American Sycamore Image from Digital Library@Villanova University

Today, Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day. Villanova University, however, has been celebrating Earth Week with a variety of events: clothing swap, tree tours, Day of Action, a Sustainability Fair and Farmers Market and more, ending with Sunday’s Earth Day of Service.

If you were unable to attend one of the tree tours celebrating Earth Week at Villanova, Falvey is offering you its own version, one you can enjoy from the comfort of your home, residence hall or apartment. The Arboreana Collection was compiled by Laura Bang, Digital and Special Collections curatorial assistant, and is housed in Falvey’s Digital Library. From 2010-12, Bang documented 60 of the trees on the Villanova campus. She recorded five photographs of each tree – two full views from different angles, a close-up of the foliage, a close-up of the bark, and a close-up of its label. If the tree had flowers or fruit, she also photographed those.

Laura Bang

Bang says, “I was inspired to start documenting the trees on campus because I love trees and photography. It was fun to be able to take a camera outside and stroll around campus for work. I also thought it was a good way to document some of the other types of collections on Villanova’s beautiful campus… Of course, the landscape has changed over the years, so these photos also provide a visual record of what the campus looked like at a particular moment in time. … I am not a botanist … so I only took photos of the trees on campus that had labels. Being a librarian, however, I double-checked the information on the labels with various sources, indicated in the Arboreana collection description.”

This is just one of many fascinating collections in the Digital Library. The Digital Library also includes classroom projects, hosted projects and online exhibits. For information about the Digital Library contact Michael Foight, Special Collections and Digital Library coordinator, 610-519-5185, or Laura Bang, Digital and Special Collections curatorial assistant, room 235, 610-519-6390.

We are committed to accuracy and will make appropriate corrections. We apologize for any errors and always welcome input about news coverage that warrants correction. Messages can be e-mailed to alice.bampton@villanova.edu or call (610)519-6997.