Andrew Doran joins the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley from private horticulture, prior to which he managed the physical collections for the Internet Archive. For over 11 years he managed the collections of The University and Jepson Herbaria (UC/JEPS) and has reconnected with former colleagues and returned to living collections.
Andrew’s experience in horticulture goes back to working for the historic Cadogan Estate in central London and the garden center and nursery industry in England. Prior to joining us he had been working with an array of landscape designers and nurseries sourcing and procuring a diverse palette of plants for some of the Bay Area’s most exclusive gardens. After working on plant names and database projects for Kew Gardens and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden, Wisley, he moved to Denver Botanic Gardens to manage plant records and work with staff and volunteers to document the collections and make them available on-line. His move to preserved plants led him to oversee the relocation of the biological collections of the University of Connecticut to a new facility and to also become curator of the campus arboretum.
During his time in the UC/JEPS Herbaria Andrew took a keen interest in the archives, libraries and history of western botany, including the history of the UC Botanical Garden on campus before its present location in Strawberry Canyon. He was successful in acquiring funding for an on-line catalog and several rounds of compactor storage for the herbaria, libraries, and archives. This passion for documenting collections carries over to plant collections, where he has an extensive background in plant databases and is looking forward to working closely with staff and volunteers to facilitate greater access to plant information at the garden for students, researchers, the public, and the on-line community.
