The Brown University Herbarium was founded in 1869 when the University acquired the collections of the Providence Franklin Society and Stephen Thayer Olney. The collection includes around 100,000 plant specimens and is an important depository of Rhode Island and New England collections. It is also rich in western and southern North American plants and includes special sets of historically valuable specimens from 19th and early 20th century western US expeditions. Among other important collections, the herbarium also includes a full set of Charles Wright’s Cuban plants (1856-1867) and a unique and classic collection of Carex.