Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum

by Stephanne Barry Sutton

The Arnold Arboretum's place among the world's great botanical gardens is in large part due to the skill and determination of its first director, Charles Sprague Sargent. In 1872, when Sargent was given the responsibility of creating an arboretum for Harvard, there were no American arboreta he could use as models. Yet the plan of development he established for the Arboretum was so sound that subsequent directors have adhered to it with few variations. This book, commissioned by the Arboretum to celebrate its hundredth anniversary, is both a biography of Sargent and a history of the institution's growth.