The Salem College Herbarium is the oldest herbarium in the United States. It was founded in 1772, but the oldest specimen, a Symphoricarpos collected from the Deep River [North Carolina] by C. Frederick Denke (1775-1838), is dated June, 1817. The historical collections (1817-1895) number about 1000 specimens and are mostly from the Piedmont of North Carolina. There are ca. 5000 specimens in the modern collection (1900-present), and these were collected from North Carolina by Salem College students & faculty. Please contact Dr. Dane Kuppinger, Curator, for access to the Salem College Herbarium.