This collection contains over 37,000 35mm slides, 3,000 glass lantern slides and garden files that may include descriptive information, photocopied articles (from journals, newspapers, or books), planting lists, correspondence, brochures, landscape plans and drawings. Garden files were compiled by Garden Club of America (GCA) members for most of the gardens included in the collection. Some gardens have been photographed over the course of several decades; others only have images from a single point in time. In addition to images of American gardens, there are glass lantern slides of the New York Flower Show (1941-1951) and trips that GCA members took to other countries, including Mexico (1937), Italy, Spain, Japan (1935), France (1936), England (1929), and Scotland.
A number of the slides are copies of historic images from outside repositories including horticultural and historical societies or from horticultural books and publications. The GCA made a concerted effort in the mid-1980s to acquire these images in order to increase its documentation of American garden history. Because of copyright considerations, use of these particular images may be restricted.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Garden Club of America was established in 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the Garden Club of Philadelphia and eleven other garden clubs met to create a national garden club. Its purpose is to foster the knowledge and love of gardening and to restore and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and gardening and conservation efforts. The GCA was incorporated in Delaware in 1923, with its headquarters established in New York City. Today, local clubs are organized under twelve regional zones. The GCA continues its tradition of hosting flower shows and publishing material related to gardening in the United States.
The GCA's glass lantern slides were used by The GCA for presentations and lectures about notable gardens throughout the United States dating back to colonial times. An effort was made in the late 1980s, in preparation of the 75th anniversary of the Garden Club of America's founding, to collect the disbursed slides. These slides were to eventually form the Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens. The informational value of this collection is extensive since a number of images of the more than 4,500 gardens represented show garden designs that have changed over time or no longer exist. While the majority of images document a range of designed upper and upper-middle class gardens throughout the U.S., the scope of the collection is expanding as volunteers photograph and document contemporary gardens including community and vernacular gardens.
The gardens illustrate the design work of dozens of landscape architects including Marian Coffin, Beatrix Farrand, Lawrence Halprin, Hare & Hare, Umberto Innocenti, Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen, Warren Manning, the Olmsted Brothers, Charles Platt, Ellen Biddle Shipman, and Fletcher Steele. Because of their proximity to the gardens, works of notable architects and sculptors may also be featured in the images.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
30 Cubic feet (2718 photographs: black and white; 450 glass lantern slides; 41 glass negatives; color records; plant patents; publications. )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Black-and-white photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Breeze Hill (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania -- Harrisburg
Date:
1899-1974
Summary:
The J. Horace McFarland Collection includes over 3,100 photographic images of private and public gardens throughout the United States, as well as some from foreign countries, dating from 1899 to 1963. Many of these images, generated for Mount Pleasant Press (later the J. Horace McFarland Company), were used to illustrate trade catalogs published by the firm as well as journal and newspaper articles. The collection also contains color records that were used as reference aids during the printing process, plant patents, and various publications of the McFarland Company.
Scope and Contents note:
The J. Horace McFarland Collection includes over 2,700 black and white mounted photographs, 448 glass lantern slides, and 41 glass plate negatives of gardens throughout the United States dating from 1899 to 1963. A small number of images show gardens in Austria, Canada, England, Mexico, Scotland and Wales. Many of the images, which were generated and used by the J. Horace McFarland Company to illustrate trade catalogs and journal and newspaper articles, indicate the publication(s) in which they appeared. A series of portraits of rosarians, many of them featured in Modern Roses 6, rounds out the image collection. The McFarland Collection also includes color records, plants patents, and miscellaneous publications. Color records are plant 'portraits' that were painted by McFarland Company staff artists in watercolor. They were referenced by the printing department in order to render illustrations of plants in colors as close to the originals as possible. The plant patents are patents for plants issued by the United States Patent Office. They include the plant name, source, filing and patent dates, patent number, and growth characteristics. Most are accompanied by a colored image of the plant identified in the patent. The miscellaneous publications are various pamphlets and booklets published by the J. Horace McFarland Company.
Dr. J. Horace McFarland (1859-1948) was an influential civic leader, author, publisher, horticulturist, and authority on roses. His printing company, Mount Pleasant Press (later the J. Horace McFarland Company), was based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It published many of the seed and nursery trade catalogs in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century and was one of the first to apply color processes to commercial print applications. J. Horace McFarland Company staffers photographed thousands of different gardens and plant specimens throughout the United States. These images were used to illustrate numerous nursery and seed catalogs, journals and books. Among its many services, the firm sold various themed lectures illustrated by sets of hand-colored glass lantern slides.
McFarland wrote over 200 articles in popular journals as well as a dozen books on roses and gardening. He served as the first president of the American Civic Association from 1904-1924 and led several local and national campaigns to protect communities and scenic areas from urban blight and overdevelopment including the city of Harrisburg and Niagara Falls. McFarland, who served as the president of the American Rose Society (1930-1932) and helped establish a standardized rose identification and registration method, used the gardens on his own 2.5 acre property in Harrisburg, "Breeze Hill," to test hundreds of varieties of roses and plant cultivars. "Breeze Hill" was used as the backdrop for many photographs taken by McFarland's firm.
Related Materials:
The Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania includes the J. Horace McFarland Company Records (Manuscript Group 453) and the J. Horace McFarland Papers (Manuscript Group 85).
The Historical Society of Dauphin County in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania includes the J. Horace McFarland Collection (MG 229).
Separated Materials note:
The Smithsonian Institution's Botany and Horticulture Library includes seed and nursery trade catalogs, books, and published materials from the J. Horace McFarland Company.
The United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland has various photographic images, nursery catalogs, publications and miscellaneous records from the J. Horace McFarland Company in its J. Horace McFarland Collection.
Provenance:
Donated in 1992 by James W. Walsh, who purchased the J. Horace McFarland Company from its founder's heirs. (The business was later renamed the Roebuck Printing Company.)
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Richard Marchand Historical Postcard Collection contains approximately 1,200 35mm slide reproductions of postcard images depicting early twentieth century architectural and garden views of over 600 private estates throughout the United States. The collection includes views of estates owned by popular movie stars of the 1920s and 1930s, including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Claudette Colbert and Buster Keaton.
Scope and Contents:
The Richard Marchand Historical Postcard Collection contains approximately 1,200 35mm slide reproductions of postcard images depicting early twentieth century architectural and garden views of over 600 private estates throughout the United States. The collection includes views of estates owned by popular movie stars of the 1920s and 1930s, including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Claudette Colbert and Buster Keaton.
A number of estates represented in the collection have been destroyed or subdivided over the years. Most of the postcard views indicate the name and location of a particular property, though few include specific captions or are dated. A small number of the views are black and white; the majority were made using various color lithographic properties. The collection does not include copies of the back of the postcards where messages and addresses would have been written.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Richard Marchand historical postcard collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid in this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
The Lewis & Valentine Company Collection contains records of the Lewis & Valentine Company dating from 1916 to 1971 including photographs, negatives, brochures, books, trade catalogs, company papers, letters from clients, customer lists and a history of the company written by Harold Carman Lewis. Photographs document the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, estates in Long Island, New York, and the properties of Hugh D. Auchincloss, Eugene du Pont, Walter P. Chrysler, Otto H. Kahn, F. W. Woolworth, Pierre S. du Pont (Longwood Gardens), Charles M. Schwab and Edward T. Stotesbury. This collection contains only a sampling of the records of Lewis & Valentine and should not be considered comprehensive.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into 3 series:
Series 1: Documents
Series 2: Photographs
Series 3: Videotape
Biographical/Historical note:
Specializing in moving and replanting large trees, Lewis & Valentine was one of the most prominent landscape contracting companies in the eastern United States during the first half of the twentieth century. The Lewis & Valentine Company was formed by five brothers whose father had hoped that his sons would grow up to be lawyers. Instead, the Lewis brothers formed a landscape design, installation and nursery firm that specialized in developing "successful methods for transplanting full-grown trees." Their success was based on "doing well the task which is usually considered impossible."
The company was the inspiration of H.C. Lewis, the oldest of seven brothers, who believed that estate owners should have the luxury of immediate landscapes, rather than waiting decades for their landscapes to mature. The Lewis brothers started their business in the early 1900s. Shortly afterwards, a Mr. Valentine, roommate of Albert Addison Lewis at the Amherst Landscape School in Massachusetts, invested in the business. After three years Mr. Valentine moved on and the Lewis brothers bought back his interest, but continued to keep Valentine part of the company's name.
Lewis & Valentine was the largest firm in America devoted to transplainting mature trees in the years leading up to the Great Depression. It claimed to be "the most experienced and most versatile, backed by an intimate knowledge of horticulture and the development of fine estates." The company was noted as a leader in providing complete landscape services, from selling and guaranteeing the plants, to designing and installation, requiring that its staff be men "of good character and not afraid of hard work." This was evident in the firm's principle of no limitations to the size of trees that they were willing to deliver. The trees were often full-grown and ranged in age from twenty to a hundred years old. Many were so large that 20 or more tons of earth had to be moved during the relocation process.
During its first 25 years in business, Lewis & Valentine opened nineteen offices east of the Mississippi serving such notable clients as Charles A. Schwab and Pierre du Pont at his estate, Longwood. The business was set up as an organization of independent companies. Each was incorporated under the laws of the state in which it operated. The offices were located in Connecticut (Darien), Florida (Palm Beach), Illinois (Chicago), Maryland (Baltimore), Massachusetts (Boston and Hanover), Michigan (Detroit), Pennsylvania (Ardmore and Pittsburg), New Jersey (Ashbury Park and Morristown), New York (Buffalo, Roslyn-Long Island, Rye, Valley Stream-Long Island, New York City), North Carolina (Winston-Salem) and Ohio (Cleveland and Cincinnati). Although no longer owned by any members of the Lewis family, the company still exists and operates in Long Island under the name Lewis & Valentine Nurseries.
Separated Materials:
Dozens of historic photographs from the Lewis & Valentine Co. were found In the Eleanor Weller Collection at AAG amongst images that had been amassed by Weller for possible use in The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940. These photos were removed from the Weller Collection and added to the Lewis and Valentine Co. Records.
Provenance:
Gift from Hewlett Withington Lewis, former owner of Lewis & Valentine Nurseries.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Topic:
Nurseries (Horticulture) -- United States Search this
0.75 Cubic feet (216 lantern slides:, color autochromes; , 3.25 x 4 inches.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Lantern slides
Autochromes (photographs)
Date:
circa 1910-1920
Summary:
The John Hiller Lantern Slide Collection contains 216 glass autochromes dated circa 1910-1920 documenting homes and gardens, house interiors, scenes from domestic and foreign travel, flower arrangements, and people in Europe and unidentified locations.
Scope and Contents Note:
The John Hiller Collection contains 216 glass autochromes dated c. 1910-1920. The images cover a wide array of subjects and regions, with many of them showing landscapes and travel destinations. Some show house interiors, flower arrangements, or casual groups of people. Several of the autochromes show historic towns and ruins in Greece and Switzerland along with some in Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria and Austria. Scattered amongst these are slides of various unidentified sites and gardens. It is not known if any of the unidentified images show sites in the United States.
The photographer(s) of these images is unknown. The uniformity of the type of tape used to seal each of the autochromes suggests that the images are likely the work of one photographer or photo studio rather than a collection compiled by an individual from multiple sources.
Provenance:
John Hiller, an employee in the Smithsonian's Office of Exhibits Central, donated the collection to the Archives of American Gardens in 2005. The collection had been on deposit in the Archives for a few years prior to it being formally donated.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) Search this
Extent:
1.75 Cubic feet
807 Stereographs (black and white, color ;, 3 1/2 x 7 inches.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Stereographs
Place:
White House (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
circa 1869-1925
Summary:
The Historic Gardens Stereograph Collection includes 807 stereographs that depict various public gardens, parks, and tourist attractions throughout the United States, with an emphasis on features related to horticulture and landscape design, including plants, garden furniture, and topiaries. Most, but not all views, show exterior features. A number of stereographs indicate the photography studio on the recto or verso, as well as a series or image number. Many include a brief caption; some include a lengthy description on the verso. Few are dated.
Index terms:
This collection is indexed in the catalog of the Archives of American Gardens under the
following terms:
Types of materials
Stereographs
Subjects-topical
buildings
Parks
Monuments
Historic sites
Gardens--United States
Garden ornaments and furniture
Flower arrangement
Floral decorations
Tropical plants
Topiary work
Sculpture
Recreation
Names
Smithsonian Institution
White House (Washington, D. C.)
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Historical Note:
Popular during the latter half of the 19th century, stereographs consist of two similar photographic images affixed to a cardboard mount that produce a three-dimensional image when viewed through a stereoscope.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Ken Druse Garden Photography Collection contains approximately 45,000 film transparency and 35mm slide images, dating from 1978 to 2005, of gardens, garden features, and flora photographed by garden writer and photographer Ken Druse. The photographic images document numerous private and public gardens throughout the United States and a few in Canada. Many have appeared in Druse's own books and articles as well as those by other writers. Approximately half of the collection is arranged according to specific garden, the other half by garden feature. A small portion of the collection consists of slide lectures given by Druse. Some images are identified with general captions and dates. Images documenting specific gardens are sometimes accompanied by handwritten notes, garden descriptions, and articles. Annotations appearing on certain images indicate the publication in which they appeared. The collection includes 'outtakes' or bracketed images that give insight into Druse's photo shooting process.
Biographical Note:
Ken Druse is a garden photographer and author of over a dozen books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles on garden-related topics. His images appear in his own books and articles as well as those by other writers. He received the Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for Literary Achievement from the Garden Club of America in 2004 for his garden writing. He highlights the work of numerous gardeners, garden designers, and horticulture experts on his website and podcast.
Druse's books include Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation; Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites; The Collector's Garden: Designing with Extraordinary Plants; and The Passion for Gardening: Inspiration for a Lifetime.
Provenance:
Ken Druse donated his collection of garden transparencies and slides to the Archives of American Gardens in 2013.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Ken Druse garden photography collection
Sponsor:
Cataloging of this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
The W. Atlee Burpee & Company records, dated circa 1873-1986, document the firm's business activities developing plant varieties, working with contract seedsmen, and marketing and selling seeds. They include seed trial records, seed contracts, sales and acccounting records, inventories, office correspondence, seed catalogs, promotional and instructional materials, advertisements and advertising reports, contest letters, daybooks, photographs, reference materials, and other items relating to the company and some of its competitors. The collection also includes Burpee family papers.
Content Description:
This collection documents W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a mail-order seed company based in Philadelphia, from its early beginnings in 1876 when its founder, W. Atlee Burpee, started in the agricultural business, to the 1970s when his son, David Burpee, sold the firm. The collection also includes personal papers of the Burpee family dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.
Business-related content in the collection consists of crop propagation and management records; company correspondence; administrative and personnel records; advertising files; legal papers; property records and plans; reports, studies, and technical data; notes and drafts; files on professional outreach activities and events; trade literature (published by both the Burpee company and a number of its competitors); and awards and certificates received by the company. Significant topics documented in these files include the development of notable flower and vegetable varieties introduced by the company; the impact of World Wars I and II on gardening and the global seed trade; advertising strategies, technology, and innovation; and David Burpee's advocacy of the marigold as the national floral emblem of the United States.
The Burpee family papers consist of personal files unrelated to the company's business operations. These include records generated by W. Atlee's father (David Burpee, 1827-1882) and grandfather (Washington L. Atlee, 1808-1878), as well as W. Atlee's wife, Blanche (1863-1948); David Burpee (1893-1980) and his wife, Lois (1912-1984); and W. Atlee Burpee II (1894-1966). There are genealogical surveys conducted on both the Atlee and Burpee families as well as clippings about family members. W. Atlee and David Burpee's series are the most extensive, and cover their involvement with numerous social and philanthropic clubs and organizations. The series include personal correspondence; financial, accounting, and tax records; travel-related files; reference material; and will and estate papers.
The Burpee collection also has a large number of images related to the Burpee business and family in a variety of formats including photographs, film and glass plate negatives, and advertisement mock-ups. Other formats include architectural and site plans, original artwork for advertisements, films, cassettes, audio tapes, and ephemera.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into six series:
Series 1: Plant/Farm Related Material
Series 2: Business Records
Series 3: Material Published About the Burpee Company
Series 4: Awards and Certificates
Series 5: Photographic and A/V Materials
Series 6: Burpee Family Papers
The collection's original order was maintained wherever possible, though many records were found scattered throughout the collection and artificial files were necessarily created for them.
Most files are arranged chronologically or alphabetically by person or topic.
Various photographs interspersed in correspondence files were kept where they were originally found. All other photographic and audio/visual materials found on their own were grouped in Series 5 Photographic and A/V Material which documents aspects of both the Burpee company and Burpee family.
Biographical / Historical:
Washington Atlee Burpee (1858-1915) began a mail-order poultry and livestock business in 1876 in Philadelphia, which he soon expanded to include corn seed for chicken feed. In 1878, he founded W. Atlee Burpee & Co. to sell livestock and vegetable, fruit, and flower seeds through the mail. His company went on to become one of the most notable seed distributors in the world.
In 1888, W. Atlee bought a tract of land named Fordhook Farms in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It was initially established as an experimental farm to test and evaluate new varieties of vegetables and flowers and to produce seeds for the mail-order market. Burpee spent many summers traveling throughout the United States and Europe visiting farms and searching for the best flowers and vegetables. Certain plants he found were shipped back to the firm for testing and propagation; other seeds were obtained through contracts with growers throughout the U.S., a practice common in the seed industry at that time. Promising varieties were bred with healthier specimens to produce hardier hybrids that were more resistant to disease. Other Burpee trial grounds were later established at Sunnybrook Farm near Swedesboro, New Jersey, and at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California (1909/1910). The company went on to purchase more land for farming in California, and established sales branch headquarters in Sanford, Florida (circa 1930s), Clinton, Iowa (1942), and Riverside, California (1949).
W. Atlee Burpee married Blanche Simons (1863-1948) in 1892. They had three sons: David (1893-1980); W. Atlee Jr. ("Junior") (1894-1966); and Stuart Alexander (1901-1934). Both David and Junior attended the Blight School in Philadelphia for elementary school and Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana for preparatory school. While they both attended Cornell University as undergraduates, they left before graduating due to W. Atlee's poor health. Junior married Jeanetta Lee (1893-1981) in November, 1916, and they had two children: W. Atlee III (1917-1971) and Jeanette (1919-2002). David married Lois Torrance (1912-1984) in 1938, and they had two children: Johnathan (b. 1941) and Blanche (b. 1943). Stuart Alexander was apparently born with a disability; according to census records he worked on farms during his lifetime.
David Burpee took over the family business upon his father's death in 1915; W. Atlee Burpee, Jr. served as treasurer of the firm once he returned from serving in the military. At that time, the Burpee company had 300 employees and was the largest mail-order seed company in the world. It distributed over one million catalogs a year and received on average 10,000 orders a day. Under David's tutelage, the company adapted to contemporaneous shifts in business and advertising methods, advancements in plant science, ever-changing consumer demands, and two World Wars. In response to food shortages experienced during World War I, the Burpee company helped promote a "war gardens" campaign that evolved into a "victory gardens" campaign during World War II.
Both W. Atlee and David used their position as head of a major seed house to lobby congressional debates in regard to two topics: postage rates (W. Atlee) and the designation of a national floral emblem for the United States (David). Both men belonged to The Union League of Philadelphia and The Canadian Society of Philadelphia (which W. Atlee helped found), and served on the boards of directors for hospitals and other charitable organizations. Both father and son were politically aligned with the Republican Party.
The firm reorganized its governing structure in 1917 at which time it changed its name from W. Atlee Burpee & Co. to W. Atlee Burpee Co. Burpee's acquired three seed companies between 1878 and 1970: Luther Burbank Seed Company, James Vick's Seeds, Inc., and the William Henry Maule Company. David Burpee sold the company to the General Foods Corporation in 1970 and served as a consultant for the business until 1973. The Burpee brand was bought by its current owner, George J. Ball, Inc., in 1991.
General:
The project to process the W. Atlee Burpee & Co. Records received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and
the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Related Materials:
Burpee seed catalogs donated to the Smithsonian in 1982 by the W. Atlee Burpee Co. can be found in the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History.
The Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division includes a series of images of Burpee company operations taken in 1943.
The Black Gold Cooperative Library System's Asian/Pacific - Americans on the Central Coast Collection includes images dated 1933-1939 of Japanese employees of the Burpee Co. working at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Starr Ockenga Collection includes materials generated or compiled by Ockenga for the writing of her books, 'Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden' (1998, Clarkson Potter) and 'Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions" (2001, Clarkson Potter).' Both books feature several individual chapters, each describing a garden owner and their garden.
Scope and Contents Note:
The Starr Ockenga Collection includes photographic images, notes, correspondence, questionnaires, garden plans, planting lists, releases and drafts generated or compiled by Ockenga for the writing and illustrating of her books, 'Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden' (1998, Clarkson Potter) and 'Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions' (2001, Clarkson Potter). Both books consist of several individual chapters, each describing a garden owner and their garden and featuring a portrait of the garden owner in their garden. The 40 gardens included in the collection are located across the United States. In addition to the hundreds of images published in 'Eden' and 'Earth,' the Ockenga Collection includes thousands of additional images that, together with the research notes and garden descriptions in the books, provide a rich source of documentation. A number of the images show panoramic garden views.
Arrangement Note:
The collection was organized into two major components by Starr Ockenga, representing materials generated for two books she authored and photographed, Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden and Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions. Within each of the two divisions, the garden files and book chapters, garden images, and garden owner portraits are arranged according to specific garden.
Biographical Note:
Starr Ockenga is a writer, photographer, and lecturer. Her photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries and are included in both public and private collections. Her images and writings have appeared in numerous publications including Life, Esquire, Camera, and Horticulture. She is the author of several books including 'Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden,' 'Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions,' and 'Amaryllis.' Earth on Her Hands received the American Horticultural Society's Annual Book Award in 1999. Ockenga received her Master's degree in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. She is a former associate professor of photography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her studio is located in New York City.
Provenance:
Collection of photographic images and garden files generated by Starr Ockenga during the course of writing and providing photography for her books, Earth on Her Hands: The American Woman in Her Garden and Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions, donated by Ockenga to the Archives of American Gardens in 2014.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Starr Ockenga Collection.
The Eleanor Weller Collection dates from circa 1978-2006 and consists of photographic images and research files relating to The Garden Club of America's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens (later donated to the Smithsonian Institution as The Garden Club of America Collection) and the book, The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940, co-written by Weller and Mac Griswold, as well as thousands of photographic images of historic and contemporary gardens compiled or taken by Weller. Materials include correspondence, research notes, clippings, brochures, lecture scripts, photocopied images from archival repositories, and original and duplicate 35mm slides.
Scope and Contents note:
The core of the collection consists of thousands of 35mm slide images photographed or amassed by Eleanor Weller. The latter come from numerous sources including books, magazines and archival repositories. The images document thousands of private gardens and public spaces (including parks, historic sites, and sculpture gardens) throughout the United States. Duplicates of a significant number of images from the Eleanor Weller Collection can be found in The Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens. There is also a smaller grouping of photographs of gardens taken by Weller.
Complementing this collection of images are numerous vertical files with magazine and newspaper clippings and brochures, etc. relating to hundreds of public and private gardens in America. A significant number of the files relate to gardens profiled in the book co-authored by Weller, The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940.
The collection also includes correspondence regarding the recompilation of The Garden Club of America's collection of historic glass lantern slides as well as correspondence and research materials relating to the compilation of 35mm slides for the GCA's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens from both public and private sources.
Another portion of the collection documents the research and image compilation for The Golden Age of American Gardens manuscript. While similar in nature to the research materials relating to the GCA Slide Library, the portion of the collection encompassing the book's preparation represents a change in focus from collecting a representative sampling of 35mm slides for gardens throughout the U.S. to gathering specific high quality images intended for The Golden Age of American Gardens. This portion of the collection also contains a nearly complete draft of the manuscript as well as drafts of the footnotes and appendix.
Because of the similar nature of the GCA Slide Library and The Golden Age of American Gardens book projects and the fact that they overlapped for a time, the files frequently intertwine closely. Some files identified with one project may include documents for the other project and visa versa. An example of this is seen in The Golden Age of American Gardens' Image Reference Files arranged according to Archival Repository. The files include packets from archival repositories throughout the U.S. with photocopies of select images in their collections. These images were used to facilitate both the selection of images for The Golden Age of American Gardens book project and the GCA Slide Library, and are occasionally annotated. In some cases, a review of both series may be necessary to ensure that relevant files are not overlooked.
Other noteworthy aspects of this collection are materials that deal with the origins and operations of the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens, including correspondence regarding one of its future collections, The Chimneys Collection. Also present are several slide scripts corresponding with the GCA's historic glass lantern slide collection, as well as materials in the GCA Slide Library (now The Garden Club of America Collection).
It should be noted that while the creator of this collection is Eleanor Weller, significant portions of the files relating to the GCA Slide Library and The Golden Age of American Gardens were compiled by Helen Rollins in her position as research assistant for The Golden Age book project. It is possible that Rollins also helped compile the files in The Golden Age of American Gardens' Image Reference Files arranged by state.
Lastly, the collection includes contemporary color photographs of historic sites and gardens taken by Richard Marchand. Weller had previously worked with Marchand, the donor of the Richard Marchand Historical Postcard Collection at the Archives of American Gardens, to compile historic garden images for the GCA Slide Library.
Biographical/Historical note:
Eleanor Weller Reade is a horticulturist, garden lecturer, interior designer, and co-author of the book The Golden Age of American Gardens: Proud Owners, Private Estates, 1890-1940. As a member of The Garden Club of America, she played a ciritical role in the compilation of the GCA's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens which was subsequently donated to the Archives of American Gardens as The Garden Club of America Collection.
Provenance:
Donated by Eleanor Weller Reade to the Archives of American Gardens in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Dr. G. Howard White, Jr. Collection contains images of family members and residences relating to the White family of Catonsville, Maryland and Middleburg, Virginia and the Liebig family of Catonsville, Maryland, as well as recreational, industrial, and general sites in Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey. The images, taken by Dr. G. Howard White, Jr. and Dr. Gustav Adolph Liebig, both amateur photographers, document everything from informal family gatherings and outings to domestic servants, workers, factories and railroad lines. The acession file includes some genealogical information and research on properties conducted in 2005.
Scope and Contents note:
The Dr. G. Howard White, Jr. Collection includes (203) photographic images dated c. 1890s-1920s taken by amateur photographers Dr. G. Howard White, Jr. and Dr. Gustav Adolph Liebig. It includes a diverse sampling of scenes, from family gatherings, homes, and recreational outings to train depots and railway lines, mill and factory workers, domestic servants, livestock, barns and other agricultural and industrial scenes of everyday life. The majority of the photographs were taken in Catonsville, Maryland, and Virginia; many show the homes (both exterior and interior shots) of the White, Dulany, Liebig and Lemmon families. Some show the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. The collection as a whole is a rich sampling of domestic, recreational, and working life in the mid-Atlantic region at the turn of the twentieth century.
Biographical/Historical note:
Dr. G. Howard White, Jr., the principal photographer of the collection, was born at 'Crednall' in Middleburg, Virginia. Many of the people depicted in the photographs of homesteads (such as 'Argyle' in Ellicott City, Maryland) are related to the White family.
Dr. Gustav Adolph Liebig photographed other images in the White Collection. He lived on an estate known as 'Tanglewood,' believed to be located across the street from the Whites in Catonsville, Maryland. (This may account for why Dr. White ended up with images by Dr. Liebig in his collection.) The Liebig family also features prominently in the White Collection.
Provenance:
Gift from Janet Tayloe to the Archives of American Gardens through Mrs. William H. West, Jr. of the Garden Club of America.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The W. Atlee Burpee & Company records, dated circa 1873-1986, document the firm's business activities developing plant varieties and marketing and selling seeds. They include accounting records, seed trial records, seed contracts, sales records, inventories, office correspondence, seed catalogs, promotional and instructional materials, advertisements and advertising reports, contest letters, daybooks, photographs, reference materials, and other items relating to the company and some of its competitors.
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a mail-order seed company based in Philadelphia, from its early beginnings in 1876 when its founder, W. Atlee Burpee, started in the agricultural business, to the 1970s when his son, David Burpee, sold the family's then-global company. The collection also includes personal papers of the Burpee family dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.
Business-related content in the collection consists of crop propagation and management records; company correspondence; administrative and personnel records; advertising files; legal papers; property records and plans; reports, studies, and technical data; notes and drafts; files on professional outreach activities and events; trade literature (published by both the Burpee company and a number of its competitors); and awards and certificates received by the company. Significant topics documented in these files include the development of notable flower and vegetable novelties introduced by the company; the impact of World Wars I and II on gardening and the global seed trade; advertising strategies, technology, and innovation; and David Burpee's involvement in the national floral emblem congressional debate.
The Burpee family papers consist of personal files unrelated to the company's business operations. This includes records generated by W. Atlee's father (David Burpee, 1827-1882) and grandfather (Washington L. Atlee, 1808-1878), as well as W. Atlee's wife, Blanche (1863-1948); David Burpee (1893-1980) and his wife, Lois (1912-1984); and W. Atlee Burpee II (1894-1966). There are genealogical surveys conducted on both the Atlee and Burpee families as well as clippings about family members. W. Atlee and David Burpee's series are the most extensive and cover their involvement with numerous clubs and societies such as the Canadian Society of Philadelphia, the Union League of Philadelphia, and, for David Burpee, his involvement with Pearl S. Buck's Welcome House charity. The series include personal correspondence; financial, accounting, and tax records; files generated during vacations; reference material; and will and estate papers.
The Burpee collection also has a large number of images related to the Burpee business and family in a variety of formats including photographs, film and glass plate negatives, and advertisement mock-ups. Other formats include architectural and site plans, original artwork for advertisements, films, cassettes, audio tapes, and ephemera.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into six series:
Series 1: Plant/Farm Related Material
Series 2: Business Records
Series 3: Material Published About the Burpee Company
Series 4: Awards and Certificates
Series 5: Photographic and A/V Materials
Series 6: Burpee Family Papers
Biographical / Historical:
Washington Atlee Burpee (1858-1915) began a mail-order poultry and livestock business in 1876 in Philadelpia, which he soon expanded to include corn seed for chicken feed. In 1878, he founded W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the primary focus of which was to sell vegetable, fruit, and flower seeds through the mail. This company would go on to become one of the most notable seed distributors in the United States.
By 1888, Burpee's family home, Fordhook Farms, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was established as an experimental farm to test and evaluate new varieties of vegetables and flowers, and to produce seeds. Burpee spent many summers traveling throughout the United States and Europe, visiting farms and searching for the best flowers and vegetables; certain plants he found were shipped to Fordhook Farms for testing. Plants that survived were bred with healthier specimens to produce heartier hybrids that were more resistant to disease. Other Burpee trial gardens were established in Lompoc, California and near Swedesboro, New Jersey.
Burpee's son David took over the family business upon his father's death in 1915. At that time, the Burpee Company had 300 employees and was the largest mail order seed company in the world. It distributed over one million catalogs a year and received as many as 10,000 orders a day. In response to food shortages caused by World War I, the Burpee Company helped promote a "war gardens" campaign that evolved into a "victory gardens" campaign during World War II. Both were aimed at city dwellers and instructed them on how to grow vegetables for their own consumption to aid in the war effort.
Sometime in the 1930s, the Burpee Company entered into a business relationship with the James Vick's Company of Rochester, New York. In 1947, Burpee purchased the assets of and rights to the use of the name of the Wm. Henry Maule Co. In 1970, Burpee was sold to General Foods; the corporate headquarters moved from Philadelphia to Warminster, Pennsylvania in 1974. David Burpee remained a consultant for the company until his death in 1981. In 1991, the Burpee Company was acquired by George J. Ball, Inc.
Related Materials:
Burpee seed catalogs donated to the Smithsonian in 1982 by the W. Atlee Burpee Co. can be found in the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History.
The Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division includes a series of images of Burpee company operations taken in 1943.
The Black Gold Cooperative Library System's Asian/Pacific - Americans on the Central Coast Collection includes images dated 1933-1939 of Japanese employees of the Burpee Co. working at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
44.5 Cubic feet (4,317 glass negatives. 363 film negatives. 182 glass lantern slides. 12 photograph albums. 56 plans and drawings. 3 monographs.
)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives
Blueprints
Albums
Plans (drawings)
Lantern slides
Date:
1899-1964
Summary:
The Thomas Warren Sears Photograph Collection documents examples of the design work of Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966), a landscape architect and amateur photographer from Brookline, Massachusetts. Sears, who was based for most of his career in Philadelphia, designed a variety of different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments located primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. In addition to some of Sears' design work, images in the collection document Sears' domestic and foreign travels, design inspirations, and family. The collection includes over 4,800 black and white negatives and glass lantern slides dated circa 1899 to 1930. While most images show private and public gardens, there are a significant number of unidentified views and views photographed in Europe during two trips he took there in 1906 and 1908. Few images are captioned or dated. In addition, there are over 50 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and 3 monographs by or about Sears.
Scope and Contents note:
The Thomas Warren Sears Photograph Collection documents examples of the design work of Thomas Warren Sears (1880-1966), a landscape architect and amateur photographer from Brookline, Massachusetts. Sears, who was based for most of his career in Philadelphia, designed a variety of different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments located primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. In addition to some of Sears' design work, images in the collection document Sears' domestic and foreign travels, design inspirations, and family. The collection includes over 4,800 black and white negatives and glass lantern slides dated circa 1899 to 1930. While most images show private and public gardens, there are a significant number of unidentified views and views photographed in Europe during two trips he took there in 1906 and 1908. Few images are captioned or dated. In addition, there are over 50 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and monographs by or about Sears.
Several of the glass lantern slides are duplicates of glass plate negatives in the collection. They apparently were chosen by Sears to illustrate some of his best design work, perhaps for lecture or client purposes.
In addition, there are 56 plans and drawings, most notably for Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland and Reynolda in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They range in date from 1917 to 1937 and from 1955 to 1964. Sears photographed some of his early plans; they are included in with the photographic images. Sears also photographed a handful of design plans by landscape architect Sibley Coslett Smith who practiced in Providence, Rhode Island; Sears and Smith shared the same business address there.
The Thomas Warren Sears Collection does not fully document the extent of Sears' design work. The use of glass plate negatives—which make up the bulk of the Thomas Warren Sears Collection—as a photography medium waned sometime during the first quarter of the twentieth century. As a result, the images in the Sears Collection capture examples of Sears' early to mid-career design work but they do not include jobs designed by Sears during the latter half of his design career.
Arrangement note:
The glass plate negatives were originally housed in numerous cardboard boxes manufactured for the sale of undeveloped glass plate negatives. Sears annotated the outside of the boxes with project or client names and/or locations, but the contents do not always match these labels. In addition, because very few of the glass plate negatives and lantern slides were labeled or captioned, it is not always evident where one job ended and another began if multiple projects were stored in the same carton. As a result, there are many instances in the Sears Collection where images have been inadvertently mislabeled because their identification is not apparent. Misidentified images are subject to correction as their proper identification is discovered.
Each project has been assigned its own unique AAG job number based on its geographic origin. Those groups of images that have not been identified as to their location have been assigned a project number starting with 'SRS.'
The collection is arranged into 3 series:
1) Photographic images (including glass plate negatives, film negatives, glass lantern slides, and photograph albums)
2) Plans and Drawings
3) Monographs
Biographical/Historical note:
Thomas Warren Sears was born in 1880 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1903 and Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard in 1906. Sears was an amateur photographer who won awards for his photography while at Harvard. In 1915 his images were published in the monograph, Parish Churches of England. After graduation he worked for the firm of Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects for two years and then briefly practiced in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1913, Sears established a landscape design office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he spent the remainder of his professional career. Sears at one point was in a professional partnership; some of his design plans list the firm name of Sears and Wendell. He was made a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1921.
Sears designed many different types of landscapes ranging from private residences, schools, and playgrounds to parks, cemeteries, and urban housing developments. His designs were primarily located in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. Just a few of his private landscapes include Marengo in Easton, Maryland; Sunnybrook, the Isaac H. Clothier, Jr. estate in Radnor, Pennsylvania; and Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland. In 1915, Sears started work on Reynolda, a country estate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He generated design plans for the property intermittently over the next two decades. Reynolda's formal gardens, greenhouses, and acres of fields and woodlands subsequently became part of Wake Forest University.
During World War I, Sears designed Army camps in Battle Creek, Michigan and Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also helped lay out Langley Field, at that time an experimental aviation field in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In the 1940s, Sears designed the amphitheater at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania for concerts, outdoor performances, and other special events. During that decade he also worked on Colonial Revival gardens at Pennsbury, William Penn's country estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania located by the Delaware River. Sears retired in 1964 and died in 1966.
Related Archival Materials note:
The Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project (PAB), administered by The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, includes references to design projects by Sears.
Harvard University's Loeb Library includes a number of images by Sears, some of them documenting gardens that he designed.
Harvard University's Fine Arts Library, Special Collections includes a collection of photographs and negatives of English parish churches by Sears, c. 1908. Some of the images were published in the monograph, Parish Churches of England.
The Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina includes plans by Sears of Reynolda in its Estate Archives.
Provenance:
Gift of Eleanor Sears Tibbetts, Sears' daughter, to the Horticulture Services Division (later Smithsonian Gardens) in 1992.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Captain A.H. McComb, Jr. Collection includes approximately 230 35mm slides of public and private gardens and landscapes dating from 1956 to 1966, photographed by Captain A.H. McComb, Jr. at sites in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New York, United States Virgin Islands, Argentina, Bermuda, Capri, Cuba, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Tobago.
Scope and Contents note:
The Captain A.H. McComb, Jr. Collection includes approximately 230 35mm slides of public and private gardens and landscapes dating from 1956 to 1966, photographed by Captain A.H. McComb, Jr. at sites in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New York, United States Virgin Islands, Argentina, Bermuda, Capri, Cuba, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Tobago. While McComb generally indicated the location and/or plant featured in each image on the corresponding slide mount, the location of sites documented in some of images is unknown. Also included are images of various flowers and plants, some of which are not attributable to a particular site. A typewritten list of image captions keyed to the numbered slides accompanied the donation.
Arrangement note:
Arranged into 2 series:
1. U.S. Gardens
2. Foreign Gardens
The original arrangement, which is maintained, consists of a two-part numbering system based on sequential (and chronological) rolls of film and the slides within each roll. Each roll was numbered sequentially by, presumably, Capt. McComb as were the slides within each roll (e.g. 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, etc.) with gaps in the numbering sequences representing slides not included in the donation to the Smithsonian.
Biographical/Historical note:
Captain Archibald H. "Bud" McComb, Jr. of Winchester, Virginia, (May 27, 1913-February 8, 2003), was the Chief of International Maritime Safety Coordinating Staff at the United States Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C and life member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.
Provenance:
Captain and Mrs. A.H. McComb donated the collection to the Office of Horticulture in (later Smithsonian Gardens) in 1981.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
The Perry H. Wheeler Collection includes the design, client and business records of Perry H. Wheeler, a landscape architect best known for his work on numerous townhouse gardens in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., during the 1960s as well as the redesign of the White House Rose Garden in collaboration with Rachel Lambert ('Bunny') Mellon during the Kennedy administration.
Scope and Contents note:
The Perry H. Wheeler Collection includes the design, client and business records of Perry H. Wheeler, a landscape architect best known for his work on numerous townhouse gardens in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. during the 1960s as well as the redesign of the White House Rose Garen in collaboration with Rachel ('Bunny') Lambert Mellon during the Kennedy adminstration. The collection includes photographic images, plans, drawings, client correspondence, plant lists, invoices, newspaper and magazine clippings, certificates, awards, and invitations. The bulk of the collection and most of the professional papers date from about 1950 to 1965 and relate to various garden design projects by Wheeler, many of them located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Of particular note are documents for Wheeler's public design work including the White House grounds, Washington National Cathedral, U. S. National Arboretum, President John F. Kennedy's gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery, and the British and Cambodian Embassies in Washington, D.C. Noteworthy correspondents include President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Ladybird Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, and Margaret Truman.
There are also over 3,000 35mm slides dating from the 1950s and 1960s that document Wheeler's personal travels to Europe, Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the American West.
Biographical/Historical note:
Perry Hunt Wheeler (1913-1989), a Georgia native, began his higher education at Emory University, going on to graduate from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1937. Immediately afterward Wheeler enrolled in Harvard University from which he earned a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture in 1938. After graduation, Wheeler collaborated on garden projects in Atlanta, Georgia with fellow landscape architect Helen Hawkins Clarke. During World War II, Wheeler moved to Washington, D.C. to serve under the Office of Civilian Defense and the Office of Strategic Services Camouflage Division. Following the war, Wheeler worked at Garden House a Georgetown shop where he advised homeowners on tasteful garden design, accessories, and furnishings. By 1948 Wheeler had established a landscape architecture practice in Washington, D.C. His practice grew via word of mouth through Washington's social circles and through a shared office with landscape architect Rose Ishbel Greely, and later with architect Gertrude Sawyer.
In 1947, he formed a 'bachelor household' in Georgetown with James Snitzler. Later, at the invitation of Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon, he and Snitzler created a second home outside of Washington called "Spring Hill" on property owned by Mellon. Shortly after Snitzler's death in 1968, Wheeler moved permanently to Middleburg, Virginia and continued to travel, lecture, and consult with clients. Wheeler semi-retired in 1981 to 'Budfield,' a property in Rectortown, Virginia where he passed away in 1989, leaving his estate to his partner, James M. Stengle.
Wheeler is best known for his work on private gardens in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. He frequently employed the use of intricate brickwork, low-maintenance planting, and simple water features in creating his charming and functional designs. His most noteworthy commissions outside the private realm include collaboration with Bunny Mellon on the White House Rose Garden, designing a Garden Club of America-commissioned gazebo and its surroundings for the U.S. National Arboretum, and plantings for the National Cathedral and President John F. Kennedy's gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery.
Provenance:
Gift from the estate of James M. Stengle, 1993.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
This series contains 128 glass lantern slides of images photographed by Louise Newton, a founding member of the Ridgefield Garden Club, on a Garden Club of America visit to England in June 1929. It is very likely that Louise Newton was part of Group A on the trip.
Related Materials:
There are at least 17 duplicate lantern slides in the The Garden Club of America Collection.
Youngman, Wilbur H. (Wilbur Hughes), 1896-1986 Search this
Extent:
0.17 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955)
Date:
1946
Content Description:
The collection consists of a notebook and nearly 200 photographs generated by Wilbur H. Youngman while he was working in Germany in 1946 on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Services. The holdings document efforts to survey and facilitate farming and vegetable gardening efforts in the southern half of Germany shortly after World War II. In addition, there is a carbon copy of a typewritten letter dated June 23, 1946 from 'Phil' of the Food and Agriculture Branch, OMO-US, U.S. Army, Berlin that talks about trying to buy jeeps in post-war Europe.
Youngman's notebook includes numerous notes about agricultural conditions and needs and various data and figures relating to seed requirements and yields, numbers of refugees, etc. The photos he took document sites he visited in Germany including garden plots and agricultural fields, cities and towns, and urban centers impacted by damage incurred during World War II. The collection also includes photos Youngman took of sites in France that he visited while in Europe, many of them 'tourist' type views.
Biographical / Historical:
Wilbur Hughes Youngman (1896-1986) was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in farm management from Iowa State University. He was awarded the Purple Heart while serving with the Army in France during World War I.
Youngman taught at Texas A&M University from 1924 to 1926. From 1926 to 1959, he worked as an Agricultural Economist (Seeds) for the Foreign Agricultural Services (FAS) at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Following World War II, he worked as a civilian employee of the Food and Agriculture Section (Economics Branch) with the U.S. military to survey agricultural conditions and needs in the southern half of Germany and initiated commercial exports of seeds from the United States. Youngman was honored as a recipient of the USDA's Superior Service Award in 1959, the year he retired from that agency.
Youngman was the garden editor of the Washington Star newspaper from 1938 to 1976. He authored Growing Your Trees (1966), published by the American Forestry Association, as well as several editions of the Washington Star Garden Book (1944-1976). He was recognized by the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) as the best garden writer in America in 1958. Youngman was also awarded the Hull Certificate of Merit for Literary Horticulture Interest by the National Council of State Garden Clubs for the Washington Star Garden Book in 1969.
Youngman joined Washington, D.C.'s Takoma Horticultural Club in 1928 and served as the club's president in 1930. In 1963, the club recognized him for his "outstanding services." He was president of the American Horticultural Society from 1947-1948 and later served on the Editorial Committee of AHS's quarterly magazine. He served as president of the Potomac Rose Society and as an accredited judge of the American Rose Society.
Youngman died in 1986. His first wife, Alice Strode, died in 1961; his second wife, Fay Brodell, died in 1985.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Topic:
United States Department of Agriculture Search this
7 Boxes (35mm slides, thumb drive containing digital files, files)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Date:
1996-2021
Content Description:
Scope and Contents note: The Irene Jeruss Garden Photography Collection contains over 6,000 images of gardens, garden features, and flora photographed by garden photographer Irene Jeruss from 1996 to 2021. The images document dozens of private and public gardens in Connecticut, along with several in New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Several gardens are accompanied by a file with written information such as notes, plant lists, garden plans, and magazine articles in which Irene Jeruss's images were published.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged geographically by state, according to the location of the garden.
Biographical / Historical:
Irene Jeruss is a landscape and marine artist. From 1999 to 2014, she worked as a professional photographer specializing in garden photography. Jeruss was also an essay and photography contributor to Photography Changes Everything, a book co-published by the Smithsonian Institution in 2012.
Provenance:
Irene Jeruss donated her garden photography collection to the Archives of American Gardens in 2021.
Restrictions:
Access to collection by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Photographic prints (black and white, 3 1/2 x 5 inches)
Photographic prints (black and white, 8 x 10 inches)
Contact sheets (black and white)
35mm slides (photographs) (color, 2 x 2 inches)
Negatives, 35mm negatives (color)
Negatives (black & white, 4 x 5 inches)
Negatives, 120mm negatives (black and white, 2 x 2 inches)
Film transparency (color, 4 x 5 inches)
Transparencies, 120mm transparencies (color, 2 x 2 inches)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Film transparencies
Color negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Photographs
Color photographs
Negatives
Slides (photographs)
Contact sheets
Black-and-white negatives
Date:
circa 1960-1994
Summary:
The Maida Babson Adams American Garden Collection documents the work of Molly Adams, a free-lance garden photographer who photographed hundreds of private and public gardens, many of them in the mid-Atlantic region, from the late 1950s through the mid-1990s. It includes slides, photographic prints, negatives and transparencies. A significant number of images document the work of landscape designers Nelva M. Weber, Alice Recknagel Ireys, and Friede Stege. Roughly 50 gardens do not have an identified location. Some images have captions and other information written on them.
Scope and Contents:
The Maida Babson Adams American Gardens Collection includes a total of 7,606 images documenting close to 400 gardens photographed by Molly Adams from the 1950s to the 1990s. Although most images document gardens in New Jersey, the collection also includes gardens in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. While the vast majority of gardens in the collection are private, there are also some public gardens and venues like the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in New Jersey, the International Flower Show in New York City, and the White House in Washington, D.C. A number of gardens were photographed during organized garden or horticultural tours or annual meetings of the Garden Club of America.
A significant number of images document the work of landscape designers Alice Ireys, Nelva Weber, and Friede Stege. Approximately 85 gardens in the collection are unidentified as to their location and/or client.
Relatively few images are captioned or dated; Adams often labeled a film envelope or back of a photograph or contact sheet with just a client surname and the designer (if it was Ireys, Weber, or Stege). In some cases, additional information about a garden's location or owner's full name was gleaned from the finding aids for the Alice Recknagel Ireys Papers or the Nelva Weber Papers. Some images were accompanied by clippings from newspapers or magazines that featured one or more related images by Adams; most of these clippings date from the 1950s and 1960s. There is also a file of general clippings of Adams' work; many of these do not identify the garden that is shown.
Most of the images are black and white, though there are a number taken in color. Adams' contact sheets and photo envelopes were sometimes marked with cropping marks or photo developing notes respectively.
Biographical / Historical:
Molly (Maida Babson) Adams (1918 - 2003) had a 40+ year career as a nationally recognized free-lance garden and wildlife photographer and conservationist. Her images were published under the name "Molly Adams." Adams was born in Orange, New Jersey and lived over fifty years in Mendham Township, New Jersey. As a teenager she became interested in photography; she later attended the New York Institute of Photography and became a member of the New York Camera Club.
Her photographs were featured in numerous newspapers and magazines including the "New York Times," "New York Herald Tribune," "House Beautiful," "Horticulture," "Home Garden," and "Audubon." During the Kennedy administration, she photographed the White House Rose Garden; these photographs were later published in "Flower Grower."
Adams provided hundreds of photographs for "How to Plan and Plant Your Own Property" (1967) by landscape architect Alice Recknagel Ireys and "How to Plan Your Own Home Landscape" (1976) by landscape designer Nelva M. Weber. Her images were also published in books including "The Reader's Digest Practical Guide to Home Landscaping," and "The Complete Illustrated Book of Garden Magic." Adams also occasionally wrote garden-themed articles. A longtime member in the Somerset Hills (NJ) Garden Club, which is part of the Garden Club of America, Adams once served as the latter's official photographer.
In the 1960's Adams' photographs drew attention to conservation issues related to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern New Jersey. These widely publicized photographs rallied public support against the proposed destruction of the Great Swamp for the construction of an airport. Adams was also active as a member of the Mendham Township Environmental Commission and the North Jersey Conservation Foundation. In the 1980's she was awarded the Buckley Medal of Merit for Horticultural Achievement by the Garden Club of America for her photographs used in the postcard campaign "Save Our Vanishing Wild Flowers."
Related Archival Materials Note:
The Alice Recknagel Ireys Papers in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, include photographs by Molly Adams.
The Nelva Weber Papers in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York, likely include photographs by Molly Adams.
Separated Materials:
The North Jersey History & Genealogy Center at The Morristown & Morris Township Library in New Jersey has a collection of images by Molly Adams showcasing nature scenes and birds.
Provenance:
Adams' family donated her collection of garden images to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens after her death in 2003.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
35mm slides of private and public gardens photographed by Brent Heath, co-founder of Brent and Becky's Bulbs in Gloucester, Virginia.
Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
