Gifts to the Prairie features the extraordinary lithographs of the Prestele family, hand colored to reflect the exact appearance and beauty of the most popular fruits and flowers of the day.   Created for Bloomington’s F. K. Phoenix Nursery, the largest in the West in 1867, the prints represent the unique art from used by pioneer nurserymen, such as Phoenix, to sell their plant stock.  The exhibit explores the work of these men, the unique lithographs they used to sell their stock, and how they changed the Illinois prairie landscape.