A world-class botanical library, the CalBG Library specializes in systematic, floristic and evolutionary botany and the botany, horticulture, natural history and ethnobotany of California.
Special Collections holds 2,200 rare herbals, historic scientific literature, and illustrated botanical books. RSABG Library holdings, can be found in the Claremont Colleges Library catalog https://library.claremont.edu/.
The Library provides support services for the staff and students of CalBG, members and volunteers of the organization, members of The Claremont Colleges and the general public. Founder Susanna Bixby Bryant’s plan for her botanic garden included a research-quality library. She built a considerable personal collection in her lifetime and that collection continues to be the foundation of the library today. The library contains nearly 56,000 books and approximately 1,000 print and electronic journals related to the mission of CalBG. The collection also includes journal article reprints, maps, newspaper articles regarding RSABG/CalBG, nursery and seed catalogs. A list of the Library’s California Topographic maps is available here.
