Lloyd Library and Museum
917 Plum Street
Cincinnati OH 45202
Phone: (513) 721-3707
Fax: (513) 721-6575
Bringing Science, Art, and History to Life
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The March 1 st event will feature speakers Rosemary Gladstar, herbalist, author, and instructor, presenting “A History of Late 20th Century Herbal Pioneers;” A. Douglas Kinghorn, Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, presenting “The The Lloyd Library is prepared and equipped to offer its facilities and services to house, maintain, preserve, organize, and make accessible in one location this crucial body of knowledge for the scholars of today and tomorrow who will be investigating the natural health movement. Not only does the library have a professional archivist on staff with more than ten years experience, but it is also in the process of developing a space plan to accommodate new archival collections. New collections will be added to the library’s existing archival collections, covering names and institutions in the fields of pharmacognosy, herbalism, chemistry, and pharmacy. They will join already existing collections such as those of John Uri Lloyd; Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc.; Varro E. Tyler; George Hocking; Alex Berman; Stephen Buhner; Susun Weed; Clarence Meyer (author of Herbalist Almanac); the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati; John Milton Scudder; and Robert F. Raffauf, among many others. The Lloyd’s new initiative is significant in that currently there is no other known institutional endeavor to collect such materials as widely as the Lloyd Library will with the establishment of this research center. The Lloyd is seeking cooperation from all participants in the natural health movement to help establish a centralized location for the study of the ongoing development of medicinal botany and other alternative healing practices. This center will assist researchers by reducing the amount of travel needed to complete their studies, as well as provide an indispensible contextual environment complete with a vast collection of current and historical works, both published and unpublished. In addition, the library is the optimum site for this project because in many respects, the Lloyd already is the “Historical Research Center for the Natural Health Movement.” An increased effort to add archival collections to its many other significant resources will enhance its goal of comprehensive documentation in the fields of naturopathic healing and alternative medicine. In addition, this project continues and honors the legacy of founder John Uri Lloyd, who was relentless in his investigation and advocacy of medicinal botany. He and his brothers not only built the library, but also provided for its future, because they understood the critical need to acquire historic and current resources and preserve them for posterity. The establishment of this research center underscores their commitment and embodies their belief that the past is the path to the future. Download the press release as a PDF Go to the Historical Research Center webpage
Early in 2008, the Lloyd received over $230,000 to establish the George Rieveschl, Jr., Book Fund. It was his last gift over a period of 40 years of service and gift giving to the library. In 2004, he agreed to donate his papers and books to the Lloyd and began preparing small portions of his collections for pickup throughout the intervening years. The library had still been working with him to obtain the remainder of the materials when he passed away. The process is now continuing with the assistance of his widow, Ellen Rieveschl. When the entire collection is in the library, we will widely publicize the news, make it a priority for processing, and open the Rieveschl Historical Collection to the many researchers who are interested in his life, his work, and his significant scientific contributions. Recently, Ellen Rieveschl donated the desk, chair, and lamp Rieveschl used in his office, and will add an exhibit case for his books, awards, photographs, and other memorabilia. These items will be placed in a special section of the Lloyd’s Reading Room designated the George Rieveschl, Jr., Research Center as a visible acknowledgement of his many generous donations of time, funding, and research materials to the library. Download the complete press release in PDF.
“It Began at the Lloyd: An Artist’s Journey” February 2—April 30, 2008
“During the preceding winter, when my garden lay under a blanket of snow, I put down my brushes to do some research. For years I'd been drawing and painting botanical matter as still life, landscape, and more recently as the subject of botanical illustration. But I knew little about this last genre. I certainly was not a scientist as the early illustrators had been: they bisected their lilies and orchids; they studied the botany. So what could I learn from the work they left behind? I needed to find out. And that is what drew me to the Lloyd Library. “At first I didn't know whether the library would tolerate an artist working in its midst. But the staff cheerfully brought me book after book from its stacks, offered me white gloves to use while handling their precious antiquities and moved furniture so that I could work. “In this quiet and friendly space, I leafed through page after page of colorful depictions of the world's flora. But what fascinated me were the line drawings that accompanied the flamboyant flowers, the tiny ones that defined the flower's reproductive parts. Their infinite variety and sensuality amazed me. Using a magnifying glass and chalk, I sketched their intricate shapes, enlarging them many fold until I had enough of them to cover the walls of my studio. And from these studies, I made the eye of a pansy into a six foot sculptural shape on canvas, the throat of an iris into a venus-like statue. “Since that time, those little drawings from the archives of the Lloyd have continued to be a source of inspiration for my newer work which I will also be displaying at the upcoming show in the library's beautiful new gallery space.” Download the full press release
The Lloyd Library and Museum is pleased to announce the availability of a Learning and Service Scholarship. Graduate students in library science and graduate and senior level students in history are eligible. The award is $500 per term and requires 15 hours per month of service (for the duration of the term) during which time recipients will receive hands-on training and experience in areas of either library or archives practice and theory in a special library setting. To read more about this opportunity and how to apply, download this informational flyer.
If interested in participating, please download, print, and return this form to the library, either in person or via fax - 513-721-6575 - so that we can assess interest and availability of possible participants. |
Expect the unexpected at the Lloyd! Known for its remarkable botany and pharmacy collections, this spring and summer the library will be filled with birds! Bird prints by John Ruthven, the man often referred to as the “20 th Century Audubon,” will be in the Lloyd Gallery; and, Lloyd’s book exhibit will feature its little-known and rarely-seen ornithological volumes containing some of the most beautiful and spectacular birds drawn by natural history illustrators throughout history, from the well-known Mark Catesby to the anonymous work found in ornithology periodicals. Audubon will be represented in Lloyd’s 1937 edition of The Birds of America by John James Audubon containing 500 color reproductions of Audubon’s originals. At the opening reception on Saturday, May 3, Ruthven will deliver his lecture “John Ruthven: In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker” at 4:30 p.m. Visitors and guests will get a breathtaking glimpse of the spectacular fusion of art and science like never before! This event and the exhibitions are open to the public. Donations are appreciated. For more information about John Ruthven, go to 
Saturday, March 1, 2008 from 4-7pm the Lloyd Library and Museum kicks off a new endeavor in its long tradition of collecting, maintaining, preserving, and making accessible historic and current books and journals, as well as archival materials, on a wide variety of disciplines that fall under the subjects of natural history, botany, pharmacy, and medicine—an endeavor critically needed to balance and enhance the documentation of medicinal botany—the creation of the Historical Research Center for the Natural Health Movement. This initiative will position the Lloyd to become the central repository for the archives and personal papers of those involved in both scientific and grass roots efforts to bring natural health into the mainstream.
Development of Pharmacognosy in 20th Century United States;” Mark Blumenthal, Founder and Executive Director, American Botanical Council, presenting “ The Importance of Documenting the History of the Natural Health Movement;” and Anna K. Heran, Archivist, Lloyd Library and Museum presenting “A Case in Point: The Varro 'Tip' Tyler Papers.” Other activities include the formal opening of Tip Tyler’s papers for research, an exhibit from the Tyler Papers, and Lynn Carden’s art exhibit “It Began at the Lloyd: An Artist’s Journey.” 
In September 2007, the Lloyd Library and Museum lost a beloved friend, donor, and board member of 40 years, George Rieveschl, Jr. Developer of the first prescription antihistamine, Rieveschl passed away at age 91. He developed Benadryl while working at the University of Cincinnati (UC) as a researcher and professor of chemical engineering. After Rieveschl left teaching, he became senior vice president at Parke-Davis. In 1970, he returned to Cincinnati and UC as vice president of research. Soon after, in 1977, Rieveschl was elected to the Lloyd Library Board of Directors—a position he held until his death. 
This exhibition will be a departure from the “typical” one, in which an artist displays his or her most recent work. This one will actually be a retrospective that documents Lynn Carden’s research experience at the Lloyd and the art she subsequently began creating. From her original sketch books to the Lloyd resources in which she found inspiration and its results, Carden will hang her unique floor-to-ceiling mixed-media drawings, create a “mini” installation of her sketch books, tools, and books from the Lloyd collection as well as display a few of her more recent pieces. The exhibit will allow visitors to see how her work developed over the dozen or so years since she first visited the Lloyd. Carden tells the story beautifully in her own words: “In 1998 the Art Academy of Cincinnati hosted an exhibit of my work—a roomful of huge, blown-up depictions of the tiny working parts of flowers. Outrageous as they were, the story of how they came to be is a tale of quiet inquiry at another of Cincinnati's cultural institutions, the Lloyd Library. 
The Lloyd Library and Museum is applying for an Artist in Residence grant from the Ohio Arts Council. The proposed dates for the project are July 7-26, 2008. The proposed artist who will guide the project is local artist Kate Kern. Residency participants will embark on an artist-led exploration of the library and its resources, searching for text, images, and other materials that engage, compel, excite, or motivate them to create some new work of art. What they find may repurposed, reformatted, and otherwise enhanced by the individual to create some new work of art. The goal is to gather together a diverse group of people and help them see themselves as being part of the knowledge contained within the library and to see the materials themselves in a new light.