Current Exhibition

Polk Place, 1971

For over two centuries, the “noble trees” of our campus have played a significant role in the life of the University. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni have demonstrated an interest in the preservation of these ornaments of nature since the University’s inception. Trees are thought to have influenced the placement of the first campus buildings, and as early as 1805, someone was hired to trim the trees and act as superintendent of the grounds. In the 1840s a program of campus improvement and landscaping began, and by the 1850s the University was acclaimed in state and national publications for its ornamental grounds and “lofty spreading oaks.”

The woodlands in and around campus remained largely undisturbed in the University’s first century. Beginning in the early twentieth century, campus expansion removed much of the original forest. Whether trees fall due to storms, old age, or construction, their removal is noted and lamented by the campus community. Today, the campus is in the capable hands of a Grounds Department which, along with other University officials and staff, identifies and preserves our historic trees and landmark spaces for future generations.

Highlights of the exhibition include nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century campus landscape planning documents, nineteenth-century lithographs of campus, and historic and contemporary photographs of significant trees.

“Noble Trees, Traveled Paths” opens February 15 and continues through May 31, 2010. The North Carolina Collection Gallery is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Louis Round Wilson Library. The Gallery’s visitation hours are Mondays through Fridays, 9:00-5:00; Saturdays, 9:00-1:00; and Sundays, 1:00-5:00. Admission is free. For more information or guided tours call 919-962-1172.