Board of Trustees records
Scope and Contents
The Board of Trustees records consist of administrative files, minutes and supporting documentation for Board and committee meetings, Board member files, and material related to Board trips and retreats. Topics in this collection include Garden finances, design and construction projects, long-range planning, staff appointments, policy developments, departmental and committee reports, and general Garden updates. These records show the Garden’s growth... and development, its relationships with other cultural heritage institutions and organizations, and its connection to both the local and global community.
See moreDates
- 1891 - 2024
Creator
- New York Botanical Garden (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Meeting minutes and supporting documentation are restricted for 50 years from the date of creation. Board member files are restricted for 50 years following the member’s death. Please contact the archives with any questions regarding access to materials in this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.
Biographical / Historical
The New York Botanical Garden was established in 1891 through an Act of Incorporation that created “a body corporate by the name of The New York Botanical Garden...for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a botanical garden and museum and arboretum therein and elsewhere within or without the State of New York, for the collection and culture of plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees, the advancement of botanical science and knowledge and the prosecution... of original researches therein and in kindred subjects, for affording instruction in the same, for the prosecution and exhibition of ornamental and decorative horticulture and gardening, and for the entertainment, recreation, and instruction of the people.”
From its founding, the affairs of the Corporation were governed by a Board of Managers, which was structured into three classes: Ex officio (including the Mayor of New York City and leadership from the Board of Education), Appointive (such as representatives from the Torrey Botanical Club and Columbia University), and Elective (elected by the members of the Corporation).
Under the original charter, the Scientific Directors formed a special class of the Board of Managers. This group included academic leadership from Columbia University, representatives of the Torrey Botanical Club, and certain ex officio members. The Scientific Directors were responsible for overseeing the Garden’s scientific and educational work, including the appointment of the Director-in-Chief. A 1933 amendment to the charter abolished the Scientific Directors, replacing them with additional appointive and ex officio positions on the Board of Managers.
In 2016, the Board of Managers was renamed the Board of Trustees, aligning its structure and title with those of other cultural heritage institutions.
Extent
76 Linear Feet (155 document boxes, 11 clamshell boxes, and 1 card file box)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following series and subseries:
- Series 1: Administrative Records, 1926–2023
-
Series 2: Meeting Minutes, 1891–2024
- Subseries 2.A: Original Meeting Minutes, 1891–2024
- Subseries 2.B: Duplicate Meeting Minutes, 1891–2023
- Subseries 2.C: Index to Meeting Minutes, 1891–1983, 1989–2017
- Subseries 2.D: Audio Recordings of Meetings, 1990–1995
- Series 3: Supporting Documentation, 1965–2020
-
Series 4: Committees, 1951–2023
- Subseries 4.A: Ad-Hoc Committees, 1981–1986
- Subseries 4.B: Regular Committees, 1951–2023
- Series 5: Corporation, 1891–1992, bulk: 1923–1992
- Series 6: Board Member Files, 1959–2023
- Series 7: Board Trips and Retreats, 1995–2022, bulk: 1995–2007
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Board of Trustees records were transferred to the New York Botanical Garden archives in six separate accessions, occurring in 1981, 1989, 1990, 2010, 2013, and 2024.
Processing Information
Newspaper clippings were photocopied and discarded.
- Audiocassettes
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Correspondence
- Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
- Financial records
- Fund raising -- New York (State) -- New York
- Institute of Economic Botany (New York Botanical Garden)
- Minutes (administrative records)
- New York Botanical Garden -- Administration
- New York Botanical Garden -- Design and construction
- New York Botanical Garden. Botanical Science Division
- New York Botanical Garden. Charles B. Harding Laboratory
- New York Botanical Garden. Forest
- New York Botanical Garden. Herbarium
- New York Botanical Garden. Library
- Strategic planning -- New York (State) -- New York
Creator
- New York Botanical Garden (Organization)
- Abess, Leonard, 1948- (Person)
- Baldwin, Henry DeForest, 1931-1997 (Person)
- Bass, Edward P., 1945- (Person)
- Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859-1934 (Person)
- Burke, Susan Payson (Person)
- Chilton, Maureen (Person)
- Condon, Larry, 1937-2024 (Person)
- Cullman, Lewis B., 1919-2019 (Person)
- Goldman, Amy (Person)
- Haupt, Enid A. (Enid Annenberg), 1906-2005 (Person)
- Heiskell, Marian S., 1918-2019 (Person)
- Hester, James M., 1924-2014 (Person)
- Hubbard, Thomas J. (Thomas Johnson), 1924-2017 (Person)
- Irwin, Howard S. (Person)
- Long, Gregory (Gregory R.) (Person)
- Nolen, Wilson, -2022 (Person)
- Reed, John F. (Person)
- Robinson, Barbara Paul (Person)
- Roman, Kenneth (Person)
- Ross, Arthur, 1910-2007 (Person)
- Steere, William Campbell, 1907-1989 (Person)
- Steere, William C., 1936- (Person)
- Thain, John, 1955- (Person)
- White, Shelby (Person)
- Title
- Board of Trustees records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Serena D. Gomez in 1998 with further revisions by Nicole Font in 2025.
- Date
- April 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Originally processed by Serena D. Gomez, Reference Librarian / Archivist in July 1997. Reprocessed by Nicole Font, Shelby White and Leon Levy Processing Archivist, in April 2025 with funding from the Leon Levy Foundation.
Repository Details
Part of the The Archives of the New York Botanical Garden Repository
New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Library
2900 Southern Boulevard
Bronx NY 10458 United States
ssinon@nybg.org