Staci L. Catron

Member since: 2014

Proposed by: Cherokee Garden Club, Zone VIII

Staci L. Catron is a library director, garden preservationist, author, bibliophile, researcher, archivist, and community collaborator who is passionate about botanical library collections as they hold the diverse and meaningful stories of the people and plants that have shaped, are shaping, and will shape the world. She believes that providing greater access to library collections for researchers around the globe is vital to fostering an intricate understanding of the natural world and bringing awareness to the global environmental, social, and economic challenges in the twenty-first century.

In her current position as the director of the Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, she manages the development, care, preservation, interpretation, and use of the collection, comprised of over 35,000 items including rare books, contemporary volumes, manuscripts, photographs, landscape architectural drawings, periodicals, seed catalogs, and ephemera. Founded by the Cherokee Garden Club in 1975, the Cherokee Garden Library is an active resource center that collects educational and research material in the fields of gardening, landscape design, garden history, horticulture, floral design, botanical art, cultural landscapes, natural landscapes, and plant ecology, with a specific focus on documenting the Southeastern region of the United States. The Garden Library provides exceptional service to the public; preserves and cares for its collections; acquires, through purchase and gift, historic and contemporary source materials on American gardening and its root sources; and presents relevant programming and exhibitions to the community.

Catron holds a B.A. in history and Latin from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia; Primary Teacher Certification from the Association Montessori Internationale; and a Master of Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Catron has contributed to or served as curator for numerous exhibitions at the Atlanta History Center, including Pathways to the Past: Highlights from the Cherokee Garden Library Collection; Gone with the Girdle: Freedom, Restraint & Power in Women's Dress; Women in Atlanta; Edward L. Daugherty, A Southern Landscape Architect; and Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia's Historic Gardens (on display April 25, 2018-Present).

Her articles and essays have been published in many magazines, newsletters, journals, and books, including Shaping the American Landscape: New Profiles from the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project (University of Virginia Press, 2009), Warren H. Manning: Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner (University of Georgia Press in association with the Library for American Landscape History, 2017), Garden Gateways, and Magnolia: Publication of the Southern Garden History Society.

In 2005, she co-authored the award-winning book entitled Women in Atlanta (Arcadia Press, 2005, 2007). Her most recent book is with co-author Mary Ann Eaddy, Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia's Historic Gardens, photographs by James R. Lockhart, published by the University of Georgia Press (2018).

Catron is past president and honorary director of the Southern Garden History Society, member of the Garden Club of Virginia's Research Fellowship Committee (Richmond, VA), treasurer of Easements Atlanta, past president of the Georgia National Register of Historic Places Review Board, member of the Society of Georgia Archivists, member of the Southeastern Museum Conferences, and member of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries. Catron is also a lifetime member of The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. In 2014, Catron was named as an Honorary Member of The Garden Club of America. The Garden Club of America bestowed the Historic Preservation Medal upon Catron in 2023.

Catron has spoken at two Zone VIII meetings on historic garden literature and gems of the Cherokee Garden Library. She gave two lectures at the Grolier Club coinciding with the GCA Centennial exhibition, Gardening by the Book. She is also included in the GCA Speakers List.

Honorary Member since 2014.