The Plant Press

From The Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

A DC teenager’s 1917-1919 herbarium 

By Erika Gardner

Helen Barron was 13 years old in 1917 when she started pressing and preserving plants creating her personal herbarium. As the Spanish Flu was sweeping through her hometown of Washington, D.C., Barron found solace in Rock Creek Park and surrounding areas of the district by collecting plant specimens. Barron continued collecting plants in the Washington, D.C. region until 1919. Nearly a century later, in 2013, Mary Clagett Horm, Barron’s daughter, donated Barron’s two herbarium books, Spring Flowers 1917-1918 and Spring Flowers 1919, to the US National Herbarium. Upon accepting these collections, we were unaware of their historical significance. Little did we know, in about seven years, all of our lives would be put on hold and we too would be living during a global pandemic. 

These books were placed on a shelf in the specimen preparation room along with other pressed plant books. Very seldom would we handle these books unless we were showcasing them for a tour. Sitting in my home office, I could not help but think about which specimens in the US herbarium were made during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. In an instant, the images of Barron’s books came to mind. I could see the hand drawn dogwood on the periwinkle-colored cover and the date 1919 written in black ink. I asked Sue Lutz, the Collection Manager, to gain access to these books and take a few photos to share. The plants are beautifully pressed and presented on each page. It is extraordinary to imagine a teenager collecting and pressing these specimens during a time when her world was turned up-side down.

Bound within Barron’s 1917-1919 herbarium books are countless untold stories about a teenager living in quarantine. Unfortunately, we will never know her stories as she passed away before her daughter donated these books, but we can paint a picture from looking at her specimens. 

A lot has changed in a century. Yet, we are experiencing something very similar to Barron’s time in quarantine. People are noticing nature in their backyards and surrounding neighborhoods. From plants to birds, there has been a surge of interest in nature under our noses and under our toes. At the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian scientists are offering more live online programing to a wider audience. Botany was given a spotlight during the spring to connect with the public via various forms of social media. Barron found a connection to nature by collecting plants and documenting the name and date on each page in her herbarium. It is a simple approach to learn the flora and a great way to document the passing of time.

We will continue to care for her books, and her legacy will live on in our collection: a teenager living during a global pandemic, immersing herself in nature, and leaving a record for us to reflect upon.