BY RAMYA GOPAL

In print | October 11, 2007

Swarthmore doubles as a natural museum and an academic institution. The mundane black plaques identifying every plant and tree that students pass by every day are a novelty to many visitors who take tours of the various gardens around campus. The Scott Arboretum has recently added new features, such as cell phone tours, a create-your-own-tour kiosk and an in-depth Walk with the Curator tour held once a month. According to Rebecca Robert, Member and Visitor Programs Coordinator, the main focus has been taking [education] to the next level with technology. The Arboretum has also made steps to include and involve students more in their ongoing activities throughout the school year.

The newly launched cell phone-based audio tours were inspired by the self-guided portable audio tours available at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. While the concept of these audio tours was appealing, the director thought it would be impossible for the arboretum to replicate. We can’t use them because people could only rent them when the office was open and it had to be free. It also had to be easy for visitors to find, Robert said. Then we heard that cell phones were doing this.

If visitors wanted to learn more about a specific plant limited to the ones with blue stickers accompanying the black plaques they can use their cell phones to listen to a prerecorded audio lesson. The Arboretum pays a company called Guide by the Cell a flat rate of $200 for 300 calls a month, though users of the cell phone tours must pay for the actual phone minutes they use while listening to the audio lesson. However, a web version comes for free. Dedicated visitors can download the tours onto their iPod for free through iTunes. September’s cell phone tour was made for the Arboretum’s annual plant sale and included information about fifteen different gardens and collections. The Arboretum will be launching a new cell phone tour this month.

Despite the advanced technology being implemented, the Arboretum maintains personal contacts with visitors through various workshops and tours. The Walk with the Curator tour is newly opened to the public. Walk with the Curator allows individuals to have an opportunity to learn about the plant collections and gardens from Curator of the Scott Arboretum Andrew Bunting. In the tour, Bunting also gives an overview of recent changes made to the arboretum. The tour program began as an intensive one-on-one lesson with the curatorial intern at the Arboretum. Special tours were also given on the weekends. However, Bunting decided to make the tours more accessible.

It’s an opportunity to show the Arboretum in twelve seasons and show off the wealth of collections, Bunting said. Most visitors are returning visitors or professional horticulturists. This month, however, Swarthmore students attended for the first time ever. Zamia Diaz ’09 had never been to an event before, but discovered the tour through the campus calendar and was impressed. The Arboretum was great prior to this, a beautiful and important part of campus, she said. The [tour guide] really knew a lot of the trees in the area. I might decide to go next month for the fall changes tour guide.

Diaz said she had not previously been that aware of Arboretum events. I would encourage other people to go, too, Diaz said.

The Arboretum has been trying to connect with Swarthmore students in different ways. Our goal is to bridge the gap between students and the arboretum. Recently we hired more student workers and provided more meaningful opportunities, Bunting said. Omari Faakye ‘10 currently works with the Arboretum as the Curatorial Research Assistant, having moved up from working as a gardener last year. One of his projects includes researching compostable alternatives for plastic utensils and cups in Sharples. Other student employment positions include Gardener’s Assistants, Fieldwork Assistant and Educational Programs Assistant.

The Scott Arboretum was founded in 1929 by an endowment by the Scott family to memorialize 1895 alum Arthur Hoyt Scott and, according to the mission on the Arboretum’s Web site, to make possible a dream of Mr. Scott’s to help horticulture by visual demonstration. The college’s nationally-recognized Arboretum has developed 21 collections and 19 gardens encompassing 300 acres and has won numerous awards.

Launched last fall, the self-created computer program tour greets visitors in the Arboretum office lobby. The kiosk, one eight gardens around the world who uses the software and the kiosk in conjuction with one another, provides detailed mapping information about every plant and bench on the campus. We mapped every plant with a GPS, measuring the height and width ¦ then we created tours for people, Robert said. The initiative took six years to develop and is among six gardens in the world to offer the service. Users can either create their own tours consisting of six different plant locations or use a pre-set tour.

Many different types of visitors used the kiosk as a resource, including alums, biology students and prospective plant-buyers. We have some alums who want to look up a tree donated on the grounds, people who are taking classes and want to look up certain specimens, Robert said. We also have visitors who are researching maple trees and want to see it before they are buy it. For instance, students who take biology classes at the Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square often visit Swarthmore to observe specific plant species.

Engineering professor Carr Everbach views the Arboretum as an educational resource, a bond with the Swarthmore borough community and a stress reliever. While the Arboretum’s main function is a teaching lab, it gets us students who find it lovely. Also, some teachers love the Arboretum and ¦ chose this place because of the Arboretum, Everbach said.

The beauty of the Arboretum was a factor in Everbach’s decision to teach at Swarthmore instead of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. [The Arboretum] is an important amenity that adds to the quality of life, Everbach said.

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