Lloyd Library and Museum Names ABC's Blumenthal to New Honorary Advisory Board
(AUSTIN,
Texas, July 30, 2012)
American
Botanical Council (ABC)
Founder
and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal
has been selected to join the Lloyd Library and
Museum’s Honorary Advisory Board. Blumenthal is one
of the first three board members chosen by the library for the recently created
board.
The
Lloyd Library and Museum (LLM) was founded by brothers John Uri Lloyd, Nelson
Ashley Lloyd, and Curtis Gates Lloyd, key figures in the Eclectic Medical
Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who
also owned the Lloyd Brothers Pharmacy, one of the premier manufacturers of
herbal medicinal preparations during that time. The Lloyd Library and Museum
has its beginnings in John Uri’s 1864 purchase of two pharmacy and chemistry
books. The brothers’ collection quickly flourished and, in 1919, trusts were
established to ensure the library’s existence far into the future. The Lloyd
now curates an expansive collection of books and materials on natural history,
botany, pharmacy, medicine, and related topics. It is privately funded but open
to the public, serving as a source of research, art collections, and exhibits.
Honorary
Advisory Board members are selected based on some of the following criteria: a
record of contribution to subjects represented in the library’s collections;
prior service to the Board of Directors; exemplary support and advocacy to the
Lloyd; willingness to help LLM reach its goals; or being active in programs and
organizations that benefit the Greater Cincinnati region or the state of Ohio.
According to
Maggie Heran, Lloyd Library and Museum Executive Director, “Mark was chosen
specifically because he has been a great supporter and advocate for the Lloyd
for a number of years. Over time, Mark and I have established not only a
working relationship, but also a friendship.
“HerbalGram [ABC’s
peer-reviewed journal] has published articles on the Lloyd,” Heran continued,
“and Mark has presented for us here in Cincinnati. In addition, Mark and I
often meet at conferences where, in fact, he has already acted as advisor to me
on a number of issues. He is very well known in the medicinal plant world and
his name alone, attached to the Lloyd in a visible way, is certain to enhance
the library’s stature.”
“I am deeply
honored and grateful for the Lloyd’s decision to invite me to serve them by
being on this board,” said Blumenthal. “A look at the number of ABC’s HerbalGram and HerbClip
articles about and relating to the Lloyd Library shows how highly esteemed an
institution I consider it to be. This appointment will only further enhance the
wonderful relationship ABC has with the Lloyd Library and Museum, the largest
medicinal plant library in the entire Western Hemisphere.”
HerbalGram, ABC’s quarterly
journal, has published articles on the Lloyd Library’s creation of a natural
health historical research center,
the 2007 Lloyd Library exhibit of a botanical text
once owned by 18th century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
a book review by the late Professor Varro E. Tyler of a biography on John Uri Lloyd,
and several others available through ABC’s online archives.
In addition to Blumenthal, the Lloyd Library
appointed Helen Black, a supporter of the library who just retired from her
long-held position on the Lloyd Board of Directors, and Mansukh Wani, PhD,
Emeritus Scientist of the Research Triangle Institute who, together with Monroe
Wall, PhD, isolated the highly successful anti-cancer constituent paclitaxel
(brand name Taxol®) from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in the
1960s.
The Honorary Advisory
Board will consist of no more than 20 members. Each member will serve a 5-year
term with the option of extending her or his service for an additional 5 years.
Board members will primarily act to provide focused advice and recommendations
to the Lloyd’s Board of Directors. They may also be called upon to attend
library functions, advocate on behalf of grant applications, and support
fund-raising efforts amongst other duties.
About the Lloyd Library
and Museum
The Lloyd Library and Museum, located at 917 Plum Street, in downtown
Cincinnati, Ohio, is a local and regional cultural treasure. The library was
developed in the nineteenth century by the Lloyd brothers to provide reference
sources for Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical
companies of the period.
Today the library is recognized worldwide by the scientific community as a
vital research center. The library holds, acquires, and provides access to both
historic and current materials on the subjects of pharmacy, botany,
horticulture, herbal and alternative medicine, pharmacognosy, and related
topics. Although its collections have a scientific focus, they also have
relevance to humanities topics, such as visual arts and foreign languages,
through resources that feature botanical and natural history illustrations,
original artworks, and travel literature, thereby revealing the convergence of
science and art. The Lloyd is open to anyone with an interest in these topics.
For more information, visit the Lloyd website at www.lloydlibrary.org.