Collections Management

Collections Management
Source: The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

The Arnold Arboretum’s living collections are celebrated as one of the most comprehensive and best documented of their kind in the world. Governance of the collections is established by the institution’s Collections Policy, a document that plays a role in decisions including acquisition and disposal, documentation, and maintenance of the plants. Our curatorial procedures—including those related to records, nomenclature, mapping, inventory field checks, and plant labels—are the product of continuous refinement and have become models for other institutions.