The paper presents changes in the methodology of collecting, drying and storing plants over a period of more than 150 years. Methodological works were published during the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria, during World War I, and in the interwar period. Plants were collected for herbaria by people of different educational backgrounds, not always in biology. They were usually teachers, school pupils, students and priests, who by collecting plants according to different protocols contributed to knowledge of the native flora. The presented publications also contributed significantly to knowledge of the country’s flora. Initially, manuals about collecting, preserving and storing botanical specimen were prepared for particular scientific aims. Later, with the increase in the number of publications promoting plant collecting, herbaria were gathered by numerous hobbyists. Plants frequently were gathered to meet the needs of collectors and to provide educational resources for training amateur botanists. Originally, from the early 19th to early 20th centuries, readers were encouraged to collect plants for herbaria and for exchange. In the 1920s, however, when the disappearance of rare plant species was noticed, critical opinions appeared, calling for restriction or even ceasing of herbarium preparation.