Sterling Morton Library
Designed by noted Chicago architect Harry Weese, the Sterling Morton Library constructed in 1963, is located on the east side of The Morton Arboretum adjacent to the Administration Building. Built to house the many resources of the Arboretum, this building honors the memory of Sterling Morton, son of founder, Joy Morton.
The Library’s current holdings include over 27,000 volumes of books and magazines, as well as tens of thousands of non-book items including prints, original art, letters, photographs, landscape plans and drawings. The collections focus on plant sciences, especially on trees and shrubs, gardening and landscape design, ecology with a special interest in Midwestern prairie, savanna, woodland, and wetland ecosystems, natural history and its art and illustration, both art history and techniques. Animal subjects include birds, mammals, and insects. Works abound on the history of plant exploration, and biographies of botanists, horticulturists, and botanical artists. The library’s historic and current nursery catalogs will assist homeowners in finding sources for plants of interest.
The Library's Suzette Morton Davidson Special Collections contains books, artwork, historic nursery catalogs, landscape drawings, photographs, letters, maps and institutional documents. Papers, photographs, manuscripts and other documents of May Theilgaard Watts, Jens Jensen, Marshall Johnson, O.C. Simonds and Donald Culross Peattie are also part of the Special Collections.
The Sterling Morton Library is a member of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.
Read more about this topic: Morton Arboretum
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