Staci Catron

2023 Historic Preservation Medal

For her significant contributions as a garden preservationist and scholar.

Proposed by: Cherokee Garden Club, Zone VIII

Staci Catron is the Director of the Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, and a past president of the Southern Garden History Society.

The Cherokee Garden Library under Staci’s leadership has become a premier institution for the study of gardening, landscape design, garden history, horticulture, cultural and natural landscapes and plant ecology.

An award-winning author, Staci has had a significant impact in documenting gardens and archiving garden and landscape literature. Her strategic acquisitions policy expanded the resource and research material on American gardens for scholars nationwide. She is also a favorite GCA speaker and honorary member since 2014. Seeking Eden, the book she co-authored with Mary Ann Eaddy, explores the impact of the women who envisioned and nurtured many of Georgia’s historic gardens.

A nationally renowned historic preservation scholar and passionate advocate, Staci is an engaging leader and educator who teaches us all why preserving our past stories can help guide us today and in the future.

The Historic Preservation Medal is awarded for outstanding work in the field of preservation and/or restoration of historic gardens or buildings of national importance.

The Historic Preservation Medal was designed in 1973 by Joseph Kiselewski of New York City and endowed by two GCA club members: Elizabeth “Betty” Work Kirby (Mrs. Leonard Kirby: 1910–2007), Jupiter Island Garden Club, Zone VIII, and Erin Bain Leddy Jones (Mrs. John Leddy Jones: 1896–1974), attorney, author, and lay expert on environmental issues, who was a member of Founders Garden Club of Dallas, Zone IX. Originally awarded in 1973, it was the intention of the donors that non-members or groups receive preference in the awarding of this medal.

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