The early history of botanical collections is reviewed, with particular emphasis on old collections from the tropics. The information available about older and newer botanical collections from the tropics was much improved after World War Two, including better lists of validly published names, more detailed description of literature and better information about collections and collectors. These improvements were initially made available as publications on paper, whereas now the information has become available on the Internet, at least in part. The changed procedures for handling botanical collections in connection with taxonomic research is sketched, from sending specimens on loan between institutions via publishing herbaria on microfiches to providing scanned images on the Internet. Examples from different institutions and organizations of how
to make digitized images of specimens and other information available on the Internet are given. The question about the best way of organizing future access to the collections is posed.