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| Centre de Recerca i Difusió de la Història de la Botànica | |
|---|---|
| Name | Centre de Recerca i Difusió de la Història de la Botànica |
| Established | 20th century |
| Location | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain |
| Type | Research centre |
Centre de Recerca i Difusió de la Història de la Botànica is a Barcelona-based research centre devoted to the study and promotion of the history of botany, historical herbaria, and botanical iconography. The centre situates its work at the intersection of archival studies, museum curation, and bibliographical scholarship, engaging with national institutions and international networks to preserve botanical legacies. It functions as a hub for historians, curators, librarians, and conservators associated with botanical collections across Europe and Latin America.
The centre emerged from postwar initiatives in Catalonia that linked the archives of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, the botanical holdings of the Universitat de Barcelona, and collections from the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, drawing upon earlier networks established by figures associated with the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Its institutional genealogy invokes precedents such as the cataloguing programmes of the Herbarium of Linnaeus and the bibliographical methods promoted by scholars connected to the Bodleian Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Over successive decades the centre coordinated recovery projects after events echoing the archival losses faced by the Spanish Civil War and partnered with repositories influenced by the conservation standards of the International Council of Museums and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
The centre's mission aligns with preservation agendas championed by the Unesco and the curatorial priorities of the Smithsonian Institution, emphasizing documentation of botanical exploration from expeditions led by individuals like Alexander von Humboldt, José Celestino Mutis, and Alexander von Bunge. Activities include cataloguing historic botanical illustrations comparable to those produced by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, documenting correspondences akin to the letters of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Dalton Hooker, and establishing standards paralleling those of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The centre organizes symposia referencing intellectual lineages that involve the Royal Society, the Academia dei Lincei, and the Real Academia Española.
Holdings incorporate specimen sheets, botanical plates, and manuscripts comparable in scope to collections housed at the Natural History Museum, London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Herbarium, and the Herbarium Berolinense. Archives include correspondence networks resembling exchanges among Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Joseph Banks, as well as travel diaries in the tradition of James Cook and Alexander von Humboldt. Iconographic series feature prints by artists following the tradition of Maria Sibylla Merian, Georg Dionysius Ehret, and Basilius Besler. Rare books collections draw parallels to holdings at the British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
Research themes mirror historiographies produced by scholars associated with institutions such as the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, and the New York Botanical Garden. Publications include catalogues raisonnés, critical editions of expedition journals in the vein of James Cook's journals, monographs on herbariums inspired by studies of the Hooker Herbarium, and peer-reviewed articles published alongside periodicals like the Journal of the History of Biology and journals from the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. The centre has produced facsimiles and annotated translations comparable to editions of Mutis's Flora de la Real Expedición Botánica and critical bibliographies modeled after works in the BHL corpus.
Education programmes emulate outreach strategies of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden, offering workshops for conservators trained in protocols developed by the International Council on Archives and curators collaborating with the European Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Group. Public exhibitions reference exhibitionry practiced at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, while guided tours and lectures connect historical narratives to collections stewardship traditions seen at the Oxford Botanic Garden and the Harvard University Herbaria.
Collaborative networks include partnerships with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Museu Marítim de Barcelona, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, and international partners such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the New York Botanical Garden, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The centre engages in joint projects with digital initiatives like the Biodiversity Heritage Library, research programmes linked to the European Research Council, and conservation campaigns coordinated with NGOs in dialogue with the World Monuments Fund and the IUCN.
Category:Research institutes in Catalonia Category:Botanical history