Development Director Mark Robbins doesn't know of any institution with a larger collection of orchids or orchid photos than Ball State University.
Ball State boasts the largest collection of orchids, collection of orchid prints and orchid society in North America. Yesterday afternoon, the university hosted a three-part program to display these features to an audience of university officials and orchid enthusiasts from central Indiana.
Guided tour of Christy Woods greenhouse
Curator Sheryl LeBlanc said 90 percent of the 1,900 plants at Christy Woods greenhouse are orchids. She said the space is tight, but it creates a more realistic atmosphere.
"I want to make it look like a tropical environment, so [the plants] are going to reach out and touch you," she said.
Robbins said this massive collection can be used for research opportunities.
"Researchers can be confident that [whatever they are testing for] is applicable to a large population," he said.
LeBlanc said orchids can also be used for medicinal purposes and to help botanists make classifications of other plants. Since she has worked at the greenhouse, she has added to the collection by trading with other universities and getting donations from orchid growers and orchid societies.
Part of the Ball State Bold campaign calls for an expansion of the greenhouse. John Taylor, Land Manager of Field Station and Environmental Education Center, said he is working on creating a workshop for next September that will explain how to grow orchids.
Presentation of the Digital Media Repository
Before the presentation began, Head of Metadata and Digital Initiatives Jim Bradley showed the group how to use Microsoft Surface to view the digital collection of orchid prints.
The Surface device is part of the Schwartz Special Collections and Digital Complex. Bracker's orchid collection will remain a standing component of this touch-screen browsing application.
Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections John Straw explained how to access the Digital Media Repository from the library's home page. Clicking on "Browse Collections" will lead viewers to 65 digital collections, he said. He said there are 455 digital pictures available online, but the full collection includes 30,000 pictures. He said metadata compiled by LeBlanc and biology student Ryan Hunt will make the collection searchable on Web sites like Google.
Orchid Art and Conservation program
Russ Vernon, an internationally recognized orchid horticulturalist, made a corrolation between orchid art and conservation by explaining people's interest with orchids throughout history.
He said classification of orchids follows Carl Linnaeus's genus-species model. During the early 19th century, orchid gardens were a status symbol among the elite, he said. At first, their beauty was appreciated by everyone. But the status associated with the plant created competition for the biggest, best gardens. People became greedy for the rare tropical varieties and rich Europeans burned tropical forests, so their rivals could not have the orchids that grew there.
Vernon said hybridization and plant photography led to conservation of orchids in the mid-19th century.
"It established a new aesthetic for visual beauty," he said. "It was a god-send."
He said the university is privileged to house such a large collection of orchids.
"I'm glad Ball State had the wisdom and foresight to accept [these living and photographic collections]."
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