From 1870 to 1908, artist and botanist Kate Furbish traveled Maine, collecting, classifying, and illustrating the native flora of her state. Plants and Flowers of Maine: Kate Furbish’s Watercolors, a new two-volume set produced by Bowdoin College Library and Rowman & Littlefield publishers and in collaboration with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, faithfully reproduces some 1,300 of Furbish’s drawings.

Jed Lyons ’74, CEO of Rowman & Littlefield; Richard Lindemann, director emeritus of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives; and Melissa Cullina, director of education and staff botanist at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens are the team behind the book and discuss Furbish and the importance of bringing her work to a wider audience. Watch the video from the event on Bowdoin Talks, where you will find a host of lectures and discussions by newsmakers, distinguished experts, invited musicians and artists.

The talk coincides with the exhibition, “Botanizing America: Citizens, Scientists, and the Quest for a National Identity,” on the second floor of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.