Overview of the Collections

The University and Jepson Herbaria Archives holds nearly 100 collections from botanists, extending from 1820 to the present day. Collections include primary source materials such as correspondence, field notes, manuscripts, reports, photographs, and maps. The geographic scope is worldwide, though the archives' primary focus is California. Highlights include renowned botanist Willis Jepson's 62 field books, 25 research books and 25, 533 letters in 52 volumes, as well as his personal archives; John and Sarah Lemmon's correspondence, field book, and manuscripts. Subjects covered include Mexican and Pacific expeditions and the formation of the Sierra Club and the Save-the-Redwoods League. The image collection represents a historical record of people and ecological sites worldwide.

A detailed listing of our collections can be found in this 2006 report prepared by Dr. Richard G. Beidleman, Research Associate and long time volunteer archivist.

Below is a listing of some of our collections. If a name is displayed as a hyperlink, that link will take you the record for that collection in our finding aid database.

Personal Inventories
Historic Letters
Photographs and Illustrations
Field Notes

Personal Inventories:

Historic Letters: Much of the archives collection is correspondence between botanists. As letters are digitized, they will be posted here.

Photographs: The image collection of the University and Jepson Herbaria Archives represents a historical record of people and ecological sites worldwide. To see a selection of digitized images visit http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/main/archives/images.html or browse the image thumbails in our Archon Database

Field Notes: Willis Linn Jepson's field notebooks have been scanned and are available online at: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/images/fieldbooks/jepson_fieldbooks.html. Additional field notes from our collection are listed here.