Forrest Shreve was a botanist and desert plant ecologist. He served on the staff of the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution in Tucson, AZ from 1908 to 1929, and as director from 1929 to 1938.

This collection consists of 1102 photographs, chiefly of vegetation taken throughout Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Mexico (Sonora and Baja California). It also includes photographs of Shreve and his family, the Desert Botanical Laboratory, early automobile trips, and a number of towns in Sonora, Mexico. Some photographs were taken by Laboratory director, D.T. MacDougal, staff members Godfrey Sykes and H.S. Gentry, and others.