{"id":918,"date":"2014-02-24T13:45:35","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T18:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/science-talk\/?p=918"},"modified":"2014-02-24T13:50:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T18:50:08","slug":"rusbys-economic-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Rusby’s Economic Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Weiss<\/a> is a curatorial assistant in The New York Botanical Garden\u2019s William and Lynda Steere Herbarium<\/a>, where she catalogues and preserves plant specimens from around the world.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Collection<\/a>
Collection 1295, indigo dye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As one of the first scientists\u00a0to be associated with\u00a0The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>, Henry Hurd Rusby\u00a0started the botanical garden’s\u00a0long history of research in economic botany, the study of how\u00a0people\u00a0use\u00a0plants. Appointed Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections in 1898 (a position\u00a0for which he volunteered and which he held until his death), Rusby acquired useful plants and plant-derived products through donation, exchange, and field excursions for the garden\u2019s Economic Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These specimens were arranged first by use, then by phylogeny (their evolutionary relationships), and were put on display at the turn of the 20th century on the main floor of the newly built museum building, which is now called the Library Building. The collection occupied\u00a0more than\u00a0200 glass cases. Rusby placed great emphasis on ensuring that each item\u00a0in the museum have the correct origin and scientific name. That’s\u00a0standard practice today, but at the time many specimens lacked these important pieces of information.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Museum<\/a>
One aisle of Rusby’s Economic Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rusby died\u00a0in 1940, and as\u00a0research into the classification\u00a0and description of plant species grew in importance, the museum was eventually dismantled to make room for the growing herbarium, the garden’s scientific collection of dried plant specimens.<\/p>\n

\"Herbarium<\/a>
Herbarium specimen of Indigofera suffruticosa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a seldom used area of the William and Lynda Steere herbarium, one can still view Rusby\u2019s economic museum, no longer in fancy display cases but no less impressive. Wandering the aisles, my eyes were drawn to a jar that appeared to be full of melted lumps of blue crayon. The label identified it as number 1295, a collection of indigo dye produced from Indigofera anil<\/em>, a plant species in the Fabaceae, or bean family. This species is currently recognized as Indigofera<\/em> suffruticosa, <\/em>which is native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, but it has been introduced around the world. This particular collection was manufactured from cultivated plants grown in the region of Bengal. Indigo dye has been used extensively by cultures throughout history<\/a>, but most people today know it as the color of denim jeans. Despite its natural origin, nearly all indigo dye is now made synthetically.<\/p>\n

For further reading about H. H. Rusby and his impact on the NYBG, visit this article on SpringerLink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little-known collection at the NYBG details a rich history of economic flora.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[159,266,267,265],"yoast_head":"\nRusby's Economic Museum - Science Talk Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rusby's Economic Museum - Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A little-known collection at the NYBG details a rich history of economic flora.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-24T18:45:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-24T18:50:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/awstest.nybg.info\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Indigofera-211x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Weiss\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Science Talk Archive\",\"description\":\"Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Indigofera-211x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Indigofera-211x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/rusbys-economic-museum\/\",\"name\":\"Rusby's Economic Museum - 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