History

From the very beginning there was widespread support from the bonsai community for the 1976 Bicentennial gift of bonsai from the people of Japan to the citizens of the United States. In 1972 the American Bonsai Society, a national organization, and Bonsai Clubs International, a world-wide organization, endorsed the project. Once the trees arrived the Potomac Bonsai Association, an umbrella organization for bonsai clubs in the Washington D.C. area, provided volunteers to work with the staff of the U.S. National Arboretum to keep the trees in outstanding display condition. Some of these helpers -- notably Ruth Lamanna, Janet Lanman and David Garvin -- later played significant roles in the development of both the Museum and the National Bonsai Foundation (NBF).

In 1979, Janet Lanman discussed with Dr. John Creech, Director of the Arboretum the possibility of acquiring American bonsai for the Museum. Shortly thereafter Dr. Creech pursued this idea in a proposal to Marion Gyllenswan, a well known bonsai teacher. He called for an independent body of bonsai authorities to review private bonsai collections of distinction and to develop a plan for their preservation, possibly as part of a national collection.

Acting on this suggestion, a group of Arboretum volunteers and students of Bonsai Master Yuji Yoshimura organized the National Bonsai Committee. Members of this committee included Marion Gyllenswan, Janet Lanman, Felix Laughlin, Muriel Leeds, Chase Rosade and Jerold Stowell, all of whom would later play prominent roles in supporting the Museum.

In 1982, the National Bonsai Committee was incorporated as the National Bonsai Foundation, a non-profit section 501 (c) (3) organization whose mission is to support the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum. NBF recruited directors from all sections of the country, and the first Board included Marybel Balendonck, Larry Ragle and Melba Tucker from California, Frederic Ballard from Pennsylvania and H. William Merritt of Maryland. MaryAnn Orlando served as the Executive Director and principal fund raiser for NBF.

In 1986, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Japanese Bicentennial gift, NBF marked the event with a Gala Celebration and set the agenda for the future: to build an American Bonsai Pavilion to display a collection of North American Bonsai and to complement the Japanese Pavilion so that the similarities and differences in this ever-evolving art form could be studied and enjoyed.

The dream envisioned in the Gala Celebration program became a reality in 1990. As part of the ongoing collaboration between the Arboretum and NBF a new section of the Museum was dedicated on October 1 of that year in honor of two American Bonsai Masters. The Yuji Yoshimura Educational Center is a classroom and work space area, and the John Y. Naka North American Pavilion provides the display area for the North American bonsai collection.