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Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt's botanical collections of books, art, manuscripts, and portraits are known for their depth and fine quality, reflecting her enthusiasm and expertise in plants, gardens, books, and history. She was determined that her collections be "living" resources—not only preserved but also curated actively and used productively in the service of science and scholarship. To those ends, we continue to develop and enhance the collections at Hunt Institute, working to make them accessible and to preserve them for the future. We have an international audience and a small but growing group of interested donors. You can help to strengthen our collections and programs through material and/or monetary gifts.
Donor Recognition
We gratefully recognize donations in a variety of ways, such as with a letter of thanks, mention in our Bulletin and on our Web site, and through the use of donor bookplates. Of course, donors who wish to remain anonymous could be listed as such or may decline any official mention.
Material Gifts
We primarily collect rare botanical books, scholarly studies on the history of botany, modern floras from around the world, and selected systematic and taxonomic monographs. Relevant publications about the history of botany include works on bibliography, biography, botanical art and illustration, plant exploration, botanical gardens and herbaria, other scientific institutions, etc. We are interested in such material regardless of the language in which it is written. We also collect reference works and facsimiles of older works (such as medieval and Renaissance herbals, florilegia, early works on classification or systematics, and accounts of voyages of exploration). Having facsimiles available for use allows us to expand our coverage and, in cases where we already have the original works, minimizes wear on the originals.
We also collect very selectively in the areas of medical botany, economic botany, horticulture, ecology, agriculture, landscape architecture, and a number of other plant-related topics. Although not our primary collecting interests, these topics are represented in our holdings and consulted by users of our Library. Older works, facsimiles of older works, and retrospective historical studies in these subjects are all good candidates for possible inclusion in our Library, and new reference works in these areas are also considered.
Some of the items we would like to acquire are costly due to their age, production quality, significance, or scarcity. If you are considering a specific gift, please describe it to us before sending it so that we can consider it for inclusion in our collection. Please note that we are unable to accept books that have been damaged by mold or mildew.
Donor Arrangements
Material not suitable for the collections will be returned promptly to the donor, or the donor can choose for the Institute to sell the items to raise funds, offer them to another library or (for published materials) advertise them in the Institute's duplicate sales.
We are happy to provide a letter of acknowledgment and a list of the material received, along with short descriptions if needed, but we are not permitted by the IRS, nor are we sufficiently knowledgeable, to make appraisals on items donated to us. If you have retained the purchase receipts connected with your gift(s), these might serve your tax purposes in lieu of an appraisal.
Monetary Gifts
Monetary donations to Hunt Institute are tax deductible. Monetary gifts may be applied to our general operating fund or to the endowment generously established by the Roy A. Hunt Foundation to provide ongoing support for Hunt Institute. In addition to building the collections, gifts can be used for archival storage supplies, conservation and repair of collection material, digitizing and databasing projects, and production of publications. If you would like to expedite a current project or enable us to begin one, please let us know. Special project support is always welcome.
If you prefer to specify how your donation is applied, consider these possibilities.
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Contribute funds for regular Library acquisitions or underwrite something special from our wish list of more expensive works, some of which are out of print. Examples include Siebold’s Florilegium of Japanese Plants, edited by Y. Kimura and V. I. Grubov (£6,400.00); A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland, by James Edward Smith (deluxe facsimile, $1,150 AUD); or The Flora Graeca Story, by H. Walter Lack and David J. Mabberley ($581.00).
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Provide a custom-made book box ($35–$200); sponsor the rebinding of a book ($25–$100); contribute toward the restoration of a rare book ($500–$2,500).
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Contribute to digitization and database projects, where your gift might be used for equipment, software, technical consultants, or additional project staff to do photography, scanning, indexing, data input, transcription, or translation, making information from our collections more widely accessible.
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We would also welcome gifts designated for strengthening a particular area of the Library collection within our collecting scope.
Ronald L. Stuckey Endowment for the Preservation of Botanical History
In 2003 Dr. Ronald L. Stuckey, professor emeritus of botany at The Ohio State University, established the Ronald L. Stuckey Endowment for the Preservation of Botanical History at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. This fund will help us to acquire and preserve photographs, biographical sketches, and obituaries of botanists, as well as books on botanical history and bibliography. We are grateful for Dr. Stuckey’s long-time interest in Hunt Institute, its collections and its mission. We welcome additional contributions to this fund from others who share our commitment to the preservation of botanical history.
Memorial Gifts
Memorial gifts are also welcome. For example, books purchased through your contribution can be marked with a donor bookplate upon request, acknowledging your gift in memory of or on behalf of someone.
Other Types of Contributions
There are other ways that you can help. Take our biographical record forms to distribute at scientific or botanical art meetings and help swell our biographical files. If you see botanical biographies and obituaries, drop a note to our Archivist about them. Send us notices about botanists that appear in newspapers, magazines and other regional or non-botanical publications. If you know of a group that will be meeting in or visiting Pittsburgh, suggest that they contact us about a group visit to Hunt Institute.
Please don't hesitate to confer with us about any proposed gift, including its use and acknowledgment. We appreciate your involvement, and we thank you for your interest.
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