An exciting new look and direction for our magazine Arnoldia
In 1911, the magazine now known as Arnoldia was born as the Bulletin of Popular Information. In the first issues, an unsigned writer, generally considered to be Charles Sprague Sargent, the Arnold Arboretum’s longtime director, described the flowering habits of plants at the Arboretum. Intermixed within the phenology were bits of natural history and curious asides, like a paragraph about the merits of northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) as a lumber source (the verdict: good for fenceposts, bad for railroad ties). Over the next century, Arnoldia evolved to include longer articles and interdisciplinary perspectives, ever a go-to source for novel insights on the nature of trees. This March, as part of the Arnold Arboretum’s sesquicentennial celebration, Arnoldia will debut a fresh, modern design and new content types.
Inside the redesigned magazine, readers will find a clear and elegant structure. In a new front-of-book section called Notes from the Field, botanists, horticulturists, and other plant professionals from around the world will provide short, first-person narratives about their work. Features will remain at the center of the magazine, regularly accompanied by visual storytelling and poetry. Essays, opinions, and reviews will appear in a new back-of-book section called Propagations. And on the back page, readers will find Season in Practice, a space where horticulturists from the Arnold Arboretum will offer seasonal tips and takeaways.
While Arnoldia has always reflected the work and mission of the Arnold Arboretum, its perspective is global. It is the only magazine devoted to woody plants where readers can consistently find accessible yet authoritative accounts written by expert contributors: geneticists, designers, historians, and more. With the addition of professional art in each issue and new spaces for literary contributions, the capacity for interdisciplinary conversations will expand even further. Through Arnoldia, the Arnold Arboretum welcomes readers everywhere into the vibrant world of trees.
Read more about the history and redesign of Arnoldia.