We are pleased to welcome Guy Sechrist who joins Garden and Landscape Studies as a predoctoral resident from August 29 to September 9.
Guy is a recent graduate from Villanova University, where he received an MA in history. During his time at Villanova, Guy worked with a number of institutions including the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum, and served as a research contractor for the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He served as the chief editor in history for the graduate journal Concept, and has just recently published his work “Nicholas Culpeper’s Directory: Legitimizing the Profession of Midwives in Seventeenth Century England.” In the fall, Guy will be attending the University of Cambridge, where he will be working under Dr. Lauren Kassell in the History and Philosophy of Science Department.
At Dumbarton Oaks, Guy will research early modern botanical exchanges between England, America, and the Caribbean, and examine the role botanicals played in the New World to highlight a new form of exchange regarding plants and naturalia. His goal is to ascertain the various ways in which print material, collecting, gardens, and curiosity cabinets influenced botanist-physicians like Sir Hans Sloane, who voyaged to the New World in hopes of prospecting new plants for reasons other than collecting and learning.