Website records, 1995-2008.

The Arnold Arboretum first launched its website in April 1996. The site used the same domain name as it uses in 2011 (arboretum.harvard.edu) and had information on living collections, library/archives, membership, public programs, and visitor information. Chris Strand (1993-1998), the Outreach Horticulturalist, was involved a great deal in the creation of the site. Although the internet was only beginning to be popular, the Arboretum felt that it was important to take advantage of this new medium for information. The website has undergone several design and content revisions since that time, most of which took place under the aegis of Sheryl Barnes, (2000-2007). Sheryl joined as Web Project Manager for the Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies, but orchestrated many other projects like the Arboretum website redesigns and the digitization of Arnoldia. Notable projects are 2000’s redesign by Aries New Media and 2007’s by iFactory. The site has added many other features for users and patrons, ranging from online publications to staff profiles to improved plant lists and maps. The website has been and continues to be a powerful tool for supporting the Arboretum’s mission of distributing botanical information to the Harvard community and beyond. Donna Tremonte is the current webmaster (2011).

The Arboretum has also had a part in other web-based projects, including Harvard’s Library Digital Initiative, the Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies website, and the digitization of Arnoldia. The Arboretum joined the LDI program in 1999, when it received a grant to digitize and make available some East Asian materials. The Joseph C. Rock collection on Western China and Tibet was chosen to be put online. More ast Asian materials were examined as well. This project was a joint effort between Arboretum library staff and staff at the Harvard University Herbaria. The Arboretum has strong ties with East Asia; many plants from East Asia are similar to those in the Northeastern United States. This can have productive results for protecting against disease, for example. Early Arboretum contributors such as Joseph C. Rock were also very interested in East Asian plants, bringing back many samples to the Arboretum from their travels.

The Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies was founded to create a community to understand and manage cultural landscapes. Cultural landscapes are unique because they have history attached to them. The Arboretum is a clear example of a cultural landscape. The ICLS wanted to spread knowledge and educate people about the specific challenges of cultural landscapes, which require consideration of historic preservation, natural conservation, and land use planning. The ICLS was integrated into the Arboretum’s education department in July 2002.

Arnoldia is the quarterly magazine of the Arnold Arboretum. It was previously published as The Bulletin of Popular Information, but changed its name in 1940. It contains articles about current happenings at the Arboretum, botany, landscape design, and other plant science. All back issues of the magazine, in both iterations, were digitized in 2004-2005. All subsequent issues are now made available online immediately. The collection is searchable and can also be browsed by date, author, or title. This makes the magazine available to the general public, greatly increasing its circulation.