American Eden
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I’m also grateful to the many archivists and librarians who helped me at the following institutions: the American Philosophical Society Library; the Botanisk Centralbibliotek, Copenhagen Botanical Garden; the Bristol (England) Record Office; at Columbia University, the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Municipal Archives of the City of New York; the Mystic Seaport Museum; the New York Society Library; the Library of Congress; the New York State Library; Prince ton University’s Firestone Library; the Université de Montpellier; and at Yale University, the Manuscripts & Archives division at Sterling Memorial Library and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
I began this research as a professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where I taught for thirteen years on philanthropy and the natural environment. For their enthusiasm, hospitality, and/or readings of the book proposal while I was in Ann Arbor, I would like to thank: Doug Anderson, Sue Ashford, Wayne Baker, Dave Barger, Jerry Davis, Jane Dutton, Melissa Eljamal, Betsy Ellsworth, Adam Grant, Bob Grese, Rebecca Henn (to whom I owe the original idea of studying botanical gardens), Andy Hoffman, Bruce Judge, Carole Kirby, Greta Krippner, Peggy McCracken, Mark Mizruchi, Jason Owen-Smith, Scotti Parrish, Mary Price, Jenni Steiger, Katie Van Dusen, Ari Weinzweig, and Denise Yekulis. I still draw daily on what I learned from Rick Price about patience, mentorship, and how to run a meeting. Nathan Harris brightened many wintry Michigan days. To Andrew Port and Sylvia Taschka—and Rebekka and Hannah—thank you so many times over. When I first began studying botanical gardens a decade ago, Richard Piacentini, Executive Director of the spectacular Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, made me feel so welcome and generously allowed me to interview his staff and study the garden’s institutional records, as did Gregory Long, CEO and The William C. Steere Sr. President of The New York Botanical Garden. Directors at more than a dozen other gardens across the country were similarly welcoming. My thanks to all, especially Susan Lacerte, Executive Director of the Queens Botanical Garden, and Scot Medbury, President of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. My undergraduate students in three classes embraced the study of botanical gardens with energy and dedication (Tigerlilies, Snapdragons, and Botanicals!). Patrick Cullina shared his extraordinary botanical and horticultural expertise with us. Kate Brierty, Mitch Crispell, Brian Pogrund, Caroline Rooney, Rebecca Sunde, and Lea Wender joined me on joyful adventures in Hosack’s New York. These travels, along with much of my archival research, were made possible by very generous funding from the Organizational Studies Program, the Barger Leadership Institute, and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.
Several years ago, I moved back to New York to join the Department of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College. I would like to acknowledge President Jennifer Raab for welcoming me so warmly to Hunter, Professor Joseph Viteritti for his constant moral support, and all my colleagues for their kindness to me and their exemplary devotion to our students. Miriam Galindez and Marisol Otero-Morales helped me settle into my new academic home. I wrote most of this book during a dreamy fellowship year at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library in 2015–2016. Director Jean Strouse presided over a group of Fellows from whom I learned daily about writing, politics, and history. Vanessa Schwartz prodded me to celebrate Hosack’s larger accomplishments; Paul Yoon kindly paused in his own work to help me unlock a closed door in my writing; and Nick Wilding deciphered a Latin document for me (and also shared his wicked sense of humor all year). I am especially grateful to my fellow Fellows Larry Rohter and Edward Ball for many conversations about the writing of biographies, a topic Jean Strouse also kindly discussed at great length with me. Lauren Goldenberg, Paul Delavardac, and Julia Pagnamenta were cheerful guides throughout the year and afterward; Lauren also read a chunk of the manuscript. Upstairs at the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, I received aid from Thomas Lannon, John Cordovez, Tal Nadal, Katie O’Connell, and Jessica Pigza, among others. Mark Boonschoft read my entire manuscript and gave me detailed comments. Sam Swope, Melanie Locay, and Elizabeth Denlinger showed the kind of interest in the project that keeps a writer writing, as did Kristin McDonough, Director of the Science, Industry and Business Library. Jason Baumann took time out of his day to help me with a logistical challenge, and I received additional help from staff members in the Prints and Photographs Division and the Map Division. I would also like to acknowledge the many other people, including those working in maintenance and security, who make the New York Public Library such a welcoming place. I feel certain Hosack would have understood exactly how much labor and largesse go into this institution every day.
As I pieced together Hosack’s life, many writers, historians, and botanists were extremely generous with their expertise and ideas, especially Ron Chernow, Heather Ewing, Eric Foner, Eric Hilt, Beth Hyde, Maya Jasanoff, Mark Laird, John Merriman, Kaitlin Mondello, Amy Meyers, David Nasaw, Dr. Michael Nevins, Therese O’Malley, and Penelope Rowlands. (Any errors are not theirs, but mine, of course.) I am grateful to Barbara Thiers, the Patricia K. Holgrem Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium and Vice President for Science Administration at the New York Botanical Garden, for convening a meeting about Hosack’s specimen lists with a fantastic team of NYBG experts, including Daniel Atha, Director of Conservation Outreach; Brian Boom, Vice President for Conservation Strategy; Todd Forrest, Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections; Robbin Moran, Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany; and Robert Naczi, Arthur J. Cronquist Curator of North American Botany. I am grateful to them for their time and expertise—especially to Daniel Atha, for his excitement about this book and his continued work with me on Hosack’s plant lists. Joel T. Fry, Curator of Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, shared his truly encyclopedic knowledge of plants and botanists of the early Republic and took me on a fascinating tour of the Bartram family’s beautiful house and garden. Lisa Vargues, Rob Naczi, and Neil Snow helped me track down the current name of one of Hosack’s herbarium specimens, and I’m also grateful to Nancy Slowick for her course on native flora at the NYBG. Julie Sakellariadis attended a talk I gave at the NYBG and kindly put me in touch with botanists at Harvard. At lightning speed, David Hosack Barnes located a painting that had been passed down in the Hosack family, and Alice Lloyd generously granted me permission to reproduce it in these pages.
David Larabell whipped an early draft of the proposal into shape, and George Gibson gave me both precious time and the benefit of his editorial insights on the whole manuscript. I am so grateful to you both. My thanks also to Heather Brooke and Katherine Ibbett for hosting me in London, to Neil Brenner for hosting me in Boston (and for all those years of encouragement), and to Christopher Merriman for critical help with the plant catalogues. Thank you to Dr. Laura Corio for the chance to try smelling salts for myself. Guenther Roth taught me to look for Columbia’s history when I first arrived on campus as a graduate student. David Stark, a mentor and friend for nearly two decades, read drafts of chapters as fast as I wrote them, and his early enthusiasm kept me going. Woody Powell joined me in studying Hosack for an article, which led to fascinating conversations and walks through lower Manhattan, Central Park, and Rockefeller Center. Mauro Guillén, who loves New York City and its history, has also been a steadfast source of encouragement.
I am deeply indebted to the following people who took time out of their busy lives to read and comment on the entire draft: Dr. John Hornby, Dr. Edward Huey, Byron Knief, Christine Laporte, Dr. Patrick Shin, Roy Tsao, and Tracey Van Dusen. Thomas Woltz read a draft on trains and in airplanes as he crisscrossed the globe; his comments and our conversations have taught me much about landscapes, gardens, and the art of friendship. Andrea Wulf began sharing her scholarly contacts and her vast knowledge of early Republic science and politics within minutes of our first meeting (in a New Jersey sleet storm in January 201
5)—and has been doing so with enormous generosity ever since. Markley Boyer allowed me to see the vanished Mannahatta and also solved many a challenge involving spreadsheets, websites, and digital images. He also read a draft of the manuscript; his ideas and enthusiasm have shaped this book in so many ways. Vanessa Sellers has a genius not only for the history of landscapes and gardens, but also for recognizing which scholars should meet one another. Dan Kevles shared my fascination with medical botany treatises and created camaraderie in the archives; I have learned so very much about writing and about the history of science from our conversations. I’m grateful to Simon Lipskar for connecting me with my fantastic literary agent, Geri Thoma of Writers House. My editor at Liveright, Katie Adams, is endowed with some kind of X-ray vision into the bones of a book. It has been a joy to work with her—and with the rest of the Live right team, especially Steve Attardo, Gina Iaquinta, and Peter Miller. I’m deeply grateful to the meticulous Kathleen Brandes for her hard work as copy editor on the manuscript.
My oldest friends have been incredibly patient and supportive while I wrote . . . and wrote and wrote. My love and gratitude especially to Nitsan Chorev, Joyce Robbins and Alan Glickman, Clare Johnson and Dino Valaoritis, Justin Bischof, Laura Wolfson, and the Merriman family: John, Laura, Christopher, and the much-missed Carol. My family is full of history-lovers, among them my uncles, and I am grateful for their interest and inspiration. My cousin Drew Stephens, a GIS oceans expert, helped me pinpoint Hosack’s 1794 location on the Atlantic. Thank you to Steve Honigberg and Georgi Kostov for making me your little sister, and to my five “neffuses” for being the delights of my life. My sister Elizabeth Kostova read each chapter almost as I soon as I had written it and gave me just the right combination of criticism and encouragement. My sister Jessica Honigberg trained her artist’s eye and her playful wit on the book proposal, the manuscript, and my obsession with Hosack. My sister Betsy Sheldon is my sunshine.
The wellsprings of this book are my parents, David and Eleanor. They are passionate gardeners, city planners, citizens, philanthropists, and lovers of literature and history. They have shown nothing but excitement about my research from start to finish—even through hundreds of hours of phone calls about what I found in the archives this week. They also read each chapter in turn and cheered me on through the writing of the next one. Thank you for making me weed the garden and look at old maps and old buildings all those years. This book is dedicated to you, Mom and Pop, with profound love and profound admiration.
It is also dedicated to a dear friend who has been on this whole adventure with me. If you were to cross an artist, a computer scientist, a careful historian, and a loving daughter, and then added the patience and dignity of a saint, you might—if the stars were aligned—get Rebecca Sunde. Without her, no American Eden.
Thank you, my beloved R.
NOTES
The following abbreviations are used in these notes. See Sources and Bibliography for more complete information.
ABBREVIATIONS: PEOPLE
AB
Aaron Burr
AEH
Alexander Eddy Hosack
AH
Alexander Hamilton
ARD
Alire Raffeneau Delile
BR
Benjamin Rush
CWB
Catharine Wistar Bache
CWE
Caspar Wistar Eddy
CWP
Charles Willson Peale
DC
DeWitt Clinton
DH
David Hosack
FAM
François André Michaux
JE
John Eddy
JES
James Edward Smith
JWF
John Wakefield Francis
MH
Mary [Eddy] Hosack
SLM
Samuel Latham Mitchill
TB
Theodosia Burr (Aaron Burr’s daughter; married name, Theodosia Burr Alston)
TJ
Thomas Jefferson
WC
William Curtis
WH
William Hosack
ABBREVIATIONS: INSTITUTIONS
APS
American Philosophical Society
CPS
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
CU
Columbia University
HSP
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
LC
Library of Congress
LS
Linnean Society of London
NYAM
New York Academy of Medicine
NYBG
New York Botanical Garden
N-YHS
New-York Historical Society
NYPL
New York Public Library
RS
Royal Society of London
ABBREVIATIONS: ARCHIVES AND SOURCES
AB Memoirs
Memoirs of Aaron Burr: With Miscellaneous Selections from His Correspondence. Edited by Matthew Livingston Davis.
AB Journal Davis
The Private Journal of Aaron Burr, During His Residence of Four Years in Europe; with Selections from His Correspondence. Edited by Matthew Livingston Davis.
AB Journal Bixby
The Private Journal of Aaron Burr, Reprinted in full from the original manuscript in the library of Mr. William K. Bixby of St. Louis, MO. Edited by William H. Samson.
AEH 1861
Hosack, Alexander Eddy. “David Hosack.” In Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons of the Nineteenth Century, 1861.
APS-CWB
Catharine Wistar Bache Papers, American Philosophical Society
AvH Briefe
Humboldt, Alexander von. Briefe aus Amerika, 1799–1804
AvH VS
Humboldt, Alexander von. Alexander von Humboldt und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika: Briefwechsel
Bot. Mag.
Curtis, William. Botanical Magazine
CPPJJ
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay
CU-AB
Papers of Aaron Burr, Columbia University
CU-CC TM
Trustees’ Minutes, Columbia College
CU-CPS TM
Trustees’ Minutes, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
CU-DC
DeWitt Clinton Papers, Columbia University
CU-JJ
Papers of John Jay, Columbia University
DH-LB
David Hosack Letter Book, New York Academy of Medicine
DH-MB
David Hosack Memorandum Book, New York Academy of Medicine
Douglas Journal
Journal Kept by David Douglas during his Travels in North America, 1823–1827
FCAB
Fuller Collection of Aaron Burr, Princeton University
HSP-BR
Rush Family Papers, Series I: Benjamin Rush Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
JE Diary
John Hartshorne Eddy Diary, 1810, New York Public Library
Flora Lond.
Curtis, William. Flora Londinensis
FO-TJ
Thomas Jefferson Papers, Founders Online
Hone Diary
Diary of Philip Hone
INPS
Stokes, I. N. Phelps. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498–1909
LC-AHP
Alexander Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress
LC-TJ
Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Series 1, General Correspondence, Library of Congress
LPAH
The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary
LS-JES
Correspondence of James Edward Smith, Linnean Society
LS Minutes
Minutes of the Linnean Society
N-Y Hort. Soc. Min.
Minutes of the New-York Horticultural Society, New York Botanical Garden
PAH
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
RS-TJ
Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series
SPCWP
The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family
Wharton Diary
Thomas Kelah Wharton Diary and Sketchbook, 1830–1834
PROLOGUE
3island Eden: See Prest 1981 on the influence of the Garden of Eden story and the European discovery of America on the rise of botanical gardens.
3build the civic institutions: Appleby 2000; Chaplin 2003.
5“perhaps no one person”: [no author, 1904] “Dr. David Hosack and His Botanical Garden,” 517. On Hosack’s reputation and contributions, see also Harnagel 1959; Robbins 1960; Robbins 1964; Jeffe 2004; and Hoge 2007.
5more than a million: This and all subsequent financial comparisons are based on purchasing power in 2016 dollars (sourced at measuringworth.com).
9“land of botanists”: Milbert 1968 [1828], 25.
9Emerson’s epiphany: see esp. Brown 1997 and Walls 2003.
9“natural alphabet”: Emerson quoted by Brown 1997, 116.
10now lies dormant: Sanderson 2009 reconstructs in detail the ecosystems and landscapes on which New York was built and has begun to inspire new urban-design projects that are more sensitive to the city’s natural environment. Rogers 2016 offers a field guide to the intersections of the built and natural environments of New York. On the environmental history of New York State, see esp. Stradling 2010.