49th Annual James Ford Bell Lecture, October 6, 2011

James Dobreff. Photo by Felipe Morales

James Dobreff

Lund University, Sweden

"Diarium Surinamicum:The Revenge of Daniel Rolander"

"Whenever I write or talk about Rolander, I fear that I appear to be bragging. But it is Rolander and his work that force me to an excessive use of superlatives and rather bold statements." --James Dobreff

A student of Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus, Daniel Rolander (1723-1793) traveled from his native Sweden to Suriname in 1754, where he identified and described more than 400 species of plants and animals then unknown to Europeans. Despite these accomplishments and his enormous herbarium and insect collections, Rolander has gone down in history as a drunken, cowardly, and mentally unstable figure whose journey to Suriname was a complete failure. However, with James Dobreff's soon-to-be published critical edition of Rolander's 2 volume, 699-page Latin manuscript, a new vision of Rolander will be introduced to the world.

Latinist, manuscript expert, and historian Dr. James Dobreff will present Rolander for the first time to an American audience on 6 October 2011 as the 49th presenter of the annual James Ford Bell Lecture. In addition to his critical edition of Rolander's , Dobreff also served as the leading translator of the Diarium's English translation, and was the first scholar to identify Rolander's extensive insect collections in the Swedish Museum of History. He has presented lectures on Rolander at the Royal Geographic Society in London, the Botanical Gardens in Paris, France and Naples, Italy, the University of Amsterdam; the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden; the Catholic University of Leuven; and the Hagstsroemer Medico-Historical Library in Stockholm.

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Event Details

Date: October 6, 2011
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location:

120 A-C, Elmer L. Andersen Library, U of M Twin Cities West Bank
222 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Map & driving directions

Tickets Now on Sale

Purchase through U of M Tickets and Events:
612-624-2345, Monday--Friday, 10:00 a.m. --5:00 p.m.
tickets.umn.edu

$20; $15 for members of the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library, Friends of the University of Minnesota Libraries, and the Friends of the Andersen Horticultural Library (code JFBL11); groups of 10 or more; Free for all students (including non-U of M) with valid student ID.

A dessert reception will follow the lecture, co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Friends of the Libraries and the Friends of the Andersen Horticultural Library.

Some tickets will be available at the door, but advance purchase is strongly recommended to ensure a seat.

Note: Venue is subject to change.

Cloves

The James Ford Bell Lecture is offered each year with the support of the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library.

2010 Lecture

Past Lectures