Dunedin Horticultural Society Inc.

The Dunedin Horticultural Society was founded on 30 October 1881, but it had existed, albeit in somewhat piecemeal fashion, for thirty years. The Otago Horticultural Society was formed on 14 February 1851, but was subsumed in the Agricultural and Horticultural Association of Otago after just three months. It re-emerged in 1859 to organise Otago's first horticultural show, and staged several more exhibitions before disappearing in 1861, a casualty of the gold-rush. It reformed in June 1863 as the Horticultural Society of Otago, but slipped into insolvency in 1866. The A.& P. Society assisted in its revival as the Royal Horticultural Society of Otago in 1869, and under this banner the Society initially flourished, until support seemed to wane and it again went into recession in 1877. The society has however, enjoyed continuous existence since forming as the Dunedin Horticultural Society in 1881 (From Shaw, Louise, 'Southern Gardening: a History of the Dunedin Horticultural Society').

Scope and contents:

This collection includes minutes, membership records, correspondence, financial records, 'historical' records, and photographs.