Established in 1897, the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, with its mission to study and disseminate knowledge of plants as they exist in nature, serves as an educational resource for the university and local community. In 2004 the Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum were joined as a single administrative unit. The records document the Gardens' various organizational, research, and community service activities.
The Matthaei Botanical Gardens records comprise 21 feet of materials spanning the years 1905 to 2012. The records document the Gardens' various organizational and community service activities ranging from administration work to special events for the public. The records have been divided into 11 series: Administrative, Correspondence, Topical, Photographs and Scrapbooks (except for Friends and Docents), Friends of Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Docents, Events, Plans, Projects, Research, and Topical Files. Unfortunately, due to multiple accessions and different processors, these series are not exclusive and researchers are advised to examine the entire finding aid carefully.