BLANCHE AMES AMES 
(1878-1969) 
AN APPRECIATION 
TurouGu most of her long life, Blanche Ames Ames 
cherished a unique and meaningful relationship with the 
Botanical Museum, a closeness severed only by death at 
her home in Borderland, North Easton, Massachusetts, 
on March 1, 1969. 
Wite and lifelong helpmeet of Professor Oakes Ames, 
second director of the Botanical Museum, Blanche Ames 
never held an official appointment as a member of the 
Museum staff. Nevertheless, her contributions to the life 
of the institution were so profound that they will always 
be appreciated in the educational and research activities 
of the Museum and, through it, will continue to be 
widely recognized in the world of botany. 
Mrs. Ames was an early champion of women’s suf- 
frage, a leader in civic and charitable affairs and an author ; 
but perhaps she will be most widely acknowledged as an 
artist. Her botanical etchings and pen and ink drawings 
are displayed in the Botanical Museum and in the Metro- 
politan Museum of Art, and her oil paintings hang at 
Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia, Phillips Exeter Acad- 
emy, the Mississippi State Hall of Governors and in 
several private collections. 
Her interest in botanical artistry began when, at the 
Ames Botanical Laboratory at North Easton, she started 
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