Beauty inside and out
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The rich legacy of Dumbarton Oaks exists as much in its spectacular gardens as in the pages of the rare books kept inside the historic home. The distinct beauty of both settings has provided inspiration and substance for the forthcoming book “The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century.” Led by Yota Batsaki, executive director, with co-editors Sarah Burke Cahalan, a librarian formerly at Dumbarton Oaks and now at the University of Dayton, and Anatole Tchikine, assistant director of garden and landscape studies, the project began as an interdisciplinary effort to “stretch the fields of study” at the Harvard research institute, nestled in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. “I came with my own research and teaching in the long 18th century, and I gravitated to the rare book room, which has an 18th-century space and feel,” said Batsaki, who started working at Dumbarton Oaks in 2011. “The...