The Garden Club of America (GCA) was established in 1913 to foster the knowledge and love of gardening and to restore and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and gardening and conservation efforts. In 1992, the GCA donated approximately 33,000 images from its Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens to the Archives of American Gardens (AAG). The images, in the form of hand-tinted glass lantern slides and 35mm slides, had been collected and used by the GCA for presentations and lectures about notable gardens throughout the United States dating back to colonial times. Today, the collection numbers close to 40,000 images. 

The informational value of this collection is extensive since a number of images of the more than 3,000 gardens represented show garden designs that have changed over time or no longer exist. While the majority of images document a range of designed parks and upper and upper-middle class gardens throughout the U.S., the scope of the collection is expanding as volunteers photograph and document contemporary gardens including community and ethnic gardens. 

The gardens illustrate the design work of dozens of landscape architects including Marian Coffin, Beatrix Farrand, Lawrence Halprin, Hare & Hare, Umberto Innocenti, Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen, Warren Manning, the Olmsted Brothers, Charles Platt, Ellen Biddle Shipman, and Fletcher Steele. Because of their proximity to the gardens, works of notable architects and sculptors may also be featured in the images.

A number of the slides are copies of historic images from outside repositories including horticultural and historical societies or from horticultural books and publications. The GCA made a concerted effort in the mid-1980s to acquire these images in order to increase its documentation of American garden history. Because of copyright considerations, use of these particular images may be restricted.

Currently, the GCA Collection includes approximately 37,000 35mm slides, 3,000 hand-colored glass lantern slides, and a small number of landscape architectural plans and drawings. Vertical files, which may include historical information, related articles, planting lists, and plan views, have been generated for each garden. Some gardens have images that range over several decades; others only have images from a single point in time.