Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

Ancient medicinal traditions of China, India, Egypt and Greece held that herbs contained virtuous properties that could alleviate any health imbalance. Herbs were used not only for medicinal purposes but also to flavor and preserve food, to scent and protect household environments and to dye or stain the skin and textiles. Records of superstitions and more provable usage in manuscript form were copied or translated into various languages and transmitted to many cultures. With the invention of moveable type in the mid-15th century, information became more readily available. Even though the copying of earlier texts persisted, the 15th and 16th centuries brought new ideas about the use of herbs. They were cultivated in monastery and physic gardens for use and study, and later apothecaries became dispensaries of simples (or combinations of herbs) to treat particular ailments. Through voyages of exploration and the establishment of trade routes, exotic herbs and spices became available throughout many parts of the world, and luxuries were no longer restricted to royalty or the wealthiest classes. Kitchen gardens provided households with the herbs necessary for everyday needs. Herbs began to be acknowledged for their nonessential and pleasurable uses as early as the 13th century and proliferated in the 16th century. Pleasure gardens were established for their beauty—emphasizing color, scent and texture—and elaborately designed knot gardens and labyrinths became popular public attractions. Herbs were used for perfumes and nosegays and as symbols in poetry and prose. Interest in the use of herbs has waxed and waned in modern times, but in recent decades there is recognition of the importance of the role these plants play in all aspects of our lives. As the naturalist Henry Beston aptly noted in his 1935 Herbs and the Earth, "A garden of herbs gives more months of garden pleasure and more kinds of pleasure than any other. Its interest is independent of flowers, its fragrances are taken from the first leaf to the last, its uses make it a part of the amenities of the whole year, and its history and traditions touch all nations and all times."

Open House 2007

In conjunction with the Virtues and Pleasures of Herbs through History: Physic, Flavor, Fragrance and Dye, the Hunt Institute held an open house on 3 and 4 June 2007. We offered herb-themed talks, a guided gallery tour of the exhibition by our assistant curator of art, tours of our departments and reading room, and opportunities to meet one-on-one with our staff to ask questions and see items in the collections.