Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden was founded in 1927 by Susanna Bixby Bryant in Santa Ana, CA and relocated to Claremont in 1951.

Susanna’s personal collection is the foundation of the Research Library and was part of her original plan when the botanic garden began on her ranch in Santa Ana.

Today, the Research Library contains approximately 48,000 volumes and 750 current journals and periodicals.  Acquisitions increase yearly and include bound journals and periodicals.  

The collection is designed for education and research purposes and is geared towards college and graduate studies. It is composed of books, periodicals, reprints, maps, microfiche, and microfilm, focusing principally on systematic, floristic, and evolutionary botany, horticulture, California natural history, and ethnobotany of southwestern North America and California. Recently, large numbers of reprints were donated to the library, which are gradually being sorted, cataloged, bound and incorporated into the collection.  

The Research Library is located on-line through the Claremont Colleges BLAIS catalog, http://blais.claremont.edu.