The Horticulture Department Photographs document the teaching and research activities in horticulture from the early 1900s. The collection includes images of orchards, fields, vineyards, greenhouses, irrigation and spraying equipment and procedures; canneries and packing houses; fruit, vegetable, and nut varieties; plant diseases and the effects of pests; and grafting techniques. While some of the images are of Washington and Idaho, the bulk of the photographs were taken in Oregon, many on the Oregon Agricultural College campus. The campus photographs depict campus buildings and the College farm and orchard as well as views of Corvallis, Oregon. The collection includes images taken in Medford, Jacksonville, Central Point, and several other locations in Jackson County.

About 120 lantern slides depict various types of camouflage, especially in Portland, and may have been taken or assembled by horticulture faculty doing camouflage research during World War II. A group of about 150 glass negatives document research on tree fruits, primarily apples and pears, by Edward Maris Harvey from 1918 to 1926 and have detailed descriptions. The collection includes photographs of Horticulture Department faculty, staff, and students as well as other prominent horiculturists.

Four photograph albums include cyanotype and silver gelatin prints made in about 1905 through 1915 and include Oregon Agricultural College campus views and buildings; Corvallis, Oregon, street scenes; farm scenes and orchards; greenhouses and agricultural equipment; packing houses and canneries; and many varieties of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Some of the images in the albums are also found in the numbered images component of the collection.

Many formats are represented in the collection including cyanotype and silver gelatin prints, lantern slides, glass negatives, film negatives, and nitrate negatives. Many of the numbered images are available only as negatives with no accompanying prints.