Snapshot from the Exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places & People"

Bailiwick ca. 1900s.

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum's exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey," continues to turn heads. The show runs through September 15th. For the next months, we will feature a rare image digtially restored from Bailey's glass plate negatives. Enjoy!

The income from his varied and popular horticultural books enabled Liberty Hyde Bailey to establish a modest country place on the west shore of Cayuga Lake about six miles north of Ithaca, New York. Using stones from the nearby fields, Bailey built a comfortable stone cottage. He called the retreat Bailiwick. For his family it was a wonderful summer home; for Bailey it provided an opportunity to study nature.
    During the summer and early fall, Bailiwick became the scene of many outings for faculty and students in Cornell’s Horticultural Department. Later, Bailey donated Bailiwick to the local Girl Scouts chapter, which converted the place into a center for nature study and summer day camp which is still in use.

Brown Bag Biology, "Art and Taxonomy: Rediscovering the Photography of L. H. Bailey"

L.H. Bailey's photo of pomegranates.

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum in South Haven will host its first Brown Bag Biology event of the summer, titled "Art and Taxonomy: Rediscovering the Photography of L. H. Bailey," this Friday, June 29, from 12:30-1:30. This event comes after the well-attended grand opening of the premier summer exhibit of Bailey's photography, "Through the Lens of L. H. Bailey." Liberty Hyde Bailey, South Haven's favorite son, was known for his many and diverse talents -- but few people know he was also an avid and talented photographer. Organizing this summer's premier exhibit, "Through the Lens of L. H. Bailey," has given the museum staff plenty of fresh insight into Bailey's photographic skills, as well as a deeper understanding of the man's science, aesthetics, and philosophy. Bring along a bag lunch and join the museum staff as they explore the themes of art and taxonomy through Bailey's unique and beautiful photography. This event is free and open to the public -- so bring a friend and meet under the museum's black walnut tree!
    

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is located at 903 South Bailey Avenue, South Haven.  Summer hours are 9:00-4:00. The museum and this program are free to the public. For more information, email lhbm@south-haven.com, call (269) 637-3251, visit www.libertyhydebailey.org, or Like the museum on Facebook.

"Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places and People," Opens

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum (LHBM) of South Haven, Michigan is pleased to present “Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey”, its premiere photo exhibition of the works by Liberty Hyde Bailey. The exhibit runs through September 15. The installation features nearly thirty works by Bailey, including plant life studies, family portraits, home life, and the Bailey estate culled from the museum’s collection of one-hundred glass plate negatives. In addition, the exhibition will be supported by archival material from The Liberty Hyde Bailey Horitorium, Cornell University and the LHBM’s collections, including artifacts, documents, and books from their Bailey library.

Exhibit Members Only Preview on June 22nd.

 Born in 1858 in South Haven, Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr. became known as, “America’s Father of Modern Horticulture.” A naturalist at heart, Bailey’s childhood passion for learning about the living world around him, brought him acclaim for his visionary work in botany, education, environmentalism, and horticulture. When Bailey learned to use a camera in 1886, his goal was not to create outstanding images, but to document plant life. Bailey’s eye for beauty and his affinity for the natural world became evident in his graceful compositions. “Is it not strange that all our galleries are indoors? […] Yet the world of out-of-doors is the real source of art and the real gallery; all our best galleries and best buildings are but adaptions, imitations, and interpretations” (L.H. Bailey) 

    The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is proud to be part of the national Blue Star Museums initiative. While admission to the museum is always free, active-duty military and their family (up to 5) will receive free admission to this special exhibit. General admission to the exhibit is $5. Student/Senior admission: $3. Kids 5 & under are free and members of the museum are free.

ABOUT THE LHBM The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is the homestead and birth site of America’s Father of Modern Horticulture. Constructed in 1857 by Liberty Hyde Bailey Sr., the museum is one of the oldest standing homes in South Haven, Michigan and was part of the Bailey farm that encompassed nearly eighty acres of land. In addition to artifacts belonging to the Bailey family, the museum also contains an extensive library of out of print books, magazines, bulletins, encyclopedias, and personal letters by Liberty Hyde Bailey. The museum grounds also host period gardens, including an heirloom vegetable garden and a wildflower trail. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday 9-4. We welcome you, your friends, and your family to come and discover one of history’s most interesting individuals.

Mich. Museums Offer Military Families Free Tickets

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum is proud to be part of the national Blue Star Museums initiative, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 1,500 museums across America. The program starts on Memorial Day (Monday May 28, 2012) and runs through Labor Day (Monday, September 3, 2012). While admission to the museum is always free, active-duty military and their family members (military ID holder and up to five family members) will receive free admission to the museum's new exhibit, "Through the Lens of L.H. Bailey: Plants, Places and People," opening to the public on Saturday, June 23rd.  General admission to this special exhibit is $5. Student/Senior Admission: $3. Kids 5 & under are free and members of the museum are free.

The Birds and I

The springtime belongs to the birds and me. We own it. We know when the Mayflowers and the buttercups bloom. We know when the first frogs peep. We watch the awakening of the woods. We are wet by the warm April showers. We go where I we will, and we are companions. Every tree and I brook and blade of grass is ours; and our hearts are full of song.

There are boys who kill the birds, and girls who want to catch them and put them in cages; and there are others who steal their eggs. The birds are not partners with them; they are only servants. Birds, like people, sing for their friends, not for their masters. I am sure that one cannot think much of the springtime and the flowers if his heart is always set upon killing or catching something. We are happy when we are free; and so are the birds.

Stuffed birds do not sing and empty eggs do not hatch. Then let us go to the fields and watch the birds. Sit down on the soft grass and try to make out what the robin is doing on yonder fence or why the wren is bursting with song in the thicket. An opera-glass or spy-glass will bring them close to you. Try to find out not only what the colors and shapes and sizes are, but what their habits are. What does the bird eat? How much does it eat? Where is its nest? How many eggs does it lay? What color are they? How long does the mother bird sit? Does the father bird care for her when she is sitting? How long do the young birds remain in the nest? Who feeds them? What are they fed? Is there more than one brood in a season? Where do the birds go after breeding? Do they change their plumage? Are the mother birds and father birds unlike in size or color? How many kinds of birds do you know?

     These are some of the things that every boy or girl wants to know; and we can find out by watching the birds! There is no harm in visiting the nests, if one does it in the right way. I have visited hundreds of them and have kept many records of the number of eggs and the dates when they were laid, how long before they hatched, and when the birds flew away; and the birds took no offense at my inquisitiveness. These are some of the cautions to be observed: Watch only those nests which can be seen without climbing, for if you have to climb the tree the birds will resent it. Make the visit when the birds are absent, if possible; at least, never scare the bird from the nest. Do not touch the eggs or the nest. Make your visit very short. Make up your mind just what you want to see, then look in quickly and pass on. Do not go too often; once or twice a day will be sufficient. Do not take the other children with you, for you are then likely to stay too long and to offend the birds.

    Now let us see how intimately you can become acquainted with some bird this summer. -L.H. Bailey, exerpt from, The Birds and I

The Common Things

Often indeed we look too far away for our treasures and stand too much aloof from what in our superiority we call the trivial things…Everywhere that I have been I look for the “common” things, so little noted that they are the uncommon. The great views and the resplendent objects do not make us content, not until the trivial and the common have meaning to us. - L.H. Bailey, unpublished manuscript

The Holy Earth for Earth Day

We have assumed that there is no obligation to an inanimate thing, as we consider the earth to be: but man should respect the conditions in which he is placed; the earth yields the living creature; man is a living creature; science constantly narrows the gulf between the animate and the inanimate, between the organized and the inorganized; evolution derives the creatures from the earth; the creation is one creation. I must accept all or reject all.

It is good to live. We talk of death and of lifelessness, but we know only of life. Even our prophecies of death are prophecies of more life. We know no better world: whatever else there may be is of things hoped for, not of things seen. The objects are here, not hidden nor far to seek: And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

    These good things are the present things and the living things. The account is silent on the things that were not created, the chaos, the darkness, the abyss. Plato, in the "Republic," reasoned that the works of the creator must be good because the creator is good. This goodness is in the essence of things; and we sadly need to make it a part in our philosophy of life. The earth is the scene of our life, and probably the very source of it. The heaven, so far as human beings know, is the source only of death; in fact, we have peopled it with the dead. We have built our philosophy on the dead.

    We seem to have overlooked the goodness of the earth in the establishing of our affairs, and even in our philosophies. It is reserved as a theme for preachers and for poets. And yet, the goodness of the planet is the basic fact in our existence. -L.H. Bailey, The Holy Earth