George Rieveschl, Jr. Exhibit Opens at the Lloyd

The Many Facets of George Rieveschl, Jr.

September 11 - December 31, 2009

George Rieveschl, Jr, famed chemist and inventor of life-saving allergy drug Benadryl, left his personal papers to the Lloyd Library and Museum. After a busy year of getting them organized and tidied, we are celebrating the release of the papers for research with an exhibit based on the papers, which document his life as a chemist and Cincinnati philanthropist. Additionally, the Library has on loan from Rieveschl's widow a collection of artwork he created throughout his life. Few know that Rieveschl's first career choice was as an artist, but having graduated during the Great Depression, jobs were few and far between. Then, as now, a lot of young people went back to school to get more or new skills. Rieveschl chose chemistry and the rest is, as they say, history. But, his love for art never wained, and so this is your opportunity to see what else this creative mind had to offer the world.

Exhibit runs through the end of the year and is free and open to the public.

Botanical Prints from Lloyd's Treasures - NEW EXHIBIT

The Lloyd is fortunate to have so many wonderful representative volumes on many types and styles of botanical illustration. They are, in fact, so wonderful, it's really hard to pick a favorite.
That said, we have put together a collection of some of the more interesting and spectacular images from our botanical works here at the Lloyd in a colorful and fun slideshow for our online visitors. We invite you to view the slideshow and enjoy the images from a variety of artists, including Mark Catesby, William Woodville, and Maria Sibylla Merian.

http://www.lloydlibrary.org/exhibits/treasures.html

Leave us a comment here and let us know what you think or which one is your favorite!

Lloyd Partners with CETconnect

Lloyd Library and Museum is now a partner with CETconnect.org. You can watch Lloyd Library videos on CETconnect, Cincinnati Public Media. Just search for Lloyd Library. Currently, you can catch our own Betsy Kruthoffer on CETconnect talking about our recent exhibit on Mark Catesby. Coming up is our director, Maggie Heran, speaking about the soon to be installed Lloyd Medicinal Garden at the Ohio Heritage Garden at the Governor's Residence, Columbus, OH.

Lloyd goes to the 50th Anniversary of the American Society of Pharmacognosy

Saturday, June 27, 2009, was registration day for the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy. Opening symposium covered the history of ASP, with a retrospective look by decade, as well as the history of ASP's Journal of Natural Products, formerly Lloydia, as it was started in 1938 by the Lloyd Library and Museum. Appropriately, ASP's 50th meeting and its 5oth anniversary are being held in Hawaii, which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary as a state in the United States.

Dr. Norman Farnsworth, UIC, regaled attendees with possibly questionable (?) versions of what happened at meetings in the first decade, including tales of keg parties in dorms in Rhode Island which were cause for police raids. hmmm.... And, he swears that when ASP finalized a deal with the Lloyd Library to co-publish Lloydia that he and his fellow ASP negotiators celebrated at a burlesque.

We saw many familiar faces, including A. Douglas Kinghorn of Ohio State University and a great supporter of the Lloyd, and Mark Blumenthal of American Botanical Council, who is one of the best "bridges" between the scientific world of plant/natural products science and grass-roots practitioners! Watch for more soon.

On Sunday, the real scientific programs get underway. We'll be working closely, in the days to come, with some ASP members to discuss how we proceed with transferring ASP's wonderful archive collection to the Lloyd in the near future.

Introduction to the Lloyd Library and Museum

The Lloyd Library and Museum in downtown Cincinnati, OH, is a scientific research library devoted to the study of botany, pharmacy, pharmaceutical/medical history, chemistry, and natural history. The library holds both historic and current books and journals in these fields (1493-2009, to be exact). But, the collection is also rich in visual arts and literary arts resources. The botanical and natural history illustrations alone are worth a visit and can provide endless inspiration.

Our latest venture is an online exhibit featuring Charles Darwin and his colleagues, based on holdings within the Library. www.lloydlibrary.org/exhibits/darwin/index.html - this exhibit is modelled on social networking websites, but features Charles Darwin and some of the many, many people he corresponded with over decades of time. Come for the virtual visit and let us know what you think, either here, or via the Lloyd Library and Museum Facebook group page (you can access it off our homepage).