Biography

American horticulturist and botanist who, as its first director, shaped the development of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. Charles Sprague Sargent was born to a notable family in Boston. His father was a successful merchant and Sargent grew up in the beautiful surroundings of the family estate in Brookline. He was educated at Harvard, graduating in 1862, after which he served in the military for three years during the American Civil War. He then travelled in Europe for some years before returning to take over the horticultural management of the family estate in 1868. He married Mary Allen Robeson in 1873, with whom he had five children.

In the same year as his marriage, at the age of 32, he was appointed director of the Harvard Botanic Garden and of the newly established Arnold Arboretum at Jamaica Plain; a somewhat mysterious appointment by the Harvard Corporation, given Sargent's lack of botanical qualifications and lacklustre performance as an undergraduate. (He was possibly recommended by his Brookline neighbour, the Harvard professor of horticulture Francis Parkman.) Nevertheless, none would debate the self-taught botanist's impressive achievement in transforming the arboretum into a spectacular landscape and leading centre for the study of dendrology over the course of his tenure.

As head of the arboretum for the first 55 years of its existence, Sargent saw it through its first plantings and brokered a deal with the City of Boston whereby the city took ownership of the site and responsibility for its security, roads and perimeter, meanwhile leasing it on a peppercorn rent to the university. Harvard, meanwhile, maintained control of collections while allowing public access free of charge. Another key way in which Sargent was able to benefit the arboretum was by soliciting funds from his wealthy friends and using his own resources; after his death it was discovered he had personally met any shortfall in the arboretum's annual budget.

Thanks to his well-to-do connections Sargent was also able to help his esteemed friend and colleague, Asa Gray, to retire by arranging to provide him with $500 a year. Gladly accepted, the offer allowed Gray to devote himself to his Flora of North America. However, Sargent was naturally rather aloof and relations between him and his three other associates under Asa Gray (George Goodale, William Farlow and Sereno Watson) were tense. Rivalry between them was rife and Sargent even succeeded in alienating Harvard's president, Charles Eliot. In 1878 Gray himself was none too pleased with Sargent, who was campaigning to move Harvard's entire botanic complex to the arboretum’s Jamaica Plain site. Sargent was pushed to resign from directing the botanic garden, a post taken over by Goodale. Retreating to the arboretum, he concentrated on developing the herbarium and library there, rueing the transfer of the garden to the 'unworthy hands' of Goodale and missing his daily contact with Gray, who remained living at the garden until his death in 1888. Indeed, the botanic gardens declined under Goodale, while the arboretum throve.

Alongside the management of the arboretum Sargent became a distinguished dendrologist, authoring oeuvres The Silva of North America (1891-1902) and Manual of the Trees of North America (1905, 2nd edition 1921). He founded the journal Garden and Forest (1888-1897) and Journal of the Arnold Arboretum (1920-). In addition he described more than 700 species and varieties of Crataegus (Rosaceae) in the first 15 years of the 20th century. This obsessive activity unfortunately stirred up a taxonomic storm and sullied his otherwise good reputation.

He also found time to take part in a number of plant collecting expeditions. As well as many short excursions in the U.S., he made several longer trips to other continents. At the age of 61 he planned a trip around the world, inviting his eldest son, Andrew Robeson, and the naturalist John Muir to join him. The trio set sail in 1903, first to England to visit Sargent's friends at Kew (Thistelton-Dyer and J.D. Hooker), Harry Veitch and other acquaintances, then on via Europe to St. Petersburg, the Crimea and Siberia. From Russia the party travelled to Korea, Japan and China, where Muir decided to proceed independently. The Sargents' next stop was Singapore, followed by Java. The whole trip lasted about six months, during which they collected large quantities of herbarium material.

The pair went on another jaunt in 1905, to western South America, both with the aim of collecting Chilean flora and establishing diplomatic relations with botanical institutions there. On the way they collected in Panama and Peru, returning via Buenos Aires and England in 1906. The return journey saw Sargent entreat Ernest Wilson, then at the Imperial Institute in London, to make another collecting trip in China, on behalf of the Arnold Arboretum. A generous salary and the promise of a position at the arboretum persuaded Wilson, who brought back masses of Chinese plants for Sargent in 1909 and again in 1911. Wilson travelled to the east twice more for the arborteum, and along with other collectors commissioned by Sargent (Joseph Rock, William Purdom) contributed to its sizeable herbarium, rich in rare and exotic specimens, and impressive living collection. Sargent also built up a first-class library at the arboretum and was responsible for a great variety of horticultural introductions to America.

An ardent conservationist, he also played a part in the defence and creation of national parks in the U.S. The only downside to his accomplishments was that at his death, having run the arboretum (as a despot, some thought) for more than half a century with no students in his charge, there was no suitably trained successor to take over, never mind raise funds in the way that Sargent could. E.H. Wilson stepped into the breach that year, only to die in an automobile accident in 1930. He was succeeded by Elmer Merrill in 1936.

Sources:
S.B. Sutton, 1970, Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum
W. Trelease, 1928, "Biographical Memoir of Charles Sprague Sargent", National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. Biographical Memoirs, 7: 247-258
J. Warnement, 1997, "Botanical Libraries and Herbaria in North America. 3. Harvard's Botanists and Their Libraries", Taxon, 46(4): 652-654.