The Wilder Collection consists primarily of printed works of the pomologist Marshall P. Wilder, reflecting his broad commitments to American horticulture, agricultural education, and the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Theses include strong runs of programs and president's addresses for the early meetings of the American Pomological Society and United States Agricultural Society, both of which he helped found, and most of his presidential addresses to the New-England Historic Genealogical Society. Among the miscellaneous publications are several addresses to regional agricultural societies, including his seminal 1849 address to the Norfolk Agricultural Society, and seven copies of his address to the first graduating class of Massachusetts Agricultural College.

The small number of manuscript items in the collection include a draft copy of the proposal to hold a national meeting of fruit growers -- the first meeting of what would become the American Pomological Society -- and two letters relating to gifts of books to the MAC library. Of special note is a volume of 22 watercolors by the Belgian-American artist Louis E. Berckmans (d. 1883) of pear varieties.