Item EWI - Pressed Plant Greetings Card

1 card

Transferred from the RBGE Herbarium, 24/09/2024

Pressed Plant Greetings Card, presumably sent at New Year, 1937-1938.
The pressed plant is a Maianthemum bifolium and was found in the Herbarium collection of Donald Patton alongside his Maianthemum bifolium specimen with the barcode E01360448 by digitiser Rebecca Camfield. The card was sent from 6 Glenan Gardens, Helensburgh and has the message 'Wishing you all much happiness in 1938'. Rebecca's research shows that the card is likely to have been created by Mrs Elizabeth Ewing and was sent by her to Donald Patton at the end of 1937 / start of 1938; an online search of the address on the card revealed a Watson Botanical Exchange Club member's list from 1926-1927 which provided a name of Mrs Ewing. Searching this name and the address Rebecca learnt that this was Mrs Elizabeth R. Ewing, married in 1901 to Peter Ewing. They had met as both part of the Glasgow and Andersonian Natural History and Microscopical Society, where she met several other prominent botanists. He became the President of said society in 1902, yet dies young in 1913. She became President herself between 1919 and 1920. Their herbarium went to Glasgow Herbarium after her death in 1951 at the age of 90.
In 1951 Donald Patton was the President of the Society according to their journal 'The Glasgow Naturalist' which he also edited. They were in the same circles and were probably friends. So this is highly likely like to be a little card she sent to Donald Patton in 1938 which he placed with his own collection of the species. It could also be as that was the year she resigned as the delegate for the British Association for the society?
Most of the above research was obtained from the Naturalist's obituary written by John R. Lee.
(right click, open link in new tab) https://archive.org/stream/glasgowna141519401946ande/glasgowna141519401946ande_djvu.txt

Collection is open to researchers by appointment, see (right click, open link in new tab:) https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/library-and-archives/visiting-the-library/

Permission required from RBGE.

• English

Good.

The card was found in the RBGE Herbarium with Donald Patton's Maianthemum bifolium specimen, barcode E01360448 : (right click, open link in new tab) https://data.rbge.org.uk/search/herbarium/?family=&genus=&species=&coll_name=&coll_num=&barcode=E01360448&accessionnumber=&country_name=&region=&major_taxon=&cfg=vherb.cfg&keywords=