Missouri Botanical Garden

Horticulture Education and Training

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Former Interns...Where are they now?

Doug Holland

MBG Hort Intern - Summer of 1994

As an intern, I had many remarkable experiences and met wonderful people. By rotating through the various departments I was able to make contacts which helped me find a permanent position. My internship project, researching the reproductive biology of an endangered grass, resulted in a paper published in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (85:64-68. 1998.) Near the end of the internship, I was asked to extend my time at the Garden to help maintain a collection of research plants in the greenhouse. I was happy to oblige!

After six months, a permanent caretaker for the Research Greenhouse was found, and I moved on to a grant-funded position in the Garden Archives. The staff, several volunteers, and myself worked diligently for nine months to index and organize the collected research papers of Joseph Ewan, a noted botanist and historian of science. We not only finished the job, but the MBG press published the completed index as a Guide to the Ewan Papers.

For the next two years I worked in the herbarium, processing and identifying plant specimens. In addition to the general work, I also functioned as the Garden's principle contact with Shaman Pharmaceuticals. Shaman contracted with the Natural Products Department of our Research division to identify and provide nomenclature information on plants, which they were investigating for pharmaceutical value. In addition to the herbarium work, I also collected plants in the field. In the spring of 1997, I traveled to a remote, mountainous area of southern Belize for a six week collecting trip. In 1998, I spent two weeks collecting in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.

I became the Garden's Archivist in 1997. My broad background at the Garden, combined with my previous experience in history and museology qualified me for the job. The Garden has been very supportive with additional training since I took this position. I have traveled to California, Washington D.C., Boston, New York and New Orleans for classes and professional development. With the assistance of the Garden, I finished my Masters degree in Library Science in December 2000.

In 2001, I was promoted to the position of Administrative Librarian. The Garden's library is one of the best botany libraries in the world. It is my privilege to work in this library and help it continue its track record of excellence.

The Horticulture Internship allowed me an understanding and perspective of the Garden that many employees do not have. It opened doors for me in the Library and Herbarium which otherwise, would have been closed. Overall, it laid the foundation for a broad network and working knowledge of this large institution which continues to be useful to me everyday.

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