Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Inventory of the Nursery and Seed Catalog Collection
O-009
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Creator:
University of California, Davis. Library.
Title: Nursery and Seed Catalog Collection
Date: 1856-2010
Extent:
158.8 linear ft.
Abstract: This collection consists of catalogs from nursuries and seed companies in the United States.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as
many are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: O-009
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
The Nursery and Seed Catalog Collection began when the library was established on the University Farm at Davis in 1908. The
catalogs originally served as a current reference resource and many were lost to heavy use. When the Library and Administration
building opened in 1940, the nursery catalogs were maintained in the library’s reference department as an in-house pamphlet
collection.
Beginning in 1968, the nursery and seed catalogs were transferred to the Department of Special Collections where they became
a formal collection. The collection grew with the donation of other established collections. Harry Butterfield’s collection
came in 1972 followed in 1973 by the Ferry-Morse Seed Company catalog collection. Other donations, from companies and individual
collectors, and purchases continue.
For the purposes of this collection, a nursery and/or seed catalog must have a listing of plants available for sale, a price
list, and the name and location of the vendor. It can be a single sheet, pamphlet or bound volume. The collection covers companies
located in the United States. The dates range from 1856 to the present. There is a separate collection for international nursery
and seed catalogs.
The following collections are related to the Forrest A. Plant, Sr. Papers and may be accessed through Special Collections.
D-086, Harry M. Butterfield Papers
D-114, Ferry-Morse Seed Company Archives
D-356, Lester Hannibal Papers
D-025, Index Seminum Collection
O-041, Nursery and Seed Catalog Collection: International
D-451, Saratoga Horticulture Research Foundations Records
D-037, Edward Wickson Papers
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online
public access catalog.
Seeds--United States--Catalogs
Seed industry and trade--United States
Nurseries (Horticulture)--United States.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Nusery and Seed Catalog Collection, O-009, Dept. of Special Collections, General Library, University
of California, Davis.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to
publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, University of
California, Library, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.