Seed Catalog Collection is part of the Smithsonian Institution Digital Collection. The physical collection is a part of the Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection, which is held in the National Museum of American History Library, and contains about 10,000 seed and nursery catalogs dating from 1830 to the present. The digital collection contains 500 images represented from 258 catalogs.

The website states "The seed trade catalogs document the history of the seed and agricultural implement business in the United States, as well as provide a history of botany and plant research such as the introduction of plant varieties into the United States. Additionally, the seed trade catalogs are a window into the history of graphic arts in advertising, and a social history, through the text and illustrations, showing changing fashions in flowers and vegetables." No other clues are given as to their selection decisions.

The images can be searched by 6 categories, each with a drop down menu. The digital imaging information offered on the site states "Images stored as TIFFs. High resolution web images reduced to 96 dpi and rescaled to 1000 pixels on the short side. Images which do not contain significant color information are displayed in grayscale. Additional images captured at 400 dpi in color on an Epson Perfection 1640SU flatbed scanner." It's not clear what is meant by "additional images."

The collection offers brief metadata. The information listed is the company name, the catalog title and date, publication information, the category of cover art, and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Catalog number.

In addition, the website offers Credits, Permissions, Privacy, and Copyright links. These links are very informative and illuminating. I don't recall seeing such information on these topics on any of the other digital collections I've visited thus far.

I'm not entirely sure who this digital collection's intended audience is. The introduction page of the website states that "the Library's Trade Literature Collection is available to the public by appointment only. Because this collection is unique and irreplaceable, items do not circulate." Therefore, the users of this site would only be able to study the digital image of the item, and would not be able to view the physical item for further research.