The Wye Plantation Collection contains architectural plans of the Wye Mills plantation dating from 1949 to 1975. The collection includes plans for the renovation of the main house, various auxiliary houses, the library, the garage wing, the Wye Church, the perimeter wall, and the grounds. The collection also contains photographs of the property as well as slides and handwritten notes.

The Wye River plantation, or Wye Hall was the Eastern Shore of Maryland home of William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. constructed in 1765, and extensively renovated in 1790 by John Paca, with Joseph Clark as architect, at a cost of $20,000. Wye Hall was built in the 1930s on the site.

William Paca is buried at the family cemetery there. The Paca residence burned down in 1879. The University of Maryland, College Park conducted archeological work there.

the Wye River Plantation, was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. in 1979 to the Aspen River Institute to serve as their conference center. William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and third governor of Maryland, maintained his family estate here and a monument to his memory stands near the Houghton House.

In 1998 the Conference Center was the site for negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Authority which resulted in the Wye River Memorandum. Since 1998, the Wye River Group on Healthcare has conducted policy meetings on retreat there. Famous residents of Wye River included the Chef Boyardee family, the Estate at Wye River ‘Penderyn’ hosted members of the state department during the Aspen accords.

Elián González and his father stayed there briefly in 2000.

Wye Hall was built in the 1930s on the site of the estate of William Paca.

The Wye Plantation Collection includes comprehensive plans for the renovation of the Wye Mills Plantation for Mr. and Mrs. Arthur A. Houghton from the company Perry, Dean & Stewart Architects. It includes plans on various mediums such as wax paper, tracing paper, a negative copy, blueprint paper, and laminated paper. These plans cover the entire development process of the renovations and include documents with alterations, supersessions, and mistakes. The photos and slides include images in both color and black and white from before and after the renovation of several of the buildings with a particular focus on the restoration of Wye Church and the Main House.

This Collection is arranged in its original order with one series WYE PLANTATION PLANS. The collection is separated into seven folders. Wye Plantation Old Main House Plans, Wye Plantation Exterior Plans, Wye Plantation Auxiliary Buildings Plans, Wye Plantation Site and Wye Church Plans, Wye Plantation Finalized Plans, Wye Plantation Photographs and Prints, and Wye Plantation Slides.