Partnerships: The Lloyd Library

The Lloyd Library and Museum is in an unassuming building located on the corner of Plum and Court streets in downtown Cincinnati. Contained within its walls, however, is a world-class collection of rare books, manuscript materials, and reference and research books and journals covering botany, medicinal botany, pharmacy, pharmacognosy, eclectic medicine, and horticulture. The core materials for the collections began as working volumes needed by Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the period, established in 1886 by three brothers, John Uri, Nelson Ashley, and Curtis Gates Lloyd. The library they began has grown to include approximately 200,000 volumes and nearly 1,000 linear feet of archival material.

The pharmacy served medical practitioners with John Uri taking the lead in developing a line of specific medicines botanical in nature. The middle brother, Nelson Ashley, primarily oversaw the business aspects of the pharmacy, while the youngest brother, Curtis Gates, served a unique,
but wholly useful other role. As a bachelor with no immediate family to care for, Curtis Gates traveled the world in search of plant specimens, adding as he went to the unique library holdings of the company. He became the natural choice as benefactor to the Library and Museum, and it is the endowment he set up that continues to fuel the growth and maintenance of the Lloyd Library and Museum.

The Lloyd’s affiliation with the University of Cincinnati is twofold. Part of the massive herbarium belonging to Curtis Gates Lloyd was sent to UC and is held by the Department of Biology (the other half is now owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture). The second connection to UC is through University Libraries. A partnership was begun 10 years ago in 1995 with the Libraries originally providing Web site and e-mail services as well as publication of the Lloyd electronic catalog through the Library Catalog. Now, the primary connection is through the catalog publication, but the Lloyd also has access to support and training in library functions as needed.

To find out more about the Lloyd Library, visit their Web site, <www.lloydlibrary.org>, or better yet, make a visit in person. The library is open Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:00pm and during the academic year (September-May), every third Saturday 9:00am-4:00pm.

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