Bob Drechsler, as curator of the bonsai collection, poses in 1987 for a picture in front of the juniper bonsai that inspired the design of the National Bonsai Foundation logo.
Welcome to our special blog series profiling the wonderful curators who have led us since the inception of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum! Our first edition highlights the very first person to oversee the care of the Museum’s collections: Robert Drechsler.
Drechsler began working at the U.S. National Arboretum in 1959 as a plant technician under Dr. Don Egolf. When Arboretum officials started planning a special celebration for the United States’ bicentennial that involved bonsai, Drechsler took a class at the Potomac Bonsai Association to become familiar with the art.
He said the Arboretum originally asked someone else to take care of the incoming trees, but the person ended up not wanting the job. A government shutdown at the time meant nobody new could be hired to positions at federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which the curator role falls under.
Drechsler was already an Arboretum employee, so Director Dr. John Creech agreed he could serve as the first curator. But just because Drechsler hadn’t previously worked on bonsai didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared to take on his new role.
“Trimming bonsai is an artistic form, and I had done flower arranging and such as a florist to work my way through college, so I had some idea of the artwork,” he said. “Plus, I had 17 years of work raising, trimming and caring for plants at the Arboretum.”
Drechsler worked diligently to learn about bonsai, even spending six weeks training in Japan in 1977. He said Ruth Lamanna, a prominent member of the bonsai community, was especially helpful in developing his bonsai education.
Drechsler helps unpack the newly-arrived crates of Japanese bonsai at the quarantine station in Glenn Dale, MD in April 1975.
Drechsler helped the two ladies care for the bonsai quarantined in Maryland, which used to house the U.S. plant introduction station. He worked on both the Japanese collection – the trees that started the Museum collections – and the trees U.S. President Richard Nixon brought back from his trip to China in the 1970s.
Bonsai Master John Naka often stopped by to suggest bonsai care tips, like how to preserve deadwood on bonsai and penjing.
“I took the ladies’ recommendations, and I gained more and more knowledge about the care of the plants, like repotting and soil techniques,” Drechsler said. “It was a learning experience I gained as the curator, rather than being knowledgeable about bonsai before the collection came.”
Former Arboretum Director John Creech speaks at the dedication ceremony for the Japanese Bonsai collection on July 9, 1976. Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State, is seated in the middle/right spot. Drechsler said this was one of the most memorable and impressive moments in his curatorship.
Drechsler said the best part of serving as curator was his ability to transform a group of unassuming plants into well-trimmed bonsai to present to the public. He said the ability and cooperation of volunteers was essential in maintaining excellent and appealing bonsai.
Drechsler added that he loved to see groups that entered the Museum chatting loudly instantly quiet down in awe after setting their sights on the bonsai and penjing collections.
“Young kids would come in with their teachers, and they were thrilled that these ancient plants were that old,” he said.
Drechsler retired in 1996, after nearly 21 years of service to the Museum as the very first curator. He said he wanted to dedicate his free time entirely to leading the local masonic chapter.
He occasionally volunteered at the Museum until a 2015 heart operation put him out of commission for volunteering. Drechsler has since focused his time on leading and partaking in the freemasonry fraternity.
LEFT: Drechsler hand-pollinates hibiscus in the Arboretum’s research greenhouse in 1964 when he worked as a research technician. RIGHT: Drechsler trimming a bald-cypress in the Yoshimura workroom in 2007 as a weekly volunteer.
“Bonsai brought the joy of working in an art form and the opportunity to enjoy an activity I’d like to do, but I was also paid for it, so I could make my living and have a retirement,” he said.
NBF honors Drechsler each year by funding the First Curator’s Apprentice program, which the Foundation created in 2011 to celebrate the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s 35th anniversary and to pay homage to Drechsler’s legacy as the original curator. Our 2019 apprentice Andy Bello now serves as the Museum’s assistant curator, and our 2020 apprentice is Sophia Osorio.
“They knew I didn’t like my name on things, that I didn’t want it to be the ‘Robert Drechsler Apprenticeship,’” Drechsler said. “They did it as a nice gesture and a sort of thank you.”
NBF is grateful to Drechsler for taking the helm of the Museum and his incredible support of the bonsai community since. Our next profile will highlight his successor, Warren Hill, who oversaw the collection for the following five years.