New Accession Labels in the Arboretum
February 18, 2014
One of the most fundamental practices in curating a living collection is attaching labels to the plants. Labels act as an important step in stabilizing the link between the object on the grounds and the records stored in digital files. The Arboretum uses two types of labels — display labels and accession labels. Last year, the Arboretum mounted display labels to stakes in the ground to inform the general public about the plants. Our smaller accession labels are for curatorial and research purposes, and are attached to the actual plant. While only the 82 trees listed in our Tree Walk Guide have display labels, all 2,239 trees in our collection will have accession labels attached beginning this month.
This exciting new practice moves the Arboretum toward higher standards that are kept by the more exceptional arboreta and gardens in the country. We are proud to continue our growth and hope the new accession labels will make the collection more accessible to students, researchers, and inquisitive members outside of the community that desire to learn more about our plants.