation
New York Council for the Humanities

Exhibitions in the Mertz Library are made possible by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, William D. Rondina and The Carlisle Collection, and The Kurt Berliner Foundation.