United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Montgomery County -- Ardmore
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets and photocopies of articles.
General:
Thomas Warren Sears (b.1880-1966) was a landscape architect who said his own garden in Ardmore, Pennsylvania was his favorite, and the formal style of his garden became his trademark design for private residences. The garden center was a sunken rectangular lawn, surrounded by low stone walls, terraces and flagstone walkways that were planted with a mixture of shrubs, perennial flowers, and ground covers, and separated from the stone house by a screen of trees. A tall stone wall at the end of the garden had a fountain inset.
Thomas Sears' formal garden was planted with more than fifty varieties of French lilacs, peonies and irises.
Sears was among the first landscape architects with a formal education, receiving the BS degree from the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University in 1906. During his professional career as a landscape architect Sears worked primarily in Maryland, North Carolina, New York, and Pennsylvania. He designed private gardens in the style of his own: sunken rectangular lawns with perennial and shrub borders that surmounted low walls and steps. Among his prominent commissions were Reynolda, home of tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the formal gardens Sears laid out in 1916 were later added to the campus of Wake Forest University; the amphitheater at Swarthmore College in 1942; Balmuckety in Pikesville, Maryland, placed on the Baltimore County Historic register in 1988; and the restoration of the Colonial Revival gardens at Pennsbury in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Sears was also known for his published photographs of gardens and natural settings in the US and other countries.
Persons associated with the garden include Thomas Warren Sears (former owner and landscape architect, ca.1930?-1960s) and Ella D. Finney (former owner, ca. 1930s?-1960s?).
Related Materials:
Sears Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (43 glass plate negatives and photographic prints)
See others in:
J. Horace McFarland Collection, 1900-1961
Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection, 1900-1966.
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.
United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia County -- Philadelphia
Scope and Contents:
The folders include worksheets, detailed descriptions of the garden and its history and evolution, garden plans, and other information.
General:
This 6,468 square-foot garden was begun on vacant land in the Kensington section of Philadelphia by the Norris Square Neighborhood Project (NSNP), with assistance from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in what was a drug-infested neighborhood. The garden's name, Las Parcelas, refers to the unique combination of more than 40 attractive plots, or parcels, each with its own special feature. Wood-trimmed beds contain vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Neighbors built "La Casita" (the little house), a reproduction of housing that existed in Puerto Rico before World War II that with its kitchen is a tool to teach children about traditional ways of living. Market stands enable the sale of produce from the garden, while an "environmental park" includes many trees and shrubs. Brightly painted garden structures (including "La Casita"), furnishings, and murals enliven the scene. Las Parcelas is the result of the determined and cooperative nature of the entire community.
Las Parcelas is only one of many community greening projects in Norris Square Greene Countrie Towne which dramatize the efforts of the entire neighborhood. Neighborhood leadership has formed a group of community garden activists known as Groupo Motivos to help maintain gardens, parks and street trees for the good of the community. All ages are represented in the garden, with the dominant group being in their late 40's and 50's. Heavy youth involvement in the garden comes from close association with the youth programs of NSNP. In addition to Philadelphia Green and NSNP, Las Parcelas has benefitted from the Weed and Seed Program of the Department of Justice, which aids in taking back neighborhoods from drug dealers. NSNP also coordinates programs with Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania State University, and four other state universities that give voluntary support to the garden. All of this activity is directly facilitated by NSNP.
Related Materials:
Las Parcelas related holdings consist of 2 folders (22 35 mm. slides)
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.
Topic:
Gardens -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Collection Citation:
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.
106.32 Cubic feet (87.5 cubic feet of papers, 18.82 cubic feet of audio)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Field recordings
Correspondence
Phonograph records
Notes
Business records
Audiocassettes
Photographic prints
Black-and-white negatives
Audiotapes
Date:
1890-2011
bulk 1950-1994
Summary:
This collection, with bulk dates from 1950-1994, documents the life of Ralph Rinzler and his professional activities as Director of Field Programs for the Newport Folk Festival, Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (formerly the Festival of American Folklife) and the Office of Folklife Programs (now the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage), and the Smithsonian Institution's Assistant Secretary for Public Service. Includes personal papers, business records, correspondence, notes, photographs, audiotapes and field recordings.
Scope and Contents:
The Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings encompasses a wide range of materials from Rinzler's prolific personal and professional life. Predominantly consisting of clippings, collected texts, correspondence, meeting notes, photographs, and production materials, this collection charts Rinzler's role in the mid-twentieth century emergence of community-based and institutional efforts to preserve, sustain, and amplify cultural heritage. As an assemblage of materials from all aspects of his life, the Ralph Rinzler Papers also reflect the many integral relationships he developed throughout the years with his colleagues, contemporaries, family, and friends.
Arrangement note:
The collection is currently arranged in 9 archival series as follows:
1. Biographical
2. Collected Texts
3. Correspondence
4. Events
5. Fieldwork
6. Meetings and Organizations
7. Notable Figures
8. Publishing and Production
9. Audio
The papers and photographs contained in the first 8 series are processed at an intermediate level, which means that all material was rehoused in archival folders, with folder-level arrangements and descriptions. Individual items within folders may not be fully arranged or described, due to the collection's level of complexity when it was deposited in the Archives.
When possible, folders were arranged alphabetically within series and subseries.
Biographical/Historical note:
Ralph Rinzler (1934-1994) was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and was interested in music at an early age. He was given a collection of ethnographic recordings from the Archive of Folk Song of the Library of Congress by his uncle, Harvard University ballad scholar George Lyman Kittredge, and they soon became his favorites. He became actively involved in the Folk Revival while attending Swarthmore College, organizing an annual festival on campus. He received his B.A. in 1956, and did graduate work at Middlebury College and the Sorbonne in French literature and language. Upon his return to the United States, he played mandolin for four years with the Greenbriar Boys, at times touring with singer Joan Baez. During the 1960s, he also studied, recorded, and worked with performers of traditional music, such as Doc Watson and Bill Monroe, both of whom gained international recognition in part through his efforts. In 1964, Rinzler accepted the position of Director of Field Programs at the Newport Folk Foundation, which involved the planning and programming of the Newport Folk Festival.
Rinzler came to the Smithsonian in 1967 as co-founder of the Festival of American Folklife (now the Smithsonian Folklife Festival) with James Morris in what was then the Smithsonian's Division of Performing Arts. After the 1976 Bicentennial Festival, Rinzler became the founding director of the Office of Folklife Programs (now the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage) to establish a center for research, publication, and presentation of programs in American culture and tradition. As Director, he initiated Smithsonian Folklife Studies, a publication series, and did research for the Celebration exhibit, which opened at the Renwick Gallery in 1982. Rinzler was appointed Assistant Secretary for Public Service in 1983 and Assistant Secretary Emeritus in 1990. Ralph Rinzler died on July 2, 1994.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Provenance:
The materials in this collection were deposited into the archives of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage over a number of years by Ralph Rinzler, Kate Rinzler, and Jeff Place in honor of the aforementioned. From the 1980s until Ralph Rinzler's passing in 1994, the Center received the majority of the audio tapes and photographs in this collection directly from Rinzler. With Rinzler's death in 1994, Jeff Place reviewed and deposited the majority of Rinzler's papers at the Center.
Until her passing in 2011, Kate Rinzler donated materials to this collection, with more continuing to arrive via her estate (as of May 2021). Many of these items were rehoused in the Kate Rinzler Papers.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
