Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, cover art (3.19462)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Proof for cover/page 1 including more detailed illustrations and layout with title for the The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Depicts illustrated map of trail through Spruces and Firs, Arbor Vitae, Larch, Pines, Junipers, Yew, and Hemlock Collections. Below map, stylized trees and two figures illustrated, standing next to sign "Evergreen Nature Trail".
Text at bottom of illustration: "Trail Begins Here - Parking Number Two - Trail Ends Here"
Extent: 1 sheet
January Calendar (3.19467)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Calendar for the month of January consisting of five rows and seven columns depicting days and dates from Sunday through Saturday, the 1st through the 31st. Each square has a date plus illustration and text, some of which anticipates the coming Spring and some which show reminders of the past year.
Header: January
Text and illustrations, from top to bottom, left to right:
- (Friday, 1) [image of dogwood stems and buds] flowering dogwood is ready for Spring
- (Saturday, 2) [image of hemlock needles and cones] small cones drip from the hemlock tips -
- (Sunday, 3) [image of unidentified stems and fruit]
- (Monday, 4) [image of one chickadee and a birdhouse]
- (Tuesday, 5) [image of two chickadees and a birdhouse] chikca-dees stay to crack their seeds
- (Wednesday, 6) [image of evergreen needles and star magnolia stems and buds] star mag-nolia buds are pale against evergreens
- (Thursday, 7) [image of long-eared owl on branch of Norway spruce] long-eared owls look down from Norway spruce trees
- (Friday, 8) [image of 2 pellets on ground beneath evergreen branch] 2 pellets under an owl roost contain skeletons of 2 deer mice
- (Saturday, 9) [image of small animal bones on ground] when an owl pellet is pulled apart, evidence of sudden death is re-vealed
- (Sunday, 10) [image of euonymus stems and fruit] Euonymus still holds some of the "little hearts bursting with love"
- (Monday, 11) [image of birch stems, cones, and catkins] wind and birds have shattered birch cones but catkins are ready for Spring
- (Tuesday, 12) [image of zumi crabapple stems and fruit] Zumi crabs still hold their fruit
- (Wednesday, 13) [image of one cardinal and a birdhouse] the cardinal is back now that we have sunflower seeds again
- (Thursday, 14) [images of canker-worms on a dogwood twig] on a dogwood twig, canker worms are ready for Spring
- (Friday, 15) [images of evergreens and a hawthorn] hoar frost is on the hawthorns ---
- (Saturday, 16) [image of redbud stems, buds, and fruit] on red-bud, flower buds are ready for next Spring, and pods recall last Spring's flowers
- (Sunday, 17) [image of a bird on a tree branch]
- (Monday, 18) [image of sycamore trunks and branches] sycamore bark
- (Tuesday, 19) [image of trees and a trail] evergreen trail
- (Wednesday, 20) [image of rhododendron stems and leaves] Rhododendron leaves pointing down say it's COLD!
- (Thursday, 21) [image of a white Oak] white oaks hold last summer's leaves on lower branches
- (Friday, 22) [image of a Norway spruce] Norway spruce holds long cones
- (Saturday, 23) [image of pixie-cup lichens through a magnifying glass] there are Pixie-cup lichens in the spruce plot
- (Sunday, 24) [image of two ostrich ferns] the fertile fronds of ostrich fern stand stiff and dark
- (Monday, 25) [image of American cranberry-bush stems and fruit] high-bush cranberry wears puffs of snow
- (Tuesday, 26) [image of winter wren in brush] the winter wren weaves through low brush
- (Wednesday, 27) [image of hazel stems and catkins] hazel catkins feel softer
- (Thursday, 28) [image of vernal witch-hazel and close-up of flower] vernal witch hazel is in bloom
- (Friday, 29) [image of one set of raccoon tracks] raccoon tracks are plentiful after a mild night
- (Saturday, 30) [image of two sets of deer mouse tracks with trail mark between] white-footed deer mouse hops past
- (Sunday, 31) [image of three sets of Junco bird tracks] juncoes hop too
Extent: 1 sheet
Some New England Trees (3.19470)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of needles and cones for two types of trees found in New England.
Header: Some New England trees inhabit the mountain tops in the Smokies
Illustrations, top to bottom:
- red spruce
- hemlock
Extent: 1 sheet
An Example of Parallel Species (3.19471)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations comparing two parallel species of trees, one in America and one in Europe. Illustrations depict a branch with leaves and fruit.
Header: An example of parallel species
Illustrations from left to right:
- one in southeastern America
- ironwood -- Ostrya virginiana
- one in Europe
- European hornbeam -- Ostrya carpinifolia
Extent: 1 sheet
Three Trees Whose Relatives Are Largely In the Tropics (3.19472)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of three types of leaves layered one on top of the other.
Text at center left: Three trees whose relatives are largely in the tropics
Illustrations from center outward:
- Silver Bell
- Fringe Tree
- Paw-paw
Extent: 1 sheet
A Bur Oak Twig (3.19473)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Detailed illustration of a single bur oak twig with identifying text.
Text: a bur oak twig
Extent: 1 sheet
Four Oaks (3.19491)
Date: 1940 – 1959Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of four oaks: Chinkapin oak, Swamp white oak, White oak and Bur oak. Each tree is illustrated by silhouette, and is accompanied by an outline of its leaf and drawings of its twig with a winter bud and its acorn.
upper left: Quercus muehlenbergii, Chinkapin oak
upper right: Quercus bicolor, Swamp white oak
lower left: Quercus alba, White oak
lower right Quercus macrocarpa, Bur oak
Extent: 1 sheet
Arboretum Landscape Teaching Aid Series: Know, Know, Know Your Oaks, This Is How They Grow (3.19509)
Date: 1940 – 1960Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Primarily textual teaching aid depicting Arboretum landscape. This material describes the growth direction of five types of oak tree branches. Illustrations depict small human-shaped figures that indicate tree branch growth with arms and run diagonally down the center of the image with descriptive text on either side.
Header: Know, know, know your oaks, / This is how they grow:
Text and illustrations from top to bottom:
- Red Oak, [illustration of figure with arms raised overhead] (arms held to indicate acute-angled branching)
- White Oak, [illustration of figure with arms raised to shoulders] (arms indicate right-angled branching)
- Bur Oak, [illustration of figure with arms raised to shoulder and elbows bent down] (elbows indicated gnarled branching)
- Pin Oak, [illustration of figure with arms extended at sides] (deflected lower branches)
- and Hill's, untidy below. [illustration of figure with arms raised to shoulder, elbows bent down, and fingers splayed] (fingers indicate deflected, dead, lower branches)
Extent: 1 sheet
Winter Buds, #1 (3.19511)
Date: 1940 – 1950Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Large poster depicting 16 types of winter buds, bound in green tape.
Illustrations and text, from left to right, top to bottom:
- white ash
- black ash
- blue ash
- red ash
- sugar maple
- Norway maple
- silver maple
- box-elder
- horse-chestnut
- ohio buckeye
- flowering dogwood
- catalpa
- ironwood
- gray birch
- European white birch
- European alder
Extent: 1 sheet
Winter Buds, #2 (3.19512)
Date: 1940 – 1950Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Large poster depicting 12 types of winter buds, bound in green tape.
Illustrations and text, from left to right, top to bottom:
- bitternut hickory
- witch-hazel
- shadbush
- beech
- black walnut
- butternut
- sassafras
- shagbark hickory
- linden
- mountain ash
- sour gum
- silver poplar
Extent: 1 sheet
Winter Buds, #3 (3.19513)
Date: 1940 – 1950Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Large poster depicting 16 types of winter buds, bound in green tape.
Illustrations and text, from left to right, top to bottom:
- honey locust
- black locust
- Osage orange
- hawthorn
- wild crab
- wild plum
- European larch
- ginkgo
- red oak
- white oak
- tulip tree
- sycamore
- Kentucky coffeetree
- tree of heaven
- staghorn sumac
- willow
Extent: 1 sheet
Tree Portraits: Persimmon (3.19514)
Date: 1940 – 1950Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Painting
Description:Color silhouette of a Persimmon tree, including a nature print outline of a leaf, a drawing of a fruit, and descriptive text.
Header: PERSIMMON
Drawings and text, from top to bottom, left to right:
- leaf: alternate
- tree: opossum's tree; native from central Illinois southward; bark broken into block, showing orange underbark
- fruit: astringent unless fully ripe
Extent: 1 sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide: Forest Nature Trail worksheet (3.24001)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Document
Description:Commercial reproduction of the FOREST NATURE TRAIL worksheet planned to accompany The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. The worksheet was designed to be used along with the trail guide while walking the trail.
Instructions at the top read: FILL BLANKS AT RIGHT WITH LETTER YOU SELECT - Questions based on your observation and the Trail Guide Booklet
Left border is labeled "Posts" and has illustrations of numbered tree stumps 1- 46, ending with a marker that reads "End of Trail".
Left center panel includes text of questions that match up with single posts or groupings of posts to the left.
Right center panel includes letter choices with illustrations and names of various flora and fauna along the trail, such as leaves, rocks, flowers, seeds, animals, animals tracks, needles, and trees.
Right border is labeled "Answers" and has answer boxes to be filled in with appropriate letters, ending with the notation, "If you are successful, this will tell you so".
Extent: 1 sheet
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide (3.24009)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Book
Description:The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet: commercial reproduction of the original art with additional descriptive text.
The booklet contains 16 pages of information about the Evergreen Nature Trail and includes maps on front cover and second page, key to the trees in the woods on back cover, and other pages with illustrations and text descriptions of trail features.
Two versions of the commercially printed booklet have been identified with a difference in the front cover (page 1) as to where the trail begins: Parking Number Two and Parking Number Thirteen.
Extent: 1 booklet (3 copies)
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide: details of evergreens along evergreen trail map and worksheet (3.24010)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Document
Description:Commercial reproduction of the Details of Evergreens Along Evergreen Trail map and work sheet planned to accompany The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Trail Guide booklet.
The illustrated map includes names of plants along the trail as well as numbers referring to explanations in the Guide booklet. Features an inset map of the Arboretum labeled "Detail of Arboretum Map" in bottom left and a work sheet section at top right titled "DETAILS of EVERGREENS along EVERGREEN TRAIL (about half-size)." To the right of the title, instuctions read: "The numbers refer to marked specimens. The spaces are for you to fill with names." Below are illustrations of various Evergreen needle types that replicate the illustrations found in "A KEY TO THE EVERGREENS ALONG THIS TRAIL" on the back cover of the trail guide booklet, separated into four categories: 1) Deciduous 2) Scale-like needles, or awl-shaped needles, or both 3) Separate needles 4) Needles in bundles
Extent: 1 sheet
The Edge of the Forest (3.24604)
Date: 1944Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of thirteen different trees and plants of the forest edge, created to accompany "The Edge of the Forest" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Drawings show species-specific seeds, flowers, trees, leaves, twigs and stems for each plant in columns and rows across the page. Some identifying text exists. The remaining identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present.
Header: THE EDGE of the FOREST
- includes generalized sketch of trees and other plants across the top
- Bird-distributed seeds
- Bee-pollenated flowers
- Protection from Grazers
- Armor
- Bitter Taste
- Rosa setigera -- Prairie rose
- Prunus americana -- Wild plum
- Rosa carolina -- Pasture rose
- Malus ioensis -- Wild crab
- Crataegus punctata -- Dotted hawthorn
- Rubus alligheniensis -- Blackberry
- Rubus occidentalis -- Blackcap raspberry
- Rhus glabra -- Smooth sumac
- Ribes cynosbati -- Gooseberry
- Cornus racemosa -- Gray dogwood
- Prunus virginiana -- Choke cherry
- Sambucus canadensis -- Elderberry
- Prunus serotina -- Black cherry
Extent: 1 sheet
Four Types of Hawthorns (3.24607)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of four hawthorn species, created to accompany "Hawthorn Traits" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Illustrations include full tree in winter, a leaf, and fruit for each species. Descriptive text accompanies each tree illustration.
Header: FOUR TYPES of HAWTHORNS
Trees and text depicted from left to right, top to bottom:
- Cockspur Hawthorn - Crus-galli Group - most persistent fruit, latest bloom, leathery foliage, short petioles -
- Dotted Hawthorn - Punctuate Group - flattest top, deepest veins, dotted red or yellow fruit
- Downy Hawthorn - Molles Group - largest leaves, first to bloom, first fruit to ripen, largest fruits
- Thicket Hawthorn - Pruinosae Group - thin small leaves, bronze when unfolding, twiggy growth -
Extent: 1 sheet
Our Native Maples (3.24611)
Date: 1944Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of four species of maple, created to accompany "The Maples of The Morton Arboretum" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Drawings show tree shape, including top, twigs, branches, size, winged seeds, and leaves. Descriptive text gives details of tree structure (branching, bark, and trunk), habitat, seed ripening schedule, and leaf details including color and sinus structure. Red maple seeds illustration is a cut out piece glued in place.
Illustrations depicted from top to bottom, left to right:
- Sugar maple -- Acer saccharum
- tree - round top; dark smooth on young branches; right-angled branching; sap-sucker holes; stone-gray bark with thick plates loose along one edge; upland
- seeds - ripe in September-October
- leaf - smooth, thin, yellow in Fall
- Silver maple -- Acer saccharinum
- tree - broad top; smooth gray young branches; branches bend downward with tips turning upward; long loose scales on bark; trunk often divides near ground; lowland
- seeds - ripe in May
- leaf - silvery beneath; acute, deep sinuses
- Red maple -- Acer rubrum
- tree - pale gray upper branches; red twigs; dark gray bark; swamp, river-bottom, upland
- seeds - ripe in May-June
- leaf - silvery beneath, V-shaped sinuses, scarlet in Fall
- Box-elder -- Acer negundo
- tree - small tree; bushy spreading top, purplish twigs, bark with narrow shallow ridges; river bottoms
- seeds - ripe in summer; hangs on a winter
- leaf - prominent veins; 3 to 7 leaflets
Extent: 1 sheet
Maples from Europe and Asia (3.24612)
Date: 1944Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of five species of maple, created to accompany "The Maples of The Morton Arboretum" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Drawings show tree shape, including top, twigs, branches, and size, winged seeds, and leaves. Descriptive text gives details of tree structure (branching, bark, and trunk), habitat, seed ripening schedule, and leaf details including color and sinus structure.
Illustrations depicted from top to bottom:
- Norway maple -- Acer platanoides
- round top; twigs green-brown; from Europe, Caucasia; ripe in Fall; green on both sides; broad; rounded sinuses; 7-lobed; pale yellow in Fall; milky juice
- Sycamore maple -- Acer pseudoplatanus
- spreading top; from Europe, W. Asia; bark scales off in thin flakes; ripe in Fall; hanging in clusters like grapes; toothed margin; green on both sides; acute sinuses
- Amur maple -- Acer ginnala
- shrub to small tree; slender smooth branches; from China, Japan; ripe in late summer, red; long central lobe; toothed margin; yellow, orange, red in Fall
- Hedge maple -- Acer campestre
- shrub to small tree; from Europe, W. Asia; flattened nutlet; ripe in Fall; not toothed; milky juice
- Japanese maple -- Acer palmatum
- shrub; from Korea, Japan; ripe in Fall; usually red in Spring fading to green; 5 to 9 lobed
Extent: 1 sheet
The Deciduous Conifers (3.24623)
Date: 1945Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of two conifer species, created to accompany "The Evergreen Trees" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Illustrations include two full trees with two illustrations of leaves underneath. The identifying text "needles in tufts drooping twigs" is glued on separate piece of paper to the surface, top right. The remaining identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present.
[Original header (not included with art): THE DECIDUOUS CONIFERS]
Trees depicted from left to right:
- Bald cypress -- Taxodium distichum
- European larch -- Larix descidua
Extent: 1 sheet
The Cedars (3.24624)
Date: 1945Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of two cedars, created to accompany "The Evergreen Trees" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Illustrations include two full trees with illustrations of needles and fruit underneath. Identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present.
[Original header (not included with art): "THE CEDARS"]
Trees, needles, and fruit depicted, from left to right, top to bottom:
- Red cedar -- Juniperus virginiana (with 2 kinds of needles)
- scale-like needles with blue-gray berries
- awl-shaped needles
- Arbor Vitae or White cedar -- Thuja occidentalis (1 kind of needle)
- scale-like needles, small cones
Extent: 1 sheet
The Christmas Trees (3.24630)
Date: 1945Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustration of seven evergreen trees, created to accompany "The Evergreen Trees" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Illustrations include full trees with needle illustrations below divided into sections according to needles, twigs, and branches. The identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present.
[Original header (not included with art): THE "CHRISTMAS TREES"]
Trees depicted, from left to right:
- Norway spruce -- Picea abies
- Colorado spruce -- Picea pungens
- White spruce -- Picea glauca
- Hemlock -- Tsuga canadensis
- White fir -- Abies concolor
- Balsam fir -- Abies balsamea
- Douglas fir -- Pseudotsuga taxifolia
Extent: 1 sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide: Forest Nature Trail worksheet (original) (3.24638)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Document
Description:Original illustrations and layout of the FOREST NATURE TRAIL worksheet planned to accompany The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included. The worksheet was designed to be used along with the trail guide while walking the trail.
Instructions at the top read: FILL BLANKS AT RIGHT WITH LETTER YOU SELECT - Questions based on your observation and the Trail Guide Booklet
Left border is labeled "Posts" and has illustrations of numbered tree stumps 1- 46, ending with a marker that reads "End of Trail".
Left center panel includes text of questions that match up with single posts or groupings of posts to the left.
Right center panel includes letter choices with illustrations and names of various flora and fauna along the trail, such as leaves, rocks, flowers, seeds, animals, animals tracks, needles, and trees.
Right border is labeled "Answers" and has answer boxes to be filled in with appropriate letters, ending with the notation, "If you are successful, this will tell you so".
Extent: 1 sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 3 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24653)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 3, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #1: Four Kinds of Oaks
Identifying characteristics for oak trees and leaves illustrated to the right for Bur Oak, White Oak, Red Oak, Northern Pin Oak.
Tree stump #2: A Limestone Boulder
Identifying characteristics for trilobites and crinoids illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #3: A Granite Boulder
Identifying characteristics for granite boulder illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #4: Wild Black Raspberries
Identifying characteristics for wild black raspberries leaves, stem, flower, and fruit illustrated to the right.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 6 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24656)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 6, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #10: Black Walnut
Identifying characteristics for leaves, seeds, and nuts illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #11: Red Oak Bark
Identifying characteristics for bark and leaves illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #12: H-A-M
Mnemonic device for remembering which common trees bear leaves opposite each other: H = horse-chestnut, A= ash, and M = maple. Identifying characteristics for leaves illustrated to the right labeled "alternate" and "opposite".
Tree stump #13: Who Planted These 4 Trees in a Row?
Generalized illustration of four trees with identifying characteristics for seeds illustrated to the right labeled "oak," "maple," "ash," and "oak".
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide: evergreen trail map and work sheet (3.24663)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Document
Description:Original illustrations and layout for the Evergreen Trail Map and Work Sheet planned to accompany The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Trail Guide booklet. Signed "by M. T. Watts" in bottom right corner.
Work sheet in top right corner included to test your conifer knowledge. Bottom left list of plants along the trail used in conjunction with worksheet in top right corner.
Illustrated map includes names of plants along the trail as well as numbers referring to explanations in the Guide booklet.
Extent: 1 sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 11 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24668)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 11, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #26: Linden or Basswood
Identifying characteristics for leaves, seeds, blossoms, and buds illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #27: Footprints of wild animals
Identifying characteristics for animal footprints in mud or snow illustrated to the right, including "rabbit," "raccoon," "skunk," "fox," "opossum," "squirrel," and "woodcuck" as labeled.
Tree stump #28: What Good are Fallen Leaves?
Illustration of several types of fallen leaves layered on top of each other.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 13 illustrations and layout (3.24670)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Original illustrations and layout for page 13, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #34: Ironwood or Hop Hornbeam
Identifying characteristics for leaves, seeds, and fruits illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #35: Are you as Smart as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker?
Illustration of a red oak trunk and sugar maple trunk to the right - sugar maple includes drawing of yellow-bellied sapsucker pecking rings of holes in the maple's trunk for sap.
Tree stump #36: Where Does the Water in These Streams Go?
Map of DuPage River, including West Branch and East Branch at Arboretum near top right, the Des Plaines River center right, the Kankakee River center bottom, and the Illinois River center left with arrow pointing left labeled "to Mississippi".
Tree stump #37: The Thickness of Twigs
Identifying characteristics of ironwood and sumac twigs illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #38: Blue Ash
Identifying characteristics for leaves and twig illustrated to the right.
Extent: 1 Sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 14 illustrations and layout (3.24671)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Original illustrations and layout for page 14, excluding most text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #39: A Mature Sugar Maple
Identifying characteristics of mature sugar maple bark illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #40: From a Bird's Viewpoint
Identifying characteristics of Hawthorn leaf, flower, and fruit illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #41: Wild Strawberry
Identifying characteristics of three leaflet leaf and flower and Five Finger or Cinquefoil five leaflet leaf and flower illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #42: A Girdling Experiment
Typewritten text describing ash tree girdling glued to center panel, and illustration of girdled trunk to the right.
Tree stump #43: OO-HOOSH-AB--"It Slips"
Illustration of a hand holding a Slippery Elm leaf and a small drawing of a man's face with stubble to illustrate the "unshaven" feel of the leaves and twigs.
Extent: 1 Sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 15 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24672)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 15, including some text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #44: Which oak is this one?
Text handwritten in center panel and identifying characteristics for four types of oak leaves outlined to the right - illustration in the first row is labeled "Are the lobes pointed - or - rounded," the middle row is lableled "deep - or -shallow," the bottom row is labeled "Is the surface leathery or dull".
Tree stump #45: Douglas Fir
Text handwritten in center panel and identifying characteristics for needles and cones illustrated to the right - label "long end bud" points arrow to top center of needles drawing, and label "bracts" points arrow to center left of cone drawing.
Tree stump #46: Honey Locust
Labels handwritten in center panel and identifying characteristics of leaves, thorns, and pods illustrated to the right.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Forest Nature Trail Guide, back cover/page 16 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24673)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for back cover/page 16, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Includes a key to tree leaf characteristics. Header text "A KEY To the trees in these woods"
(first section) Leaf simple
Illustrated identifying characteristics of leaves, divided into two categories, "with lobed margin" and "with toothed margin" as labeled. Each section depicts variations in veins, lobes, and thorns
(second section) Leaf compound
Illustrated identifying characteristics of leaves, divided into two catagories, "leaves opposite" and "leaves alternate" as labeled.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Forest Nature Trail Guide (3.24674)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Book
Description:The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet: commercial reproduction of the original art with additional descriptive text.
The booklet contains 16 pages of information about the Forest Nature Trail and includes maps on front cover and second page, key to the trees in the woods on back cover, and other pages with illustrations and text descriptions of trail features.
[Two versions of the commercially printed booklet have been identified with a difference in the front cover (page 1) as to where the trail begins: Parking Number Ten and Parking Number Twenty-eight.]
*Note attached to later printing identifies changes along the trail since trail guide was first released.
Extent: 1 booklet
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, front cover/page 1 illustrations and layout w/ preliminary sketch page (3.24675)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet 1: Original illustrations and layout for the front cover/page 1 of The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated map of trail area. Stylized evergreen trees below map.
Sheet 2: Preliminary sketch page (no sketches), "green" written in top right corner.
Extent: 2 sheets
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, page 2 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24676)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 2 (inside front cover), excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Introductory page to trail guide, including map of the trail's location on Arboretum grounds near parking lot 2. Map header text "LOCATION OF EVERGREEN NATURE TRAIL in the Arboretum" points arrow to Evergreen Nature Trail on map. Thornhill Building and Administration Building identified in map for reference to trail location on grounds.
Map also identifies 2 other trails in the Arboretum:
Thornhill Trail - identified by circles located near Thornhill Building
Forest Trail - identified by crosses in far right section of the map
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored map with page number and various ink lines.
Extent: 2 sheets
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, page 3 illustrations and layout (3.24677)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Original illustrations and layout for page 3, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #1: The Ancestry of Evergreens
Tree stump #2: Firs and Spruces
Identifying characteristics for needles and cones illustrated in columns below.
No preliminary sketches available for page 3.
Extent: 1 sheet
Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, page 4 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24678)
Date: 1940sCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 4, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #3: Colorado Green Spruce
Includes generalized identifying characteristics of tree illustrated below.
Tree stump #4: Norway Spruce
Includes generalized identifying characteristics of tree illustrated below.
Tree stump #5: Colorado Blue Spruce
Tree stump #6: White Spruce
Includes generalized identifying characteristics of tree illustrated below.
Several cutout illustrations depicting needle/cone characteristics originally adhered to board have detached and are no longer present. One detached cutout illustration of Colorado Green Spruce needles housed with art.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets, 1 cutout