Library

The library at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) specializes in systematic, floristic and evolutionary botany and the botany, horticulture, natural history and ethnobotany of California. It provides library support services for the staff and students of RSABG, members and volunteers of the organization, members of The Claremont Colleges and the general public.

Founder 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. Some of her personal books can still be found in the library. 

The library contains nearly 50,000 bound volumes and 750 current print and electronic journals and other periodicals related to the mission of RSABG. The collection is designed for education and research purposes and is geared towards graduate students and advanced researchers. It is composed of books, periodicals, reprints, microforms, pamphlets, article reprints and digital resources.

Online catalog

The holdings of the library are included in the online catalog of The Claremont Colleges, BLAIS.  

Archives

In addition to its library collection, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, is also the steward to many interesting and important archival holdings. Among these are the field notes, photographic images (from as early as the turn of the 20th century), as well as several unpublished manuscripts by noted plant collector, Marcus E. Jones. To learn more about Jones, his contributions to western botany, and the early days of plant collecting in the West, please visit the website designed by the 2011 RSABG Getty Multicultural Undergraduate intern, Lisa Gluckstein.

Visiting the Library

The library is open to the public by appointment.
Please call to make an appointment one day before your visit.
Monday through Friday 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. 

Staff: Irene Holiman
Phone: (909) 625-8767, ext. 210