Born in Australia (Oakleigh, Victoria) on the 28 January 1910, James Hamlyn Willis (Jim) married Mavis Howie in October 1933 and soon after the couple took up permanent residence in Brighton. Willis was Taxanomic Botanist at the National Herbarium (Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne) from 1937 to 1972. The various positions filled by Willis at the Herbarium included Assistant (Herbarium), Assistant Government Botanist (from May 1961), Deputy Director, and Acting Director in his last fifteen months of service there. In his taxanomic role Willis described new plant species and plant varieties, and published many new nomenclature combinations, including the prestigious, two-volume publication A Handbook to Plants in Victoria, Vol. 1 (1962; 2nd edition 1970) and Vol. 2 (1973).

Born in Australia (Ballarat, Victoria), Nicholls worked as a bookbinder until the Depression years when he joined the Footscray City Council as a propagator and plant classifier. He travelled widely in Victoria and became an expert on native orchids. Bill Nicholls claimed to have collected over 150 species of Victorian Orchidaceae which provided the basic material for his first colour delineations. He set himself the task of figuring and describing every Australian Orchid, and in 1946 donated his collection of some 5000 orchids. When Nicholls died, Orchids of Australia Part 1 was in the process of being published, and work continued posthumously on the book.

Born in Australia (Ballarat, Victoria), William Baragwanath joined the Victorian Department of Mines in 1897 and was Director of the Geological Survey 1922-1943, and Chief Mining Surveyor in 1924. From 1932-34 he was also Secretary for Mines and remained as a geological consultant in the Department until May 1950. In the 1960's, Baragwanath served as Senior Research Officer with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV). His name is honoured in that of the fossil genus of early Devonian land plants, Baragwanathia.
Series 21 'Natural History Specimens' includes fossilised wood and related papers donated by Baragwanath to J.H. Willis.

Alexander Clifford Beauglehole, or Cliff Beauglehole as he was better known, a Victorian farmer, established a private herbarium of over 37,000 specimens collected during botanical surveys of various areas of Victoria. He also collected and studied bees, birds and bone deposits in caves, and had species of bees, wasps, marine algae, orchids, trigger plants and marsh-flowers named after him.

Series 19 'A.C. Beauglehole Correspondence and Plant Survey Data' includes papers, mostly copies, relating to the activities of A.C. Beauglehole and sent to Willis for information/reference purposes.

Alfred James Tadgell was born in North Melbourne, Victoria in 1863. He was accountant to the estate of the Clarke family for his professional working life, and also devoted much time to botany. He collected thousands of plant specimens and publisheded several papers. Alfred Tadgell married Eva Roberts in 1890.

Edward Edgar Pescott was the first lecturer on the subject of cultivating plants, his lectures being illustrated by a notable collection of slides photographed mainly by himself, mainly in situ. His native flower photos were frequently used as illustrations to his own and other writers' books and articles. Pescott joined the the newly formed orchard branch of the Department of Agriculture in the 1900s, and was an also active member of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria amongst many other clubs and societies, where he worked mainly in preservation and botanical study of native flora. Pescott was Acting Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne for one year.

Series 17 'Photographs' includes glass negatives/slides of flowers taken by E.E. Pescott.

One time inspector of State Forests and Superintendent of the State Nursery at Macedon, Victoria, Ferguson was born in the UK where he had a lifelong experience in the growing of timber. He was at the Royal Botanic Gardens from December 1869 until at least 1872, afterwhich time he was stationed at Macedon State Nursery, and supplied the Gardens with plants.
Series 17 'Photographs' includes mounted photographs of the Barry Mountains taken by W.H. Ferguson in 1895.

Born in Maffra, Victoria on 27 March 1892, Jessup's tertiary educated was interupted by the first world war, afterwhich time his studies resumed and he eventually graduated with a Bacholor of Science, Diploma of Education and Master of Agricultural Science (the second such degree granted in Australia). In 1926 he married Dorothy Smith. From 1941 to 1957, Jessup served as the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and Government Botanist of Victoria. Jessup was widely known for his interest into camellias and roses and was one of the most sought after judges at rose and camellia shows. He authored several horticultural and botanical works, and won awards for his horticultural achievements.
Series 2 'Correspondence to Individuals' includes correspondence between Alexander Clifford Beauglehole and Alexander W. Jessup.

Established in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller, the National Herbarium of Victoria is the scientific centre of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. The Herbarium is a repository for dried plant specimens that are used for studies of plant classification, identification, distribution and ecology, where information is stored in a biological form. The main resources of the Herbarium are the pressed and annotated plant specimens, a botanical library, and the botanists and staff that work there. The functions of the Herbarium include research and field work in the field of plant taxonomy; the collection, identification, preservation and storage of flora and fauna; to provide an advisory service the public and staff at the Herbarium and Botanic Gardens; the maintenance of the Herbarium Library; and special one off projects.

Alan Bell accompanied a party, including Russell Grimwade and James H. Willis, on the Russell Grimwade Expedition to Western Australia in August/September 1947, and wrote Two Thousand West, 'A Reminiscence Dedicated by Alan Bell to Russell Grimwade'.
Series 16 'Publications By Other Authors' includes a typescript of Two Thousand West, and a note to J.H. Willis (Jim) from Alan Bell.