Records of the Herbarium Office

An 1896 agreement between the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and the Trustees of Columbia University made it possible to deposit, on permanent loan, the large and historic Columbia College (University) Herbarium at the NYBG. The Columbia College Herbarium was begun in the early 19th century and included the historically significant private herbarium of Dr. John Torrey, which included specimens from many early explorations of the United States. The collections contained over 400,000 specimens at the time of the transfer and included the collections of Professor F. Meisner of Basle, Switzerland, A.W. Chapman of Apalachicola, Florida, the mosses and hepatics accumulated by C. F. Austin, and the famous collection of mosses by Dr. J.G. Jaeger of Switzerland.

As the NYBG Museum building neared completion in 1899, the accumulation of mounted herbarium specimens was moved from temporary offices into newly installed oak herbarium cases. During the early years, the herbaria of the College of Pharmacy of Columbia College, consisting of the collections of Alphonso Wood, W.M. Canby, and Henry Hurd Rusby and those of Princeton University and Hunter College were added. The Garden's herbarium incorporated the J.B Ellis collection, at the time the largest accumulation of fungi in American, as well as the John J. Crooke herbarium of North American and West Indian plants, the F.M. Hexamer herbarium of European and North American plants, the H.E. Hasse herbarium of plants from North America, Greenland and Mexico, and the Per Axel Rydberg herbarium of specimens from the Sweden and the Rocky Mountain region.

Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton, the first Director in Chief, and his associates, continually secured new collections from all parts of the world by either exploration or exchange, and the collections continued to grow under the direction and leadership of the Head Curators and other herbarium administrators. In 1944, Bassett Maguire inaugurated a landmark exploration program in Venezuela and the Guianas, where he made extensive collections for the next 30 years. In 1964, Ghillean Prance began the garden's program in the Brazilian Amazon, which continued until 1988. Exploration programs continue to this day and Garden scientists have led more than 800 expeditions to botanically unknown areas, mainly to the West Indies, the United States, northern South America, especially Brazil, the Guyana Highland area, and the Andes.

As one of the nations largest herbaria, the NYBG has a responsibility to rescue the smaller herbaria being abandoned by many universities, and to make these valuable specimens available for taxonomic research throughout the world. Orphaned herbaria collections are added to the Herbarium, as they are available, continually strengthening the scope and breadth of the collections.

The collections continue to grow by acquisition of exchange specimens and collecting activity of current staff. The geographical emphasis has always been on the flora and mycota of the New World. The collections of vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, lichens and algae are among the largest in the Western Hemisphere.