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Conservation and digitization of 62 rare and unique volumes of “language of flowers” literature published in the United States and Europe during the 19^th century, to be made publicly available via the Biodiversity Heritage Library. 

The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library seeks to conserve, digitize, and disseminate 62 rare and fragile language of flowers volumes. The project will create and sustain free, public access to the culturally significant works, providing insights into 19th literature, gender roles, and botanical culture. Two contracted vendors, ARTEX, a fine art shipper, and the nationally recognized Northeast Document Conservation Company, will ship, conserve, and digitize the works to the highest professional standards. Library staff will inspect the work, assign metadata to digital pages and images, shelve conserved volumes in a secure rare book room, and upload digitized content to the Biodiversity Heritage Library, an open access repository of biodiversity literature facilitated by Smithsonian Libraries. Staff will broadly disseminate the grant products through rare book viewings, exhibitions, lectures, Public Library Days, youth programs, social and legacy media, and the Garden blog.