Unearthing the contribution of indigenous & enslaved African knowledge systems to the St Vincent Botanical Garden under Dr Anderson (1785-1811)

圣文森特植物园(SVBG)成立于1765年。它是世界上最早的热带花园之一，也是英国殖民时期加勒比海地区最早的热带花园。亚历山大·安德森博士(1748-1811)，苏格兰外科医生和植物学家，在SVGB的早期发展期间(1785-1811)担任负责人。安德森是他那个时代的人；受过教育，好奇心强，热衷于出名。他在加勒比海广泛旅行，记录了西方科学新发现的植物，将许多植物引入SVBG，记录了各种植物的用途，并与当时许多重要的花园和植物学家交换了观察、信息和植物。安德森的信件、植物标本、植物目录和加勒比海自然历史由伦敦林奈学会、自然历史博物馆、英国皇家植物园和国家档案馆保存。这些资料对SVGB或加勒比海地区的学者来说大多是无法获得的，因为目前需要亲自访问。该项目将把Linnean协会和自然历史博物馆持有的安德森档案数字化，包括他重要的Hortus St Vinctii档案，其中详细介绍了1800年在SVBG生长的植物，并包括一些植物学插图。其中有几张是由非洲裔加勒比青年约翰·泰利创作的；当时，植物插图的署名是非常罕见的，特别是由非洲裔加勒比人签名。安德森的加勒比海自然历史的数字化，以及他对生长在SVBG中的植物的详细资料，将使全球首次能够在线访问这些重要的历史资源。该项目还将根据更广泛的材料、安德森在Kew Gardens保存的信件、与SVBG有关的收据以及国家档案馆保存的更多植物目录来询问数字化档案。然后将对整个安德森档案进行分析，以发现和记录土著(加勒比/加里富纳)和被奴役的非洲人民所做的贡献，他们的知识和体力劳动为成功开发SVBG以及更广泛的西方科学知识做出了贡献。例如，安德森从土著人民和被奴役的非洲人那里获得了有关药用植物的信息，他们的工作帮助花园从1785年的350种植物生长到1800年的3000多种；花园(其建筑和植物保有物的多样性)的快速和持续扩张表明了土著和被奴役的非洲人民的努力、洞察力和知识。此外，根据安德森的收藏品对土著人民引入安德森的加勒比植物进行了科学描述，因此，这些植物和从非洲引进的植物的当地名称和用途被归功于安德森，而不是土著和被奴役的非洲人。该项目旨在纠正这一点，并向那些帮助安德森花园蓬勃发展的人致敬，然后在全球范围内分享这一信息。该项目将创建一个公共弹出式展览，以讲述安德森档案中隐藏的一些历史，并庆祝土著和被奴役的非洲人如何为SVBG做出贡献，从而更广泛地为环境和医学科学做出贡献；一件特别委托的艺术品将对此予以赞扬。社区活动将与居住在纽约和英国的圣文森特、加里富纳和非洲加勒比社区的人们分享研究结果和材料。该项目将发表环境科学和人文领域的学术文章，并制定一套最佳实践建议，以指导未来的环境学者在修改殖民背景下发展的出版物和理论时，更好地发现和欣赏传统知识体系的贡献。这些建议和发现将在来自多个学科的学者之间分享。最后，将写一本书，详细介绍安德森档案和SVGB的隐藏历史。

St. Vincent's Botanical Garden (SVBG) was established in 1765. It was among the earliest tropical gardens in the world, and the first in the British colonial Caribbean. Dr Alexander Anderson (1748-1811), a Scottish surgeon and botanist, served as SVGB's superintendent during its early development (from 1785 to 1811). Anderson was a man of his time; educated, inquisitive, and keen to make a name for himself. Travelling widely in the Caribbean, he recorded plants new to western science, introduced many plants into SVBG, documented the uses of various plants and exchanged observations, information, and plants with many significant gardens and botanists of the time. Anderson's letters, plant specimens, plant catalogues, and Caribbean natural histories, are held in London by the Linnean Society, Natural History Museum, Kew Botanical Gardens and the National Archives. These have been mostly unavailable to SVGB or Caribbean scholars as access currently requires an in-person visit.This project will digitise the Anderson archives held by the Linnean Society and the Natural History Museum, including his important Hortus St Vincentii which details the plants growing in SVBG in 1800, and includes a number of botanical illustrations. Several of these are by John Tyley, a young African-Caribbean man; at this time, it was very unusual for botanical illustrations to be signed, especially by an African-Caribbean. Digitisation of Anderson's Caribbean natural histories, and his details of plants growing in the SVBG, will allow global on-line access to these important historic resources for the first time. The project will also interrogate the digitised archive against wider material; letters sent by Anderson held at Kew Gardens, and receipts relating to SVBG and further plant catalogues held at the National Archive. The entire Anderson archive will then be analysed to detect and document the contributions made by the indigenous (Carib/Garifuna) and enslaved African peoples whose knowledge and physical labour fed into successful development of SVBG, and western scientific knowledge more generally. Examples include Anderson gaining information about medicinally used plants from indigenous peoples, and enslaved Africans whose work helped the garden grow from 350 plants species in 1785 to over 3,000 in 1800; the rapid and continuous expansion of the gardens (its buildings and diversity of plant holdings) speaks to the effort, insights, and knowledge of indigenous and enslaved African peoples. Additionally, Caribbean plants introduced to Anderson by indigenous people were described scientifically based on Anderson's collections, and as such the local names and uses of these plants, and those of plants introduced from Africa, were credited to Anderson rather than indigenous and enslaved African people. The project aims to rectify this and give credit to those who helped Anderson's garden flourish, and then share this information globally.The project will create a public pop-up exhibition in order to tell some of the histories hidden in Anderson's archive and celebrate how indigenous and enslaved African people contributed to the SVBG and thus to environmental and medical science more widely; a specially commissioned piece of art will compliment this. Community events will share findings and materials with people in St Vincent, and the Garifuna and African-Caribbean communities living in New York and the UK.The project will publish academic articles in both environmental science and the humanities as well as developing a set of best practice recommendations to guide future environmental scholars when reworking publications and theories developed in colonial contexts to better detect and appreciate the contribution of traditional knowledge systems. The recommendations and findings will be shared among scholars from many disciplines. Finally, a book detailing the hidden histories of Anderson's archive and SVGB will be written.