The Botanical Research Institute of Texas was incorporated on October 2, 1987 as a non-profit organization to house the Southern Methodist University Herbarium and botanical library.
The initial collection received by BRIT of about 450,000 specimens represented a lifetime of work by Lloyd H. Shinners (and references below), one of the most influential Texas botanists of the 20th century. The core of the library (about 75,000 volumes) is made up of the personal collections of Shinners and his colleague Eula Whitehouse and is rich in literature on botany and horticulture from the 19th century and the latter half of the 18th century.
An historic turn-of-the-century warehouse at 509 Pecan Street was restored to house the collections, and BRIT was opened to the public in October, 1991. In October, 1997, Vanderbilt University donated its herbarium of over 360,000 specimens to BRIT, and continuing additions to the collection have brought the total number of specimens housed at the institute to over one million.
View from the south side.
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Mahler, W.F. 1971. Lloyd Herbert Shinners, 1918-1971. Sida 4:228-231.
Correll, D.S. 1971. Lloyd Herbert Shinners -- a portrait. Brittonia 23:101-104.
Ginsburg. R. 2002. Lloyd Herbert Shinners: By Himself. Sida Bot. Miscell. 22:1-86.
