Developing an exemplary collection: A vision for the next century at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

It has remained a traditional arboretum, with the Living Collections continually and almost exclusively focused on temperate woody plants. It has been committed to collections-based woody plant scholarship, particularly in recent years with the significant expansion of on-site research associated with construction of the Weld Hill Research Building. The Arboretum landscape remains true to the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted’s design, through keen awareness of its role as a public garden and landscape. Lastly, the Arnold Arboretum has long invested in active curation and collections management, which in turn has fostered and enabled its research and preservation enterprises. Coupled to these principles are aspirations that the Living Collections Advisory Board (Tim Boland, David Boufford, Michael Donoghue, Larry Hufford, Paul Meyer, and Don Pfister), in collaboration with William (Ned) Friedman (Director), Michael Dosmann (Curator of Living Collections), and Andrew Gapinski (Manager of Horticulture), advanced during its 2013, 2014, and 2015 meetings. These recommendations to ambitiously strengthen the collections of the Arnold Arboretum articulate a set of guidelines that define targets for active collections development. In addition, these recommendations clearly circumscribe overarching principles that will help ensure that the Arnold Arboretum remains at the leading edge of botanical garden collections development.