The papers of Liberty Hyde Bailey span the years 1855-1958. The majority of the materials were received from the Liberty Hyde Birthsite Bailey Museum in South Haven, Michigan. The collection contains correspondence, writings by Bailey, newspaper and magazine clippings and photographs. The collection also includes reproductions of botanical drawings.

The correspondence includes three Christmas cards from Bailey to his wife; a collection of business letters; a letter from China in 1924; a letter from his niece; and two letters to his father, which were published in the South Haven Sentinel about his trip to Kentucky in 1882. There is also some correspondence regarding the Liberty Hyde Bailey School in East Lansing, Michigan.

The writings are arranged alphabetically and include the story “How I went to Chicago,” written by Bailey when he was 13 years old. Bailey wrote the speech, “Let us look backward in order that we may look ahead,” on the occasion of New York Governor Odell’s signing of the bill establishing the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University in 1904. Included are a number of agriculture books written by Bailey. Also in this collection are several poems written by Bailey and an 1888 record of the ornamental plants on Michigan Agricultural College’s (now Michigan State University) campus that he compiled while he was a professor here.

The various newspaper and magazine clippings include information about Bailey’s later life, including his 90th and 93rd birthdays and death.

The photographs include pictures of agriculture and lumbering taken around the state of Michigan in 1888. These pictures come from various counties as well as the M.A.C. campus. There is also a photograph of the Liberty Hyde Bailey School in East Lansing.