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This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 18 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 11,800 items) |
| Abstract | The North Carolina Botanical Garden is an administrative unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a regional center for the conservation, study, and interpretation of plants. It was established in 1952 on a 72-acre tract of university land south of Chapel Hill; since that time it has been considerably augmented. In 1988 the garden administered approximately 598 acres. In addition, the North Carolina Botanical Garden manages several natural areas around the state and works with other conservation agencies and organizations to preserve lands of botanical value. The garden was part of the Department of Botany until 1982, when it became a separate unit. The director of the garden now reports to the university's provost. The North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, an independent support organization, raises money and acquires and holds lands for the garden. Records include correspondence and other files relating to the administration of as well as programs and activities of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Also included are records documenting work in plant conservation, botanical research, management, and fund raising. Most of the records are from C. Ritchie Bell's tenure as director of the garden. The Addition of 2012 contains files relating to publicity, programs, and administration of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. There are plant accession records and seed indexes; instructional and promotional brochures; newsletters; program evaluations by participants; volunteer information; and administrative and budgetary records, including correspondence, reports, policies, and statistics. There are also records relating to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation. |
| Creator | North Carolina Botanical Garden. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: University Archives Staff, October 1992, January 1993, May 1993, February 1998; Sara Mannheimer, January 2012
Encoded by: Patrick Harner, October 2008
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2020
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Historical Information
The North Carolina Botanical Garden, an administrative unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a regional center for the conservation, study, and interpretation of plants native to the southeastern United States. The garden also features exotic plants suitable for horticultural use in the North Carolina Piedmont. In 1988 the North Carolina Botanical Garden administered approximately 598 acres in three major units: the North Carolina Botanical Garden proper (including Coker Pinetum, the Hubbard Herb Garden, the William L. Hunt Arboretum, and Gray Bluff Garden), the Mason Farm Biological Reserve, and the Coker Arboretum. It also manages several preserves, or natural areas, owned by the Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc.
The garden was officially established in 1952, but its heritage traces back to the early 1900s. In 1903 Dr. William C. Coker, the university's first professor of botany, began planting a teaching collection adjacent to New East, which then housed the Department of Biology. This collection was to become the Coker Arboretum. Dr. Coker also participated in planning for the entire Chapel Hill campus, seeking to create an attractive setting for scholarship through horticulture and landscape design. In part because of the interests of Dr. Henry Roland Totten, a student of Dr. Coker, new collections were added to the Arboretum, including a diverse array of gymnosperms and a drug garden.
In the late 1920s, Coker and Totten, realizing that the Arboretum site was limited, proposed to build a more complete botanical garden with extensive plantings of southeastern trees and shrubs on university lands south of the main campus. Some research materials were planted in the 1930s and 1940s, but it was not until 1952 that the university's Board of Trustees officially allocated approximately 72 acres of the university's Mason Farm property, located along Morgan Creek, for botanical garden development. In 1961 William L. Hunt, a local horticulturist and former student of Coker and Totten, donated the first of several parcels, also along Morgan Creek and comprising an area of dramatic creek gorge and rhododendron bluffs. In 1965 the trustees set aside an additional 96 acres of Mason Farm for inclusion in the garden. William L. Hunt also helped found the garden's membership support organization, the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, in 1966. The foundation receives funds and acquires and holds lands for the garden, thus assisting its conservation and research objectives.
Dr. C. Ritchie Bell was named acting director of the garden in 1961. In January 1966, Bell was officially appointed director. Also in 1966, the garden's first nature trails were opened to the public. In 1971 Ken Moore, the superintendent of the garden, became its first full-time, permanent state employee. In 1976 the garden's administrative and interpretive facility, the Totten Center, opened. This building was made possible by a bequest to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation from the estate of Henry Roland Totten and Adelaide Totten.
After the merger of the Departments of Botany and Zoology in 1982 to form the Department of Biology, the administration of the garden, which had been located in the Department of Botany, was transferred to the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and subsequently to the Office of Provost. In addition, the Garden has an Administrative Board with authority to establish policy and approve procedures. Also in 1982, Coker Arboretum, which had been administered by the Department of Botany, was made a unit of the garden. In 1984 the Board of Trustees committed additional lands to the Garden to form a unified Mason Farm Biological Reserve, bringing the total number of acres allocated from Mason Farm to 367.
Dr. Bell retired as director in 1986 and was succeeded by Peter S. White. At that time the garden had a permanent staff of twelve, foundation membership had reached nearly 2000, and a diverse array of programs was going on in the garden.
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Scope and Content
Records include correspondence and other files relating to the administration of as well as programs and activities of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Also included are records documenting work in plant conservation, botanical research, management, and fund raising. Most of the records are from C. Ritchie Bell's tenure as director.
The Addition of 2012 contains files relating to publicity, programs, and administration of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. There are plant accession records and seed indexes; instructional and promotional brochures; newsletters; program evaluations by participants; volunteer information; and administrative and budgetary records, including correspondence, reports, policies, and statistics. There are also records relating to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Administrative Files, 1952-1989.
Series 1 includes the administrative records of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and its directors, including a number of files related to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation.
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Series 2. Conservation, 1960-1986.
Conservation, as outlined in the North Carolina Botanical Garden's 1984 Long Range Plan is an effort, "to preserve and protect the native flora and natural diversity of North Carolina and the southeastern United States by managing plant communities in their natural state." Rare, threatened and endangered plant species are of special interest to the botanical garden. It works to preserve and protect these species by managing habitats, developing propagation techniques, stimulating public awareness of the need for species protection and collaborating with other preservation agencies and organizations.
(N.B. There is no indication in most of the files listed below under Habitat Tracts whether the North Carolina Botanical Garden ever actually managed the particular area. The 1988 "Mission, Goals and Objectives" of the garden lists only the following as Botanical Garden Foundation Preserves: Gordon Butler Nature Preserve, Olive Tract, Penny's Bend, Pinky Falls, and Stillhouse Bottom Tract.)
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Series 3. Education and Public Programs, 1969-1988.
The North Carolina Botanical Garden is committed to public education and interpretation. Through first hand contact with plants, students and visitors learn to identify plants native to the southeastern United States and exotic plants in their natural habitats. The garden's classes, tours, trips, and publications provide lessons in plant biology, the ecological importance of plants, the commercial, traditional and aesthetic uses of plants and the influence of plants on the physical and mental well being of people. Plant collections and displays throughout the garden demonstrate how to apply horticultural and conservation practices to a home or business garden.
Most of the files in this series were created by the North Carolina Botanical Garden's program coordinator. For more information on the educational activities of the garden, see the following in Series 1: Correspondence and General; Public Programs (under Committees); and Publicity.
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Series 4. Research, 1969-1986.
The North Carolina Botanical Garden provides assistance, facilities, protected locations, information and materials for the scientific study of native plants and ecosystems. The scientific preserves, managed natural areas, and other facilities of the garden are available to all University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty, staff, students and other qualified researchers. Of special interest to the garden are the development and evaluation of methods of propagation and cultivation, since research of this kind not only provides plants for horticultural use but contributes to the preservation of rare and endangered species.
See also Correspondence and General in Series 1, Administrative Files.
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Series 5. Outside Organizations, 1984-1986.
Outreach to community organizations, schools and special populations provides opportunities for plant education, fund raising and statewide organization for plant preservation and protection. For many years, the North Carolina Botanical Garden has maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with the Town of Chapel Hill and garden clubs across the state.
See also Correspondence and General in Series 1, Administrative Files.
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Addition of 2012 (Records transfer 19980414.1), 1961-1997.
The Addition of 2012 contains files relating to publicity, programs, and administration of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. There are plant accession records and seed indexes; instructional and promotional brochures; newsletters; program evaluations by participants; volunteer information; and administrative and budgetary records, including correspondence, reports, policies, and statistics. There are also records relating to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation.
For the most part, original file titles have been maintained, and files have been left in the order received by the repository.
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Items Separated