Archival Collections
The archives are the repository for personal papers and institutional records that document the Arboretum's historical influence on botany and horticulture. These collections are inventoried in finding aids that are accessible onsite; some can also be accessed online in OASIS, Harvard's online searchable database.
Personal Papers
These document the research of Arboretum staff members, beginning with those of the Arboretum's founder Charles Sprague Sargent and including those of all subsequent directors. Also included are the field notes, travel records, diaries, and journals of plant hunters such as Ernest H. Wilson and Joseph Rock. Here too are the research papers that led to important publications by staff members such as taxonomist Alfred Rehder's Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs Hardy in North America (1927), botanist Susan Delano McKelvey's The Lilac (1928), and horticulturist Donald Wyman's Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia (1977). Finding aids to the papers of Beatrix Jones Farrand, Charles Sprague Sargent, George Russell Shaw, S. B. Sutton, and Donald Wyman are accessible via OASIS.
Institutional Records
Documents not specifically related to research projects, such as those generated by administrative offices and committees are also kept in the archives. Examples include directors' annual reports, departmental annual reports, personnel records, minutes, long-range plans, mission statements, contracts, course descriptions, development publications, plant distribution records, plant propagation records, plant lists, maps, weather data, and in-house publications.
A finding aid to the institutional records of the Atkins Institution of the Arnold Arboretum is currently accessible via OASIS.
Correspondence
These files contain letters that were written and received by staff members, including Charles Sprague Sargent, Alfred Rehder, John G. Jack, Hugh M. Raup, Joseph H. Faul, and William H. Judd. They include correspondence from notables like Liberty Hyde Bailey and from famous institutions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the London Royal Horticultural Society, and the New York Botanical Garden, as well as from government agencies, gardeners, and amateur horticulturists.
Most letters concern issues of plant accessions, exploration, identification, and taxonomy; there are also many requests for plants.
The Correspondence Index, a work in progress, is a searchable database. Currently the index includes correspondence from the 1880s to 1940. It lists correspondents only; subjects are not indexed. Instructions for searching are available at the index site.
Repository Archives
Records of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, 1929-1995, and of the Horticultural Club of Boston, 1911-present, are kept in the Arboretum's archives.