Bound volumes and individual paintings of botanical and horticultural subjects such as plants and garden designs, primarily by Eng1ish and European artists from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Photographs, slides (including hand-painted lantern slides), and microfiches on the subjects of the collection: the history of garden design horticulture, and botanical illustration.

Landscape architect Beatrix Farrand's drawings for the Dumbarton Oaks gardens (2500 drawings), the garden photo archives, and an indexed collection of letters (1920s-1969), of Mildred Barnes Bliss, founder, with her husband, Robert Woods Bliss, of Dumbarton Oaks, with Farrand and her successor, Ruth Havey, concerning planning and development of the Dumbarton Oaks gardens.

There is a small collection of autographed letters and literary manuscripts that reflect the general cultural and historical interests of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss. The collection of autographs includes holograph letters from Edgar Allen Poe, Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas Jefferson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Georges Rouault. Works by Stravinsky, Keats, and Browning help comprise the manuscript portion.

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