The University of Michigan Herbarium recently introduced a new digital collection of fungal illustrations in collaboration with the U-M Library Digital Collections Service. The original watercolors were made by Lewis David von Schweinitz, considered to be a “father of North American mycology,” and date back to the early 1800s. These unpublished illustrations have been held in the Herbarium’s archives since 1928.
“At the Herbarium, we preserve and share pieces of biodiversity information in addition to specimens,” said Dr. Alison Harrington, Collection Manager of Fungi, Lichens, and Bryophytes for the University of Michigan Herbarium. “We preserve historical notes, illustrations and other items related to the specimens to help tell the entire story.
Historically, fungi were more challenging to preserve than plants as specimens can’t be laid flat or pressed, and when dried they often lose their original color and shape. That’s why illustrations such as these were so critically important for communicating information about fungal species long before we had field guides and photographs.”
Created between 1818 and 1823, von Schweinitz’s volume of more than 300 watercolors is entitled Icones Fungorum, and held permanently in the Herbarium archive. The illustrations are historically important but also aesthetically appealing, and are considered to be in the public domain. As such, the images are available for use and creative reinterpretation by a broader audience than just scientists and historians.
Von Schweinitz created the illustrations to further knowledge about fungal species found in North America. “Part of the goal of the herbarium is to document and share North American fungal biodiversity, so this digitization project carries that thread forward,” said Dr. Harrington.
The set of illustrations was digitized upon request for a research project on von Schweinitz. For more information about von Schweinitz and related works, see: Karakehian, J.M., Burk, W.R. & Pfister, D.H. New light on the mycological work of Lewis David von Schweinitz. IMA Fungus 9, A17–A35 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03449476.
