Lloyd Library and Museum Names ABC's Blumenthal to New Honorary Advisory Board

(AUSTIN, Texas, July 30, 2012) American Botanical Council (ABC) Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal has been selected to join the Lloyd Library and Museum’s Honorary Advisory Board. Blumenthal is one of the first three board members chosen by the library for the recently created board.

The Lloyd Library and Museum (LLM) was founded by brothers John Uri Lloyd, Nelson Ashley Lloyd, and Curtis Gates Lloyd, key figures in the Eclectic Medical Movement of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, who also owned the Lloyd Brothers Pharmacy, one of the premier manufacturers of herbal medicinal preparations during that time. The Lloyd Library and Museum has its beginnings in John Uri’s 1864 purchase of two pharmacy and chemistry books. The brothers’ collection quickly flourished and, in 1919, trusts were established to ensure the library’s existence far into the future. The Lloyd now curates an expansive collection of books and materials on natural history, botany, pharmacy, medicine, and related topics. It is privately funded but open to the public, serving as a source of research, art collections, and exhibits.

Honorary Advisory Board members are selected based on some of the following criteria: a record of contribution to subjects represented in the library’s collections; prior service to the Board of Directors; exemplary support and advocacy to the Lloyd; willingness to help LLM reach its goals; or being active in programs and organizations that benefit the Greater Cincinnati region or the state of Ohio.

According to Maggie Heran, Lloyd Library and Museum Executive Director, “Mark was chosen specifically because he has been a great supporter and advocate for the Lloyd for a number of years. Over time, Mark and I have established not only a working relationship, but also a friendship.

“HerbalGram [ABC’s peer-reviewed journal] has published articles on the Lloyd,” Heran continued, “and Mark has presented for us here in Cincinnati. In addition, Mark and I often meet at conferences where, in fact, he has already acted as advisor to me on a number of issues. He is very well known in the medicinal plant world and his name alone, attached to the Lloyd in a visible way, is certain to enhance the library’s stature.”

“I am deeply honored and grateful for the Lloyd’s decision to invite me to serve them by being on this board,” said Blumenthal. “A look at the number of ABC’s HerbalGram and HerbClip articles about and relating to the Lloyd Library shows how highly esteemed an institution I consider it to be. This appointment will only further enhance the wonderful relationship ABC has with the Lloyd Library and Museum, the largest medicinal plant library in the entire Western Hemisphere.”

HerbalGram, ABC’s quarterly journal, has published articles on the Lloyd Library’s creation of a natural health historical research center, the 2007 Lloyd Library exhibit of a botanical text once owned by 18^thcentury French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a book review by the late Professor Varro E. Tyler of a biography on John Uri Lloyd, and several others available through ABC’s online archives.

In addition to Blumenthal, the Lloyd Library appointed Helen Black, a supporter of the library who just retired from her long-held position on the Lloyd Board of Directors, and Mansukh Wani, PhD, Emeritus Scientist of the Research Triangle Institute who, together with Monroe Wall, PhD, isolated the highly successful anti-cancer constituent paclitaxel (brand name Taxol^®) from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in the 1960s.

The Honorary Advisory Board will consist of no more than 20 members. Each member will serve a 5-year term with the option of extending her or his service for an additional 5 years. Board members will primarily act to provide focused advice and recommendations to the Lloyd’s Board of Directors. They may also be called upon to attend library functions, advocate on behalf of grant applications, and support fund-raising efforts amongst other duties.

About the Lloyd Library and Museum
The Lloyd Library and Museum, located at 917 Plum Street, in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, is a local and regional cultural treasure. The library was developed in the nineteenth century by the Lloyd brothers to provide reference sources for Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the period.

Today the library is recognized worldwide by the scientific community as a vital research center. The library holds, acquires, and provides access to both historic and current materials on the subjects of pharmacy, botany, horticulture, herbal and alternative medicine, pharmacognosy, and related topics. Although its collections have a scientific focus, they also have relevance to humanities topics, such as visual arts and foreign languages, through resources that feature botanical and natural history illustrations, original artworks, and travel literature, thereby revealing the convergence of science and art. The Lloyd is open to anyone with an interest in these topics. For more information, visit the Lloyd website at www.lloydlibrary.org.