-4, 
Vol. 11, No. 4 Madison, Wisconsin October, 1962 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
 The principal Arboretum prairie—a sixty-acre tract adjacent to the
Leopold Pines and stretching eastward from them—has been dedicated
as the John T. Curtis Prairie, a memorial to Professor Curtis, noted University
of Wisconsin botanist and former Chairman of the Arboretum Committee, who
died in June of 1961. The ceremonies were held on the afternoon of Sunday,
October 14, 1962, at the entrance to the Prairie. Here a glacial boulder,
found on the Arboretum Prairie and inscribed with Professor Curtis' name,
had been placed in position previous to the dedication. The inscription for
the boulder was donated by Professor Curtis' former students and associates,
many of whom attended the dedication. 
 Professor Grant Cottam, longtime friend and close associate of Profe~sor
Curtis and his successor as Arboretum Committee Chairman, made a short introductory
speech and presented Professor Robert P. McIntosh of Notre Dame University,
a former student of Professor Curtis, who gave the principal dedicatory address.
 In response to the many requests for copies of these speeches, they are
printed here in their entirety. 
INTRODUCTION, DEDICATION OF JOHN T. CURTIS PRAIRIE, by Grant Cottam 
 It's just 30 years since The University of Wisconsin Arboretum had its beginning.
In that short period, as time is reckoned by trees, it has become a truly
valuable scientific and educational establishment, unlike any other in the
world. We are proud of its beginnings, and expect our pride to increase as
time permits our forests and fields to become eventually what they were designed
to be—replicas of the natural communities of plants and animals that
have covered our state, but are now found only in isolated and inaccessible
places. 
 This Arboretum is the product of the ideas and energies of many men. Its
establishment required a diversity of talents—art, administration,
money-raising, and science. Michael Olbrich, lawyer and member of the Board
of R e g en t s, chapged the Arboretum from an idea to a reality. Col. J.
W. Jackson, businessman and civic leader, took over after the death of Mr.
Olbrich and became the prime mover in land acquisitions. To these two men
we owe our greatest debt. Without them the Arboretum probably would not exist.
Maurice McCaffrey and A. 
F. Gallistel were University officials who did within the University community
what Olbrich and Jackson did outside it. Louis Gardner and Paul E. Stark
were among the many who contributed land and money to complete our holdings.
G. William Longenecker, Executive Director of the Arboretum, is responsible
for the attractive physical layout of the plant communities and the horticultural
plantings, and has helped in many other ways. 
 But it takes more than land to make an Arboretum, and the thing which gives
this Arboretum its character is the conception that it should be a collection
of plant communities rather than isolated trees—and that these plant
communities. should be large enough to support their normal complement of
animals. This idea