United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Erie County -- Erie
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, a photocopy of an article, and other information.
General:
Created under the direction of the late John C. Ferguson, the World War II Memorial of Erie Pennsylvania was dedicated on November 11, 1999. The memorial is comprised of a garden and granite blocks engraved with the names of 727 soldiers from Erie County who died while in service during World War II, a brief pictorial history of the war, and images of a number of veterans who survived the war. The original landscaping for the site was designed to complement the memorial and to minimize maintenance needs. At its inception plantings included silver maples, a juniper hedge, pampas grasses, black-eyed Susans, and daylilies.
In 2001 John Ferguson asked his son, Tim Ferguson to assume responsibility for the upkeep of the landscape, which had been maintained by contracted professional landscaping crews. Tim took the opportunity to become more personally invested in the caretaking of the memorial and over the next few years he made various improvements to the property to enhance certain aspects of the memorial and to add more variety of color to the landscaping. Bradford pear trees were added to complement the scale of the monument, provide shade in the summer, and add color as they bloom in the spring. Shrub roses, an addition inspired by military cemeteries in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and gold mop juniper were added for color; the black-eyed Susans were replaced with Ninebark, as well as arborvitae, and boxwood, to provide a sheltering effect and promote a more serene environment. Red and white geraniums are used to add color, as are tulips and daffodils, and dwarf Japanese Maples add additional privacy and screening and provide a thematic link to the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.
Persons and groups associated with the garden include: John C. Ferguson (chairman, 1998-2006), John Timothy Ferguson (director, 2000-present), Erie School District (property owner), The Seedlings Garden Club (garden volunteers), Dan Dahlkemper (landscape architect, 1998-1999), Mike Geiger/Geiger & Sons (designer, stonemason, 1998-1999), Prudence Burnes (graphic artist, 1999)
Related Materials:
World War II Memorial Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (9 digital images)
See others in:
Garden Club of American collection, ca. 1920- [ongoing].
Collection 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.
Collection 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.
114 Items (gelatin silver prints mounted on pages with typed captions in a three-ring binder)
Container:
Box 6, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Photograph albums
Place:
Japan
Japan -- Description and Travel
Date:
[1924-1925.]
1924-1925
Scope and Contents note:
Binding removed. 6 ¾" x 9 ¾". Feb 1924 - May 1925. 114 images, black and white, affixed to pages, some with dates and captions. Includes photographs of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Ferguson, Peking, Ming Tombs.
Scope and Contents:
An album of various views of Beijing, including images of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Ferguson and the Ming Tombs.
East Asian art historian, curator and lecturer, Benjamin Franklin March Jr., was born in Chicago on July 4, 1899 to Benjamin and Isabel March. He studied, lectured, and wrote in the United States and China and through his works gained respect as one of the foremost authorities on Chinese art during the 1920s and 1930s. March was East Asian art lecturer at the University of Michigan, and curator of Asian art at the Detroit Institute of Art. Although he lived only thirty-five years, Benjamin March was a respected and influential scholar of Asian art.
Benjamin March Papers, FSA.A.1995.10. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Judith March Davis, 1995
135 Items (gelatin silver prints mounted on pages with typed captions)
Container:
Box 9, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Photograph albums
Place:
China
China -- Description and Travel
Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China)
Suzhou Shi (Jiangsu Sheng, China)
Shanghai (China)
Date:
1925
Scope and Contents note:
"Summer 1925" (on cover). Verso label, "Dorothy and Benjamin March." 6 ½" x 9 ½", cloth covered and bound. 119 photographs. Black and white photographs, affixed to pages, all captioned and dated, 30 June 1925 to August 1925. Includes the March's wedding portraits; Nanking; Hangchou; Soochow; Kiukiang; the Yangtse; Wuhu.
Scope and Contents:
Bound album of photographs depicting the wedding of Benjamin March and Dorothy Rowe in Nanjing and their subsequent honeymoon in Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. Also include photographs of Guling summer retreat with the Rowe family and the John C. Ferguson. Includes a later additon of seprated pages of photographs and ephemera from the wedding.
East Asian art historian, curator and lecturer, Benjamin Franklin March Jr., was born in Chicago on July 4, 1899 to Benjamin and Isabel March. He studied, lectured, and wrote in the United States and China and through his works gained respect as one of the foremost authorities on Chinese art during the 1920s and 1930s. March was East Asian art lecturer at the University of Michigan, and curator of Asian art at the Detroit Institute of Art. Although he lived only thirty-five years, Benjamin March was a respected and influential scholar of Asian art.
Benjamin March Papers, FSA.A.1995.10. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Judith March Davis, 1995
258 Items (gelatin silver prints mounted on unbound pages with handwritten captions)
Container:
Box 11, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Photograph albums
Place:
Japan
United Kingdom
Paris (France)
China
China -- Description and Travel
Beijing (China)
Date:
1931
Scope and Contents note:
"Shu-Chai in Search of Shung-Chu. Wayward Records of a Trip Eastward Around the World from Detroit, 15 April 1931 to Detroit, 17 October 1931." 7 ½" x 9". 258 photographs, black and white photographs, affixed to page, dated and captioned. Photographs taken during March's trip around the world. Binding removed, original pagination maintained. Depicted: SS American Trader; Surrey, England; Paris; Berlin; F.E. Schmitt; M.O. Berube; the Colonial Exposition in Paris; Peiping; Dr. John C. Ferguson; Ferguson residence in Peiping; Benjamin March; 86 Nan Ch'In Tzu; Celestin Liu; Dr. Otto Burchard; Mrs. Otto Burchard; Larry Mayer; J. Leighton Stuart; Yenching; Lucius Porter; the Forbidden City; Temple of Heaven; Wan Shou Shan; Y.C. Fu; H.H. Fu; Mei Lan-Fang; Hsiang Fei; She-Kee; Chiyozaki; tea ceremony; Kyoto.
Scope and Contents:
Subtitled, "Wayward Records of a Trip Eastward Around the World from Detroit, 15 April 1931 to Detroit, 17 October 1931." An album of photographs taken by Benjamin March doing travel and research. Locations are primarily in and around Beijing, but also include travel in Japan, the UK and France. People depicted include Dr. John C. Ferguson; F; Celestin Liu; Dr. Otto Burchard; Larry Mayer; J. Leighton Stuart; Lucius Porter; Y.C. Fu; H.H. Fu; Mei Lanfang, Xu Fengqiu and Wang Xiuying. Includes rare photographs of John C. Ferguson's home; Mei Lanfang's garden; and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
East Asian art historian, curator and lecturer, Benjamin Franklin March Jr., was born in Chicago on July 4, 1899 to Benjamin and Isabel March. He studied, lectured, and wrote in the United States and China and through his works gained respect as one of the foremost authorities on Chinese art during the 1920s and 1930s. March was East Asian art lecturer at the University of Michigan, and curator of Asian art at the Detroit Institute of Art. Although he lived only thirty-five years, Benjamin March was a respected and influential scholar of Asian art.
Benjamin March Papers, FSA.A.1995.10. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Judith March Davis, 1995
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Comprehensive index of Charles Lang Freer's library, mostly relating to art and Asian culture. Headings include authors, countries, and topical subjects. Sections include locations in Freer's original Detroit home; an index of all books transferred to the Smithsonian; a list of collections and collectors catalogues of American and Near and Far Eastern art; sales catalogues, and books in Chinese language.
Arrangement:
Organized in the original manner by the creator.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.01 05.22
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Topic:
Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Art, American -- Collectors and collecting Search this
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
The John Calvin Ferguson Family papers measure 6.4 linear feet, and date from circa 1850s to 1988, with the bulk dating from 1900 to 1945. The bulk of the papers consists of John Calvin Ferguson's personal, professional, and family correspondence, and correspondence between other members of the Ferguson family. The papers also include biographical materials; sermons, speeches, and writings by Ferguson and others; printed materials, both collected and given to Ferguson; and photographs, including five photograph albums.
Scope and Contents:
The John Calvin Ferguson Family papers measure 6.4 linear feet, and date from circa 1850s to 1988, with the bulk dating from 1900 to 1945. The bulk of the papers consists of John Calvin Ferguson's personal, professional, and family correspondence, and correspondence between other members of the Ferguson family. The papers also include biographical materials; sermons, speeches, and writings by Ferguson and others; printed materials, both collected and given to Ferguson; and photographs, including five photograph albums.
Biographical materials includes various business cards and professional contacts; an ink sketch portrait of Ferguson by Li Yuling; various membership documents and cards; memorial service and obituary materials for Ferguson and members of the Ferguson family; repatriation documentation and materials from the M. S. Gripsholm; and assorted genealogical and family documents.
Correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection, and is both professional and personal in nature. Much of John Calvin Ferguson's correspondence documents his activities and movements while living in China, as well as the state of the political and social climate during the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 and as the Second Sino-Japan War begins in 1937. His journey back to the United States aboard the M. S. Gripsholm, as well as his failing health, are also much discussed topics. Extensive correspondence between other members of the Ferguson family are also found within the papers, including Ferguson's wife, Mary Elizabeth Wilson, and his children.
Sermons, speeches, and writings reflect Ferguson's many career interests, including his work as a minister, education administrator, and as an ambassador with the Chinese government. The collection also contains printed materials and photographs, including five photograph albums.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1915-1981 [Box 1, 1 OV Folder; 0.5 linear feet]
Series 2: John Calvin Ferguson Correspondence, 1902-circa 1945 [Boxes 1-7; 2.2 linear feet]
Series 3: Ferguson Family Correspondence, 1886-1982 [Boxes 7-12; 2.1 linear feet]
Series 4: Sermons, Speeches, and Writings, 1896-1988 [Boxes 12-13; 0.3 linear feet]
Series 5: Printed Material, 1896-1988 [Boxes 13-14; 0.4 linear feet]
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1850s-1967 [Boxes 14-17; 0.9 linear feet]
Biographical / Historical:
John Calvin Ferguson (1866-1945) was an author, collector and scholar of Chinese art, Methodist minister, university president, and Chinese government advisor, born in Napanee, Ontario.
Ferguson attended Albert College in Ontario, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 from Boston University, and was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church shortly thereafter. He received his PhD from Boston University in 1902. In 1887, he married Mary Elizabeth Wilson (1866-1938) and was sent to China as a Methodist missionary, where he spent his first year studying Chinese in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, downriver from Nanjing on the Yangzi. In Nanjing, Ferguson helped found the Methodist school, Huiwen Shuyuan (later Nanjing University), and worked to establish a western curriculum with departments of liberal arts, medicine, and theology. He was the first president of the university, as well as treasurer and then superintendent of the Central China Mission until 1897, when he left the ministry.
In 1897, Qing official Sheng Xuanhuai (1847-1916) invited Ferguson to become first president of Nanyang College at Shanghai, where he worked for five years before leaving his position to assist Sheng with his governmental duties. Ferguson then became a member of the Treaty Commission and foreign secretary to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in 1902, and chief secretary of the Imperial Chinese Railway Administration a year later until 1905. Concurrently, he was foreign advisor to the Viceroys of Nanjing and Wuchang. While in Shanghai, he was Honorary Secretary of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and editor of the Journal from 1902 to 1911, then becoming president for a year. During his last year in Shanghai, he was Chairman of the Famine Relief Commission until moving to Beijing in 1911 to become foreign secretary to the Ministry of Posts and Communications. He remained in Beijing after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, becoming active in the Red Cross and subsequently Vice President of the Red Cross Society.
In Shanghai, Ferguson developed a popular Chinese-language daily newspaper in 1899, Sin Wan Pao, which he owned until 1929. He began collecting Chinese art objects while in Nanjing, and studied Chinese art and literature in earnest while in Beijing. In 1912, Ferguson became a buyer of Chinese art objects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, becoming a fellow in perpetuity and honorary fellow in recognition of his work. He was then wholly launched into the collecting field, becoming a dealer of Chinese art, working between collectors and vendors in Peking for American museums and individuals, as well as developing his own collection. After being appointed advisor to the new Chinese Republican government in 1915, he traveled between the United States and China until setting up permanent residence with his family in Beijing in 1919. During this time in Beijing he wrote and lectured extensively on Chinese art and archaeology. He ultimately donated the bulk of his personal collection, over one thousand Chinese art objects, to Nanjing University in 1934 for which he received an official thanks by public mandate from the Chinese government. Other gifts of his collection were made to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
He remained in his Beijing home until 1943 when he returned to the United States with his daughter, Mary, via the M. S. Gripsholm. He died in Clifton Springs, New York on August 3, 1945.
This biography draws heavily from Lara Jaishree Netting's book, A Perpetual Fire: John C. Ferguson and His Quest for Chinese Art and Culture, Hong Kong University Press, 2013; and R. H. Van Gulik's article, "Dr. John c. Ferguson's 75th Anniversary," Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies of the Catholic University of Peking, Vol. VI, 1941.
Genealogy Chart, Ferguson FamilyJohn Calvin Ferguson, m. Mary Elizabeth Wilson
-- Luther Mitchell, m. Edith GrayHelen Matilda
1) m. George E. Tucker2) m. John C. BeaumontAlice MaryFlorence Wilson
1) m. Jay C. Huston2) m. Raymond C. MackayCharles John, m. Isabel M. MarindinMary EstherRobert Mason, m. Margaret SparrDuncan PomeroyPeter Blair, m. Elizabeth Hamlen
Provenance:
The John Calvin Ferguson Family Papers were donated to the Archives by Ferguson's grandson, Peter Ferguson, in 1999.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
John Calvin Ferguson Family Papers, FSA A1999.33. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Gift of Peter Ferguson.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the
Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Catalog of 14 photographs of Lang Jingshan to commemorate the centenary of Daguerre, sponsored by l'Association Photographique de l'Université l'Aurore, Shanghai, 1939. Fourteen monochrome photographs and one color print; forward by Lang, dated October 10, 1939. Also includes brief notes of appreciation by John C. Ferguson; J. Hernault S.J.; Hsia Ching-Kwen (Xia Jingguan) and Chen Chuan-Lin (Chen Zhuanlin).
郎靜山
Exhibition of Pictorial Photography, by Chin-san Long
Biographical / Historical:
Lang Jingshan was a pioneering Chinese photographer active from the 1920s until his death in 1995. He is most noted for incorporating Chinese traditional painting styles and themes into his photographs. He also was noted for exploring modernist subjects and techniques such as 'composite photography' and nudes.
Admission tickets and sales profits from this 1939 exhibition were donated to purchase medical photography equipment and for refugees of the Japanese invasion of China.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1999.33 3.10.1
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Collection Citation:
John Calvin Ferguson Family Papers, FSA A1999.33. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Gift of Peter Ferguson.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the
Smithsonian Institution Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Tombs of old Lo-yang : a record of the construction and contents of a group of royal tombs at Chin-tsʻun, Honan, probably dating 550 B. C. / by William Charles White ; foreword by John C. Ferguson
Noted porcelains of successive dynasties : with comments and illustrations / by Hsiang Yüan-pien, revised and annotated by Kuo Pao-ch'ang and John C. Ferguson
