Under the direction of curator of rare books Martin Antonetti, the books were selected and the exhibition was written last year as a special studies by Samantha Leland and Anne Halsey, both of the class of 2006. This spring the exhibition was augmented by Lois Jenkins, class of 2009, who also assisted Mortimer Rare Book Room book arts specialist Barbara Blumenthal with installation of the exhibition.

Most of the books in this exhibition are part of what is known as the Thornton Collection. Edith Thornton (Cabot), 1886-1996, graduated from Smith College in 1910. William Ganong was one of her favorite professors. Ganong taught botany and was director of the botanic gardens from 1894-1932. When she graduated in 1910, Thornton donated $1,000 to the biology department to acquire a collection of botanical and scientific books. During her lifetime she continued to support the Thornton Collection through gifts.

In February 1948 an article about the Thornton Collection appeared in the Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Helen A. Choate, Smith College class of 1904 and Associate Professor Emeritus of Botany, described the collection as containing approximately 200 volumes, including many of the major publications in the development of the science of botany. The Thornton Collection remained under the purview of the biology/botany department until 1960 when a large part of the collection was transferred to the rare book collection in Neilson Library, now the Mortimer Rare Book Room.