Norman Taylor papers

Norman Taylor (1883-1967), is primarily recognized as the author of the perennial horticulture reference work, Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening. He was botanical editor for Webster's New International Dictionary ( ca. 1945) and the American Heritage Dictionary (ca. 1960). Additionally he authored one of the first popular books on psycho-active plants, Flight from Reality (1949), later reprinted as Narcotics, Nature's Dangerous Gifts (1961) and other popular works on gardening and nature conservation.

Taylor was born in Hereford, England in 1883 and emigrated with his parents, two brothers and a sister to Yonkers, New York in 1889. He was naturalized in 1896. As a child and youth he was plagued by illness which forced him first to leave grammar school, then high school.

After two years at Cornell University as a special student in Agriculture and Horticulture, he began working in the Forestry Department of the N.Y. Zoological Park as a plant maintainer. During this period he met Nathaniel Lord Britton who hired him as a museum assistant at the New York Botanical Garden and became his personal tutor in Botany. Taylor accompanied Britton as a collector on his field trip to Inagua in 1904 and worked with G.V. Nash as a collector in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Other expeditions in which Taylor participated were to Cuba, Haiti and Turk's Island.

In 1911 Taylor was appointed Curator of Plants of the new Brooklyn Botanical Garden. He helped lay out the grounds and did intensive studies on the flora of Long Island. He walked nearly 2000 miles over all of Long Island, mapping locations of plant families. He became interested in recording the sites of giant trees, a subject he would return to in The Ageless Relicts, the Story of Sequoia published in 1963. During his career at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Taylor consulted with Robert Moses on the planning of State Parks in Long Island and was instrumental in having Montauk Point declared a State Park. He served as an expert witness in the Hither Hills State Park case.

While at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Taylor was named editor (1917-1919) of the Journal of the International Garden Club. This led to many lectures at society Garden Clubs throughout the country.

In 1928 Taylor was engaged by the Chicle Development Company to search for chicle, chicle substitutes and Gutta Percha in Brazil. He wrote to Fortune Magazine, suggesting an article on chewing gum. Fortune wrote back, asking him to write an article on the story of Cinchona. This was published in 1934 and circulated through the Cinchona industry, leading to his appointment in 1936 as Director of the Cinchona Institute in N.Y., a non-profit research institute connected to the Quinine industry of Holland. Taylor served as liaison to the American medical community and spokesperson within the United States for the prevention and treatment of maleria. He retired from this position in 1951.

Norman Taylor's popular writing career began in 1920 while he was still associated with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. He wrote a series of articles on appreciation of nature under the name "The Naturalist" for the New York Evening Post. After some attempts to publish work on non-botanical topics, Nathaniel Lord Britton recommended him as Editor of Botany, Ornamental Horticulture and Forestry for Webster's New International Dictionary (2nd ed.) (1926-1934).

He left the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in 1929 and after two years of negotiation began the first edition of The Garden Dictionary, a work that would become a horticulture standard, having four editions, spanning thirty years. The first edition was awarded the Gold Medal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1936. The second edition appeared under the title Taylor's Garden Encyclopedia as did all subsequent editions. Taylor's publisher, Houghton-Mifflin, is continuing to issue a series of horticulture books under the name Taylor's Guides. In the 1950's Taylor contracted with Van Nostrand and produced a series of seven books on garden topics.

Taylor was one of the first professionals to encourage organic gardening and his Encyclopedia provided a platform for the dissemination of those ideas to the general public.

His knowledge and contacts in the medicinal plant world led to Flight from Reality (1949) and later Plant Drugs that Changed the World (1965). His dissatisfaction with the management of the Merriam-Webster Co. led to his work on the American Heritage Dictionary, published in 1965.

He was awarded an honorary PhD. From Washington College, Chestertown, Md. in 1958. The New York Botanical Garden gave him its Distinguished Service Award in 1961. The American Horticultural Society honored him with its Liberty Hyde Bailey Medal in 1963. He was a member of the Explorer's Club, the Players Club, the Century Club and the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.

Norman Taylor attributed his love of travel to his childhood stays at Brighton. After his numerous expeditions on behalf of NYBG, and the Cinchona Institute, he entered into a peripatetic life, touring the world with his wife Margaretta Stephenson one third of the year, and dividing the rest of the year between their homes on W. 10th St. and their beloved estate, Elmwood in St. Anne, Maryland, purchased on his retirement from the Cinchona Institute (1951).

His first wife was Bertha Fanning Taylor, a botanical illustrator. He had three children, Norman, Jr., Alice and Marian. Marian, who died in 1968 ran a publishing house in Torino named Taylor Torino, with her husband Nicola Abbagnano, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Turin.

Norman Taylor died at Elmwood in November, 1967.