Search Results

Creator:

Outterbridge, John, 1933-2020  Search this

Interviewer:

Bassing, Allen, 1932-  Search this

Names:

American Academy of the Fine Arts -- Students  Search this

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts -- Students  Search this

Compton Communicative Arts Academy  Search this

Pasadena Art Museum  Search this

Alexander, Peter, 1939-  Search this

Coplans, John  Search this

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Dickson, Charles  Search this

Gilmore, Robert  Search this

Powell, Judson  Search this

Puerefoy, Noel  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Sera, Richard  Search this

Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987  Search this

Extent:

13 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Date:

1973 January 3

Scope and Contents:

Interview of John W. Outterbridge conducted 1973 January 3, by Allen Bassing, for the Archives of American Art.

Outterbridge speaks of his family background and how that influenced him to lean toward the arts; attending Agriculture & Technical University and majoring in engineering even though he wanted to become an artist; joining the Army in order to get the G.I. Bill so he could afford school; painting during his three-year stint in the service, and how his company commander admired his work and got him a studio; attending the Chicago Academy of Art, then the American Academy of Art after leaving the military; moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an artist full-time; quitting painting and deciding to focus on sculpture; working at the Pasadena Art Museum, and how it disturbed him that there weren't any Black artists being represented in the shows he was installing there; getting involved with the Compton Communicative Arts Academy just as it was starting; and the present situation of the Compton Communicative Arts Academy and where he sees it going. He recalls Andy Warhol, Peter Alexander, Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark di Suvero, John Coplans, Judson Powell, Noel Puerefoy, Charles Dickson, Bobby Gilmore, and many others.

Biographical / Historical:

John Outterbridge (1933-2020) was an art administrator, painter, and sculptor from Los Angeles, California.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1959 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Restrictions:

This transcript is open for research. No audio exists. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:

Arts administrators -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Painters -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles  Search this

Topic:

African American artists  Search this

African American painters  Search this

African American sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.outter73

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-outter73

Creator:

Fisher, John Lyle  Search this

Fischer, Ann K.  Search this

Squires, Donald Fleming  Search this

Mason, Leonard, 1913-2005  Search this

Hiatt, Robert W.  Search this

Stone, Earl L.  Search this

Cox, Doak C.  Search this

Wells, John W.  Search this

Fisher, W. K.  Search this

Clark, A.H.  Search this

Deichmann, Elisabeth  Search this

Laubenfels, M.W. de  Search this

Names:

National Research Council (U.S.). Pacific Science Board  Search this

Extent:

2 Items (ca. in. ca. 2 in.)

Culture:

Caroline Islands -- Eastern  Search this

Marshall Islands -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

Marshall Islands -- Arno Atoll -- Zoology

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

Includes John L. and Anne M. Fischer's East Caroline Handbook (1954); Donald F. Squires, The Coral Reefs of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands (1950); Leonard Mason, Anthropology-Geography Study of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands; Robert W. Hiatt, Marine Zoology Study of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands (1950); Earl L. Stone, The soils and agriculture of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands, I, Soils (1951); Doak C. Cox, The hydrology of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands (1951); John W. Wells, The coral reefs of Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands (1951); W.K. Fisher, Identification of Echiuroid and Sipunculoid Worms collected by Pacific Science Board Expeditions (1953); A.H. Clark and Elisabeth Deichmann, Identification of Echinoderms collected by Pacific Science Board Expeditions (1953); Laubenfels, Identification of sponges collected by Pacific Science Board Expeditions (1953).

Biographical / Historical:

Collected by Joe T. Marshall while he was working on the Marshall Idlans and Ponape. Marshall in a research assocation of the National Museum of Natural History's Department of Vertebrate Zoology.

Local Numbers:

NAA MS 7516

Local Note:

Thermofax and mimeograph copies

Topic:

Coral reefs -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Marine zoology -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Agriculture -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Soils -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Hydrology -- Arno Atoll  Search this

Worms, echiuroid and sipunculoid -- Pacific Science Board collection  Search this

Echinoderms -- Pacific Science Board collection  Search this

Sponges -- Pacific Science Board collections  Search this

Citation:

Manuscript 7516, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.MS7516

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-naa-ms7516

Author:

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994  Search this

Names:

United States. Department of Agriculture  Search this

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Collection Collector:

Musical History, Division of (NMAH, SI)  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (Ink on paper.)

Container:

Box 1 (Series 5), Folder 6

Type:

Archival materials

Signatures (names)

Typescripts

Letters (correspondence)

Place:

Soviet Union

Date:

November 2, 1971

Scope and Contents:

Letter on White House stationery, signed by President Richard Nixon to Duke Ellington, thanking him for "continuing to win friends for the United states" through his "recent tour of the Soviet Union."

Local Numbers:

AC0301-0000045.tif (AC Scan No.)

Collection Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Collection Rights:

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Good will tours  Search this

Cold War  Search this

Genre/Form:

Signatures (names)

Typescripts

Letters (correspondence) -- 20th century.

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 5: Personal Correspondence and Notes / Personal Correspondence and Notes

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref53263

Creator:

McFarland, J. Horace (John Horace), 1859-1948  Search this

American Rose Society  Search this

Names:

J. Horace McFarland Company  Search this

Mount Pleasant Press  Search this

Walsh, James  Search this

Extent:

30 Cubic feet (2718 photographs: black and white; 448 glass lantern slides; 41 glass negatives; color records; plant patents; publications. )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Black-and-white photographs

Lantern slides

Photographs

Place:

Pennsylvania -- Harrisburg

Breeze Hill (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

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.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 5 series:

1) Garden images (including mounted photographs, glass plate negatives, and glass lantern slides)

2) Portraits of Rosarians

3) Color Records

4) Plant Patents

5) Miscellaneous Publications

Biographical/Historical note:

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 images 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:

For information or study purposes only. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Horticulturists  Search this

Printers -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Gardening -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Seeds -- Catalogs  Search this

Seed industry and trade -- United States  Search this

Gardens -- United States  Search this

Seed industry and trade -- Catalogs  Search this

Rose breeders -- United States  Search this

Printers -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Black-and-white photographs

Lantern slides

Photographs

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, J. Horace McFarland Company Collection.

Identifier:

AAG.MCF

See more items in:

J. Horace McFarland Company collection

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aag-mcf

Author:

Circum-Pacific Prehistory Conference (1989 : Seattle, Wash.)  Search this

Croes, Dale R  Search this

Physical description:

v. : ill. ; 28 cm

Type:

Congresses

Place:

Pacific Area

Date:

1989

1989?-]

Topic:

Antiquities  Search this

Call number:

GN871 .C57 1989

GN871.C57 1989

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_435268

Creator:

W. Atlee Burpee Company  Search this

W. Atlee Burpee Co.  Search this

Burpee, W. Atlee (Washington Atlee), 1858-1915  Search this

Burpee, David, 1893-1980  Search this

Wm. Henry Maule (Firm)  Search this

James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.).  Search this

Extent:

200 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Trade catalogs

Business records

Commercial correspondence

Instructional materials

Ledgers (account books)

Date:

circa 1873-1980

Summary:

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.

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 images 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 the Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Seed industry and trade  Search this

Mail-order business -- Catalogs  Search this

Gardens -- United States  Search this

Horticulture  Search this

Vegetables  Search this

Trial gardens  Search this

Victory gardens  Search this

Prize contests in advertising  Search this

Advertising, Newspaper -- 20th century  Search this

Advertising, magazine -- 20th century  Search this

Flower shows  Search this

Genre/Form:

Trade catalogs

Business records

Commercial correspondence

Instructional materials

Ledgers (account books)

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records

Identifier:

AAG.BUR2

See more items in:

W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records - Accretion 2

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aag-bur2

Author:

Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology  Search this

Physical description:

v. ill. 26 cm

Type:

Periodicals

Date:

1966

Topic:

Physiology  Search this

Cell physiology  Search this

Call number:

QP1 .W533X

QP1.W533X

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_314544

Extent:

21.66 cu. ft. (34 document boxes) (7 12x17 boxes) (11 3x5 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Scrapbooks

Clippings

Glass negatives

Black-and-white photographs

Place:

Alaska

Mexico

France

Saint Michael (Alaska)

Wrangell Island (Wrangell, Alaska)

Arizona

California

Date:

circa 1873-1946 and undated

Descriptive Entry:

This collection consists primarily of papers documenting the professional career and personal life of Edward William Nelson. A smaller amount of material was created by Edward Alphonso Goldman and relates to both professional and private matters. Apparently, Goldman assumed control of Nelson's papers after the latter's death, probably for reference in his continuing work summarizing the results of their Mexico field investigations. Due the pair's close professional relationship, it was decided to keep the collection intact. The papers of each individual have been kept distinct and reside in separate series, with the exception of photographs, which mostly document the Mexico field work. Other photographic materials have been placed in the same series as a matter of convenience.

Nelson's papers are valuable in documenting his work as a field naturalist, particularly in Alaska and Mexico; his administrative career with the Bureau of Biological Survey and consequential involvement in conservation issues of the day; his research on birds and mammals; his participation in professional societies and conservation organizations; personal and family matters; and commercial ventures, especially his ownership of fruit-growing businesses in California and Arizona.

The papers include a large file of incoming and outgoing correspondence that relates to all aspects of his professional life, but is particularly important in documenting his administrative tenure with the Bureau of Biological Survey, 1914-1927. The letters provide information on the role of the Biological Survey in conservation issues of the era, as well as Nelson's own attitudes on the matters--attitudes that sometimes clashed with other conservationists, including William Temple Hornaday. He corresponded extensively with most of the major figures in the conservation movement including Hornaday, John B. Burnham, Charles Sheldon, George Bird Grinnell, and John C. Phillips. Especially well represented by correspondence are the negotiations for the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 1916, and the protracted fight over the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill during the 1920s. The correspondence also relates Nelson's role in the formative periods of several professional societies and conservation organizations including the American Society of Mammalogists, the American Game Protective Association, and the American Wild Fowlers.

Nelson's career as an explorer and field worker is documented in a series of journals and notebooks maintained between 1877 and 1930. The journals kept during his landmark work in Alaska and Mexico provide a running narrative of his daily activities and include notes on the fauna, flora, and physiography of the areas explored; information on specimens and artifacts collected; observations on native peoples and their cultures; and sketches of people, villages, fauna, and natural phenomena. The journals from his Alaska work are relatively complete; however, journals from the Mexico investigations from 1903 to 1906 are missing. Also included is a journal from the Death Valley Expedition, 1890-1891, and journals and notebooks kept during many of Nelson's official trips for the Bureau of Biological Survey.

The collection includes a series of records documenting Nelson's private life and business affairs. Especially well represented is his involvement with the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1933, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923. Also included is a voluminous correspondence with his brother, Fred W. Nelson, which concerns family and business matters; and various records concerning health issues, investments, real estate, and other financial matters.

Nelson's research is documented in a large series of notes, lists, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publications. Most of the material concerns his work on birds and mammals. The file also contains collected materials on many of the conservation issues of the day.

The papers of Edward Alphonso Goldman found in this collection are just a fragment of the material generated during his long career with the Bureau of Biological Survey. They are most valuable in documenting his biological survey of Mexico with Nelson. Included is an incomplete series of journals which contain a chronological narrative of Goldman's activities. Specific volumes are devoted to notes of birds and mammals observed and collected. Other papers of Goldman include correspondence, mostly with Nelson, and his brothers, George and Luther; and materials documenting his research on mammals.

The collection contains a series of photographs, photograph albums, and glass plate negatives documenting the careers of both men. Most of the material relates to their biological investigations of Mexico, 1892-1906. Included are images of areas visited, native peoples, and flora and fauna. Many of the photographs are unidentified. Also included are photographs of Nelson and Goldman; photographs of colleagues; and photographs taken in France during Goldman's service in World War I.

The collection also contains some papers of the conservationist Charles Sheldon, a close personal friend of Nelson. Apparently, Nelson acquired the papers when he was writing a biographical memorial on Sheldon. They consist of correspondence, notes, photographs, manuscripts, and related materials documenting Sheldon's work in conservation and natural history.

Finally, the collection includes a manuscript (with Nelson's annotations) of George Shiras' "Hunting Wild Life with Camera and Flashlight; A Record of Sixty-Five Years' Visits to the Woods and Waters of North America," and a few pieces of correspondence concerning the manuscript.

Additional materials documenting field work of Nelson and Goldman can be found in Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 7176, Field Reports of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 1860-1961, Field Reports. Voluminous field notebooks, lists, and other specimen related records for both men are housed in the Division of Birds and the Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History.

Historical Note:

The biological explorations made by Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman in Mexico from 1892 to 1906 have been described as ". . . among the most important ever achieved by two workers for any single country." They conducted investigations in every state in Mexico, collecting 17,400 mammals and 12,400 birds, as well as amassing an enormous fund of information on the natural history of the country. The best account of the work is Goldman's Biological Investigations in Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115, July 1951.

EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON (1855-1934)

Described by Theodore Roosevelt as ". . . one of the keenest naturalists we have ever had . . .," Edward William Nelson was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. He developed an interest in the outdoors around his boyhood home in New England, and in Chicago where his family moved in 1868. Shortly after enrolling in Cooke County Normal School in 1872, Nelson was invited to join Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting trip to the Badlands of Wyoming. After returning to Chicago, his interest in natural history continued to grow as he became acquainted with Joel Asaph Allen, Robert Ridgway, Stephen A. Forbes, Henry W. Henshaw and others.

In the winter of 1876, Nelson traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and enlist his help in securing a position as a field naturalist. Through Baird's influence, Nelson traveled to Alaska as a weather observer in the Signal Corps of the United States Army in April 1877. From June 1877 to June 1881, he was stationed at St. Michael on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska with a charge to ". . . secure an unbroken series of meteorological observations, and, in addition, to obtain all the information possible concerning the geography, ethnology, and zoology of the surrounding region." Nelson made several dog-sled excursions around the region, compiling data on the lives and customs of the native people, and making ethnological and natural history collections for the Smithsonian. The results of his work were published in "Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877-1881," 1887, and "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," 1900. In June 1881, he accompanied the revenue steamer Corwin on its search for the missing arctic ship Jeannette. The expedition was the first to reach and explore Wrangell Island.

Nelson spent most of the period from 1882 until 1890 in Arizona recovering from pulmonary tuberculosis contracted in Washington, D.C., while preparing his report on the birds of Alaska. In 1890, he accepted an appointment as a Special Field Agent with the Death Valley Expedition under C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture. This was the start of a career with the Division and its successor, the Bureau of Biological Survey, that would continue until 1929. In January 1892, Nelson received orders to conduct a three-month field survey in Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman, whom he had recently hired as an assistant. The trip evolved into an exhaustive, fourteen-year biological investigation of the entire country.

After concluding the Mexico work, Nelson's duties with the Bureau of Biological Survey gradually shifted from scientific to administrative. He was Chief Field Naturalist, 1907-1912; Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, 1913-1914; Assistant Chief, 1914-1916; Chief, 1916-1927; and Senior Biologist, 1927-1929. Nelson was also an honorary Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution from 1930 until his death. During the decade in which he led the Biological Survey, Nelson was actively involved in most of the major conservation issues of the era. He helped negotiate the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916 with Great Britain and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill, the Alaska Game Law Bill, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act. He was also instrumental in developing policies to improve conditions of domestic reindeer herds in Alaska, and the promoting of bird-banding as a method of ornithological research.

In the field, Nelson was an all-round naturalist, observing and collecting most things that he encountered. He was a prolific author, and his bibliography included over two hundred titles, mostly concerning birds and mammals. Over one hundred animals and plants were named in his honor. Nelson Island and Nelson Lagoon, along the coast of the Bering Sea, and Nelson Range, a short mountain range in California, also bear his name. Nelson was President of the American Ornithologists' Union, 1908-1909, the Biological Society of Washington, 1912-1913, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1920-1923. He received an honorary M.A. from Yale University in 1920, and an honorary Doctor of Science from the George Washington University in the same year.

Nelson was involved with the Goldman family in the operation of fruit orchards in California and Arizona. He was a co-owner and director of the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1934, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923.

For more detailed biographical information on Nelson, see Edward Alphonso Goldman, "Edward William Nelson - Naturalist," The Auk, April 1935, vol. 52, no. 2; Margaret Lantis, "Edward William Nelson," Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, December 1954, vol. 3, no. 1; and William W. Fitzhugh and Susan A. Kaplan, Inua. Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982).

EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN (1873-1946)

Edward Alphonso Goldman, field naturalist and mammalogist, was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois. His family moved to Tulare County, California, in 1888, and he went to work as a foreman in a vineyard near Fresno at the age of seventeen. After a fortuitous meeting between his father and Edward William Nelson of the Bureau of Biological Survey, Goldman was hired by Nelson in January 1892 to assist his biological investigations of California and Mexico. Thus began an association with Nelson and the Biological Survey that would continue for the remainder of his life. Shortly thereafter, he received appointment as a Field Naturalist with the Biological Survey, and he spent most of the next fourteen years with Nelson collecting in every region of Mexico.

Goldman served in a variety of positions with the Biological Survey. He was Field Naturalist, 1892-1917; Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, 1919-1925; Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, 1925-1928; and Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, 1928-1943. Goldman also had an honorary position with the Smithsonian Institution as Associate in Zoology from 1928 to 1946. His service with the Biological Survey was marked by extensive field investigations in every region of the United States.

In 1911-1912, Goldman conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of Panama during construction of the canal. His results were published in The Mammals of Panama in 1920. During World War I, he was a Major in the Sanitary Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France. In 1936, he was chosen to assist the United States Government in negotiations with Mexico for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals.

Goldman's bibliography included more than two hundred titles. He named over three hundred forms of mammals, most of them subspecies. Approximately fifty mammals, birds, reptiles, mollusks, and plants bear his name. Goldman Peak in Baja California was also named in his honor. A member of many professional organizations, Goldman was President of the Biological Society of Washington, 1927-1929, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1946.

For additional biographical information on Goldman, see Stanley P. Young, "Edward Alphonso Goldman: 1873-1946," Journal of Mammalogy, May 1947, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 91-109.

Chronology:

-- CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON

1855 -- Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, May 8

1868 -- Family moved to Chicago

1872 -- Assisted Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting expedition to the Badlands of Wyoming

1876 -- Visited Washington, D.C. and met Spencer F. Baird

1877-1881 -- Weather Observer for the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army at St. Michael, Alaska. Made extensive natural history and ethnology collections and observations of the Bering Strait Eskimos.

1881 -- Accompanied revenue steamer Corwin on search for missing arctic exploring ship Jeannette. Was a member of the first party to explore Wrangell Island.

1887 -- "Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska between the years 1877-1881" (Arctic Series of Publications Issued in Connection with the Signal Service, United States Army, no. 3)

1890-1891 -- Special Field Agent, Death Valley Expedition, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture

1890-1907 -- Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1892-1906 -- Field investigations of Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman

1899 -- "Revision of the Squirrels of Mexico and Central America" (Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 1)

1900 -- "The Eskimo about Bering Strait" (Eighteenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Pt. 1)

1907-1912 -- Chief Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1908-1909 -- President, American Ornithologists' Union

1909 -- "The Rabbits of North America" (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 29)

1911-1934 -- Part owner, Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, Orosi, California

1912-1913 -- President, Biological Society of Washington

1913-1914 -- Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1914-1916 -- Assistant Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey

1916-1927 -- Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey

1918 -- "Wild Animals of North America" (National Geographic Society; rev. ed., 1930)

1918-1919 -- Vice-President, American Society of Mammalogists

1920 -- Honorary Master of Arts, Yale University

1920 -- Honorary Doctor of Science, George Washington University

1920-1923 -- President, American Society of Mammalogists

1921-1922 -- President and Director, Arizona Orchard Company

1922 -- "Lower California and its Natural Resources" (Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 16)

1927-1929 -- Senior Biologist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1930-1934 -- Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution

1934 -- Death, May 19

-- CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN

1873 -- Born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, July 7

1888 -- Family moved to Tulare County, California

1891 -- Hired by Edward William Nelson as a field assistant, beginning a long professional and personal association

1892-1917 -- Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1892-1906 -- Biological investigations of Mexico, mostly with Nelson

1910 -- Revision of the Wood Rats of the Genus Neotoma (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 31)

1911 -- Revision of the Spiny Pocket Mice (genera Heteromys and Liomys) (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 34)

1911-1912 -- Conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone

1913-1917 -- Biological investigations of Arizona

1918 -- Rice Rats of North America (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 43)

1918-1919 -- Major, Sanitary Corps, American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France

1919-1925 -- Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1920 -- Mammals of Panama (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 69, no. 5)

1922-1937 -- Reserve Major, Sanitary Corps, U.S. Army

1925-1928 -- Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1928-1944 -- Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1928-1946 -- Associate in Zoology, United States National Museum

-- 1936 assisted with negotiations of United States-Mexico migratory bird and mammal treaty

1944 -- "The Wolves of North America," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)

1944-1946 -- Collaborator, United States Fish and Wildlife Service

1946 -- President, American Society of Mammalogists

1946 -- "The Puma: Mysterious American Cat," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)

1946 -- Death, Washington, D.C., September 2

1951 -- Biological Investigations in Mexico (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115)

Topic:

Mammalogy  Search this

Ornithology  Search this

Orchards  Search this

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts

Scrapbooks

Clippings

Glass negatives

Black-and-white photographs

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7364, Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection

Identifier:

Record Unit 7364

See more items in:

Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection

Archival Repository:

Smithsonian Institution Archives

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-sia-faru7364

Collector:

J. F. Urban  Search this

Prep Count:

1

Preparation:

Alcohol (Ethanol)

Remarks:

Vial/bottle

Stage:

adult

Place:

USDA, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, North America

Collection Date:

6 Jun 2009

Common name:

Nematodes

Published Name:

Heligmosomoides bakeri (Durette-Desset et al., 1972)

Other Numbers:

USNPC Accession (Catalog) : 102121.00

USNM Number:

1397110

See more items in:

Invertebrate Zoology

Nematoda

US National Parasite Collection

Parasite Collection

Data Source:

NMNH - Invertebrate Zoology Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/34dbdbf70-1496-4498-85f0-0aaac8cb9d75

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhinvertebratezoology_12051414

Creator:

W. Atlee Burpee Company  Search this

Burpee, W. Atlee (Washington Atlee), 1858-1915  Search this

Burpee, David, 1893-1980  Search this

James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.).  Search this

Wm. Henry Maule (Firm)  Search this

Extent:

201 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Advertising

Business records

Correspondence

Account books

Pamphlets

Trade catalogs

Date:

circa 1873-1986

bulk 1890-1930

Summary:

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 Company can be found in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Branch Library Trade Literature Collection.

Restrictions:

Access to original images 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.

Topic:

Seed industry and trade  Search this

Mail-order business  Search this

Gardens -- United States  Search this

Business  Search this

Agriculture  Search this

Horticulture  Search this

Vegetables  Search this

Flowers  Search this

Trial gardens  Search this

Victory gardens  Search this

Contests  Search this

Genre/Form:

Advertising

Business records

Correspondence

Account books -- 19th century

Account books -- 20th century

Pamphlets

Trade catalogs

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records.

Identifier:

AAG.BUR

See more items in:

W. Atlee Burpee & Company records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aag-bur

Collector:

Robinson, Franklin A., Jr., 1959- (actor)  Search this

Names:

Capital Transit Company (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Serenity Farm, Inc.  Search this

Howes, Grace Bourne, ?-1976  Search this

Robinson, Adina Theresa, 1963-  Search this

Robinson, Amanda Baden, 1849-1940  Search this

Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1892-1976  Search this

Robinson, Frank A., 1883-1970  Search this

Robinson, Franklin A., 1841-1905  Search this

Robinson, Franklin A., Sr., 1932-  Search this

Robinson, Martha Walls, 1807-1897  Search this

Robinson, Robert David, 1962-  Search this

Robinson, Robert Henry, 1851-1937  Search this

Robinson, Thomas Wells, 1803-1869  Search this

Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1880-1961  Search this

Via, Adina Mae, 1937-1966  Search this

Via, Robert Delano, 1933-  Search this

Via, Robert Milton, 1906-1983  Search this

Creator:

Conner, Mary Robinson, 1930-2009  Search this

Via, Ida Virginia Woods, 1914-2010 -- 20th century  Search this

Extent:

23.1 Cubic feet (70 boxes, 3 map-size folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion pictures (visual works)

Correspondence

Photographs

Postcards

Baby books

Phonograph records

Postcard albums

Ephemera

School yearbooks

Diaries

Albums

Housebooks

Snapshots

Home movies

Family papers

Scrapbooks

Funeral registers

Cookbooks

Architectural drawings

Place:

Maryland -- Family farms

Washington (D.C.)

Prince George's County (Md.)

Arizona -- Motion pictures

Benedict (Md.)

Charles County (Md.) -- Family farms

Calvert County (Md.) -- Family farms

California -- Motion pictures

Bahamas -- Motion pictures

Yosemite National Park (Calif.)

Puerto Rico -- Motion pictures

Washington -- motion pictures

Oregon -- Motion pictures

Disneyland (California)

Brandywine (Md.)

St. Thomas, V.I. -- Motion pictures

Florida -- Motion pictures

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Westminster

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- Marston

United States of America -- Maryland -- Carroll County -- New Windsor

Date:

1838-2017, undated

bulk 1872-1985

Summary:

Papers documenting the farming and family life of the Robinson family of Prince George's County and after 1975, Charles County, Maryland. Papers documenting the farming and family of the Via family of Greene County, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Prince George's and Calvert Counties, Maryland, by 1949.

Scope and Contents:

An extensive and comprehensive collection of papers relating to family, farming, and the Southern Maryland tobacco culture, the Robinson and Via Family Papers cover many aspects of family and farm life. The papers are particularly important in regard to the tobacco culture that defined Southern Maryland for generations. The papers concern two distinct family groups, the Robinson and Via families who are connected through the marriage of Franklin A. Robinson and Adina Mae Via. The papers consist of material generated by the Robinson and Via families in their personal and working lives and as farm owners and operators.

The papers are especially strong in 20th century material. They consist of various types of farm records: account books, bills, receipts, tenant farming agreements, ephemera, land rental and purchase agreements, insurance policies, photographs and 8mm and 16mm films of farming practices and procedures, equipment and landscapes, related to the farming of tobacco, small grains, and livestock. The personal records include diaries, letters both personal and business, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, baby books, house plans, recipe books, photographs and 8mm films of birthdays, holidays, weddings, baptisms, family occasions, and family travel, oral histories, and funeral ephemera including photographs, and transcription discs. Of particular interest are the "Serenity Farm Tobacco Production Photographs" documenting the crop year 1999-2000 and the films detailing agricultural practices. There is a memorandum book for Black Walnut Thicket, 1885-1901, the Baden farm in Baden, Prince George's County.

This collection includes a comprehensive range of 8mm and 16mm films and photographs documenting farming practices and landscapes as well as family gatherings, birthdays, holidays, and vacations. The researcher is alerted to the fact that in some cases with the memorandum and account books, books printed for a given year were often saved and used for subsequent years, some were dated, some were not.

The collection is divided into seven series arranged by subject and most often chronologically at folder level within each series.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into seven series:

Series 1: Ferndale Farm (Potomac Landing), Prince George's County, Maryland, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.1: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, and publications, 1861-1973, undated

Subseries 1.2: Farm papers, bill, and receipts, 1945-1960, undated

Subseries 1.3: Farm papers, bills, and receipts, 1960-1965, undated

Series 2: Robinson Family, 1845-2017, undated

Subseries 2.1: Family Papers and Publications, 1845-1993, undated

Subseries 2.2: Townshend, Martha Robinson, 1896-1961, undated

Subseries 2.3: Robinson, Frank A., 1899-1970, undated

Subseries 2.4: Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne, 1841-1976, undated

Subseries 2.5: Conner, Mary Robinson, 1938-1985, undated

Subseries 2.6: Robinson, Franklin A., 1932-1997, undated

Subseries 2.6.1: Farming, 1948-1976, undated

Subseries 2.6.2: Financial, 1948-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6.3: 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), 1945-1954, undated

Subseries 2.6.4: Travel, 1959-1970, undated

Subseries 2.7: Robinson, Jr., Franklin A., 1959-2001, undated

Series 3: Serenity Farm, Charles County, Maryland, 1962-2000, undated

Series 4: Via Farm, Calvert County, Maryland, 1954-1987, undated

Series 5: Via Family, 1932-2010, undated

Subseries 5.1: Family papers, 1941-1983, undated

Subseries 5.2: Via, Robert M., 1933-1987, undated

Subseries 5.3: Via, Ida Virginia, 1928-2010, undated

Subseries 5.4: Via, Robert D., 1933-1988, undated

Subseries 5.5: Robinson, Adina Via, 1937-1966, undated

Series 6: Photographs, 1872-2000, undated

Subseries 6.1: Photographs, 1872-2000, undated

Subseries 6.2: Photographic negatives, 1927--2000, undated

Series 7: AudioVisual, 1943-1988

Biographical / Historical:

Robinson Family

The Robinson family is thought to be of Scottish origin and appear in the records of Prince George's County, Maryland by the early 18th century. The line has been definitively traced to James Robinson (?-1849). James' father was probably Benjamin Robinson (?-1810), of Prince George's County, Maryland. (Will Book TT1, pg. 15, Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Maryland State Archives (MSA))

James Robinson and Sarah Wynn were issued a marriage license on February 28, 1802 in Prince George's County, Maryland. (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland) Eleven children lived to maturity (not listed in birth order); Thomas Wells (1803-1869), Ann, Priscilla, James Monroe, Benjamin (1813-1882), John C. (1819-1895), Mary Sophia, Thomas Stanley (1800-1874), Alfred, Sarah Ann, Matilda, and Rebecca Maria.

James worked as overseer for Benjamin Oden on Oden's estate Bellefields near Upper Marlborough, Prince George's County. (Oden Papers, Maryland Historical Society) The Robinsons and their children, moved to Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia) on April 18, 1818 where James acted as Oden's land agent (Deed Book 6, pg. 123, Land Records of Wood County, West Virginia). They brought with them three slaves described in the above reference as, "Kate a woman 45 years of age very black; Colonel a boy aged 8 years yellow complexion: and George a boy aged six years of a dark brown complexion." They settled on part of what was known as the "Burnt Mill" tract in the general area where the Hughes River meets the Little Kanawha River. (Deed Book 9, pg. 110 and Deed Book 14, pg. 40, Land Records of Wood County)

Thomas Wells Robinson may not have accompanied his family to Virginia as he has a presence in Prince George's County prior to 1822 and was employed as overseer for Benjamin Oden at least until 1832. He married Elizabeth I. Richards on December 15, 1829 (Robinson Family Bible). They had nine children; Richard Thomas (1831 1906), Rebecca Maria (1832-1895), Mary Wynn (1834-1916), James George (1835-1883), Virlinda Victoria (1837-1838), Elizabeth Ann (1839-1916), Sarah Ann Sophia (1840-1874), Franklin Alexander (1841-1905) and John Alfred (1843); seven lived to maturity. (Robinson Family Bible) Elizabeth died on August 17, 1843 from complications in childbirth. She was buried in the churchyard of Page's Chapel (later known as St. Thomas Episcopal Church), Croom, Prince George's County. In 1843, Thomas purchased the plantation of Dr. Benjamin B. Hodges for $10,000 or approximately $15 an acre. Hodges was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Oden. The deed dated September 7, 1843 describes the parcel as containing, "Six hundred and twenty nine acres of land more or less and constitute that plantation or Estate of the said Benjamin Oden heretofore commonly called "Brown's Quarter Place" being the Land tracts and parcels of land sold by the said Benjamin Oden to the said Benjamin B. Hodges and by deed bearing date the tenth day of December eighteen hundred and thirty five and recorded in Liber AB no. 10 folio 162 also one of the land Records of the County aforesaid". (JBB no. 3 pgs. 312 314, Land Records of Prince George's County) The land was level to rolling bordered on the north by a tributary of Piscataway Creek and generally termed "white oak land". Underlying the whole property was a large strata of gravel and sand. The entire parcel went by the name, Potomac Landing.

Thomas supplemented his land holdings with later purchases. With the exception of twenty acres purchased from Sarah Talbert in 1844, (JBB no. 3 pg. 475, Land Records of Prince George's County) and the purchase of lot #3 consisting of 195 acres, part of the estate of John Townshend in 1856, these purchases were not contiguous to Potomac Landing. By the time of his death in 1869 these non-contiguous parcels had been sold. Thomas sold eighty-six acres of Potomac Landing and Jeffries to Edward Eversfield in October of 1843. (JBB no. 3, pg. 198, Land Records of Prince George's County) On January 13, 1846 Thomas married the widow Martha Ann Walls, daughter of George and Martha Naylor Walls. They had two sons; Benjamin Wells (1848-1849) and Robert Henry (1851-1937).

In addition to his sons, Thomas owned slaves. The number varied from six in 1849 (JBB 6, folio 186, Land Records of Prince Georges' County) to eleven as noted in the census for 1850, and finally six as noted in the census of 1860. The 1867 Maryland Slave Statistics noted that, "at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of Maryland, in the year 1864, . . ." Thomas owned six slaves, their names and ages being; Isaac Franklin age 31, Alfred West age 19, Susan West age 17, Margaret Franklin age 14, Fannie Franklin age 12, and Peter Franklin age 9. All were noted as being in good physical condition. (Prince Georges' County Slave Statistics 1867 1869, C 1307 1, MdHR:6198, page 185, MSA)

In April 11, 1855 Thomas excuted a deed of trust to J.W. & E. Reynolds of Baltimore for securing a loan. At that time the farm was described as, "about five hundred and seventy acres . . . also the following personal property to wit Eight head of horses, nine cows, two mules, twelve work oxen, twenty Eight Sheep, one bull, two colts and all other stock of every description now on the aforesaid land, also the farming utensils and the following named Slaves, Stephen aged Sixty three years, Isaac aged twenty six years, Elvia aged twenty Eight years Alfred aged twelve years, Hanson aged ten years, Henrietta aged twelve years Susanna aged eight years, and Margaret aged three years. Together with the crop of Tobacco now in the house and the crop of wheat now growing." (EWB 1 pages 155 156, Land Records of Prince Georges' County)

Thomas's financial problems began in the mid-1800s when Deeds of Trust appear in the county records securing outstanding loans. In 1856 and 1857 Thomas joined with others as bondsman for his son, Richard who was serving as "Collector of the State and County Taxes" for the 4th collection district, making he and the other signatories liable for any uncollected taxes. This, coupled with poor investments, led to his almost being "sold out" in 1859-1860 by J.W. & E. Reynolds of Baltimore to pay his debts. He executed three drafts on Penn & Mitchell, also of Baltimore, to pay off J.W. & E. Reynolds. (Equity Case #597, Prince Georges' County) Thomas was in poor health and his son James managed the plantation in 1857 and 1858, and again from 1861 to October of 1862 (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County)

In October of 1862 Thomas' two sons, James and Franklin, traveled to Richmond to join the Confederate States Army. James enrolled in the 5th Battalion, Local Defense Arsenal and Franklin enrolled in the 5th Virginia Infantry, the Stonewall Brigade. (CSA Military Records, National Archives) James visited home frequently but was captured by the Union Army in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 15, 1864 and spent the remainder of the war in Point Lookout Prison Camp. He was released on May 14, 1865. Franklin was not able to visit home at all during the war but survived to return home in 1865. In 1865, Thomas surveyed a parcel of 172 acres for his daughter Rebecca Maria. Rebecca had married her second cousin, William B. Robertson, on November 18, 1855. He made a gift of fifty acres, and Rebecca agreed to purchase the remainder. The Robertsons named this parcel Holly Grove. In Equity Case #849 (1872) filed after Thomas' death, his widow Martha and Samuel H. Berry, as executrix and executor, sought to recover payment for this land. At that time, William B. Robertson described this 172 acres of Potomac Landing: "There was no fences on the line which separated this land from the old gentleman's land, but he was to put a fence on it which he agreed to do before we agreed to come there. The land was thin, unimproved, with gullies and scrubby pine. If witness had been a judge of land he would not have given five dollars for it. All the improvements were one comfortable quarter the other indifferent with a poor oak shingle roof, worn out which made it not tenantable." Further along in his testimony, William gave an account of a conversation, "In a few days my father in law Thos. W. Robinson came to Washington and told me there his children had returned from the South, his two sons, that his debts were small and he was a happy man." Rebecca and William built a house on the property, a side-hall, double parlor plan that most likely her brother James was builder. They also built accompanying farm structures. (Records of Prince George's County, Maryland, Equity Case #849, MSA)

Thomas' son, Franklin, managed the farm after the War. In December 1868 Thomas entered into a sharecropping agreement with Edward Hanson, an African-American. After about a year-long illness, on May 16, 1869, Thomas died, deeply in debt. He was buried beside Elizabeth in the graveyard at St. Thomas' Church. He named as executrix his wife, Martha, and his friend and lawyer, Samuel H. Berry, as executor. His will divided the farm into thirds, one third going to his wife and their son Robert Henry, one third to his son James, and one third to his son Franklin. The land was surveyed according to the will. His personal property was sold but not enough profit was realized to pay off his creditors. The Commissioners of Prince George's County sued the estate on behalf of Thomas' creditors. The outcome was that in 1876 the property was sold at public auction. The Notice of Sale dated September 1, 1876 in the local county newspaper, The Prince Georgian, describes the farm as, "containing 514 2/3 acres More or less. The Improvements consist of a SMALL DWELLING, Three Barns, Stabling, and other necessary outbuildings. It is well wooded and watered, and the soil of fair quality. It has recently been divided into three lots and will be offered in lots, a description of which will be given at the time of sale." The sale was held on September 27, 1876, Lot No. 1 was purchased by Robert for $6.00 an acre, Lot #2 was purchased by Franklin for $5.00 an acre and Lot #3 was purchased by James for $4.00 per acre. Robert and Franklin eventually paid off their mortgage, but James defaulted on his purchase and later moved to St. Mary's County, Maryland. His portion later came to be owned by the Hawkins family, some members who had worked on the Robinson farm. (Equity Case #873, Prince Georges' County, MSA)

Lot #1, purchased by Robert from his fathers' estate, consisted of 177-1/3 acres, including the dwelling and farm buildings. On July 24, 1872, he married Amanda Malvina Baden (1849-1940), daughter of Robert W. G. and Margaret Caroline Early Baden. The Baden and Early families were both prominent south county families. Robert and Amanda had eight children; Caroline Early (1873 1967), Lucy Tennent (1875 1958), Albert Henry (1878 1914), Martha Perry (1880 1961), Robert Gover (1882 1882), Frank Alexander (1883 1970), Margaret Baden (1886 1956) and Grace Malvina (1889 1965).

By 1880 Robert had paid off his debt on the property and was fully engaged in farming. Unlike his father, or perhaps because of his father, Robert did not add to his land holdings, choosing to remain relatively debt free for his lifetime. The only land transactions he participated in were the sales of 79-3/4 acres in 1921 of Amanda's inheritance from her father and her interest in two smaller parcels of her father's land sold in 1894 and 1928 respectively. In 1928 he transferred 3.09 acres to his son Frank.

As late as the Federal census of 1880, Franklin was living with Robert and his household, both men engaged in farming. Sometime after 1880, Franklin took up residence on his part of Potomac Landing. His brother James most likely built the side-hall double parlor house that copied the main house at Potomac Landing. On February 18, 1897, Martha Robinson, died at the age of ninety. She was buried in the graveyyard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden, Prince George's County. Robert continued cultivation of tobacco and small grains as his father before him. The first reference to the farm being named Ferndale is found in the "Communion Record" of Robert's daughter, Martha Perry "Pattie", dated 1896. (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The exact origin or reason for this new name is lost but perhaps the name Potomac Landing held such bitter memories of debt and hardship that, as a symbolic break with the past, a new name was found. It also may have simply been a way to distinguish this portion of Potomac Landing from the others. The farm continued to be listed on tax bills as Potomac Landing well into the 20th century, but was known to the general public and businesses as the Ferndale Farm. (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Robert served as deputy inspector at the State Tobacco Warehouse in Baltimore for eight years under W.B. Bowie. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Brandywine. In July of 1905, Franklin died, a bachelor farmer. He was buried facing south in the graveyard of the Church of the Atonement, Cheltenham, (a chapel in St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish) where he had served as vestryman, treasurer, and cemetery custodian. Franklin died intestate and a lengthy process of dividing his estate began. This resulted in the sale of his part of Potomac Landing (Lot #2) in July 1908 to William E. Boswell. The court declared Robert ineligible for any inheritance due to his being " . . . a brother of the half blood." The Boswell family later sold the property to the Billingsley family of St. Mary's County. (Equity Case 3209, Prince George's County)

In 1910, after living in the farm's original home for approximately sixty seven years, the Robinson family built a new home. It was described in a 1956 insurance policy as, "2 story, frame, metal roof, 16x43, wing 14x28, 9 rooms." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) The house design was a simple Victorian with plastered walls, and lit by carbide gas. Electrical lighting was installed in 1951. The house was built with monies from Robert and Amanda, and their son Frank, who served as builder and contractor.

On Tuesday March 9, 1937, "During a celebration in honor of his wifes birthday anniversary, Mr. Robinson collapsed at the table and died immediately without a word or a sigh." (Robinson and Via Family Papers) Robert was buried beside his mother in the cemetery at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden.

At Robert's death, Ferndale Farm was valued at $30.00 an acre, the total acreage, 174 acres, being valued in the whole at $5,220.00. Robert died intestate, again the fate of the land was in question. He left eight heirs, his widow, Amanda, six of his children and his son Albert Henry's only surviving child, R. Henry Robinson. Rather than have the farm sold and his mother's life disrupted, Frank purchased the estate and personal property from the heirs. Before this could take place, a deed had to be granted the heirs for the property since one had never been recorded after the 1876 sale. Equity case 873 was reopened sixty-two years after its supposed resolution. Frank testified, "over a period of about thirty years I would on a number of occasions, talk about the fact that he had purchased and paid for this property and that a deed had never been executed to him and [he] kept saying he was going to have someone straighten this matter out for him." It was discovered that Robert had fully paid for his part of Potomac Landing. On February 14, 1938 the farm was deeded from Amanda along with Robert''s heirs to Frank. (Book 499, page 334, Land Records of Prince George's County) According to the deed and a 1937 fire insurance policy the farm consisted of 177 1/3 acres, "1 two story dwelling, one tenant house, 1 barrack, 1 tobacco barn, 1 corn house & cow stable, 1 Stable, and 1 Granary & Stable." (Robinson and Via Family Papers)

Frank A. Robinson, now the sole owner of Ferndale Farm, was born August 17, 1883. He learned farming and in addition took up the trade of builder and contractor. As a young man, he worked in the general store of his uncle Robert Baden. He was the contractor for the first Bank of Brandywine and many homes in and around the town of Brandywine, including the home of his cousin Robert E. Baden, DDS. He was secretary of the Building Committee for construction of the Chapel of the Incarnation in Brandywine, a mission chapel for St. Thomas' Episcopal Parish. His success in the building trade gave him disposable income that he invested in land. His first purchase was in August, 1915 of a 2-9/100 acre of land in Brandywine that was being sold by the Board of County School Commissioners; the purchase price was $300. In March 1916 he purchased 38.09 acres of his Uncle Franklin's farm. This property adjoined Ferndale Farm. Over the next fifty-four years of his life, Frank bought and sold many pieces of real estate. Perhaps his most significant purchases were: 18-1/3 acres purchased from The German American Colonization Land Company of Maryland in October 1915 (Book 115, pg. 140, Land Records of Prince George's County); 147.99 acres purchased from August and Wilhelmina Noltensmeir in December 1917 (Book 129, pg. 263, Land Records of Prince George's County) and 320 acres called the Vineyard purchased from William M. Wilson in March 1928. Frank used these three parcels as collateral for other purchases. Never once did he mortgage Ferndale Farm, insuring that no matter what financial stormy seas might blow, his home was secure. Over the course of his life, especially in the case of the Noltensmeir farm, when cash was needed a parcel of land would be surveyed off and sold. He inherited his grandfather Thomas' love of land but had fortunately developed a shrewd business sense to go along with it.

On November 20, 1929, he married Elizabeth Freeland Bourne, daughter of Joseph Blake and Maria Gantt Bourne of Calvert County, Maryland. They had three children: Mary Elizabeth (1930-2009), Franklin Alexander (1932), and Robert Lee (1935-1997). In addition to his construction business he continued farming, raising tobacco, hay, and small grains. He engaged in sharecropping with tenants on his various properties. He was active in community affairs serving on the Board of The Maryland Tobacco Growers Association (MTGA), the Vestry of St. Thomas Parish, and as sheriff of Brandywine. On January 9, 1940 Amanda Baden Robinson died. She was buried next to her husband at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baden. In February 1958, Frank and Elizabeth conveyed 1.57 acres of Ferndale Farm to son Franklin where he and his fiancée, Adina M. Via, were building their new home prior to their marriage in July of that same year.

The booming economy and suburbanization of the Washington metropolitan area in the early 1960's led to the high quality gravel lying beneath Ferndale into becoming a valuable commodity. In October 1962, Franklin and his parents granted a three-year lease to William C. Nolte for mining sand and gravel on the Ferndale Farm at .174 per yard. (Book 2747, pg. 11, Land Records of Prince George's County) From now until 1975 when the property was sold, gravel would be mined from under the farm by various companies. In November 1962, Elizabeth and Frank transferred to Franklin the 38.09 acres Frank had purchased from Fitzhugh Billingsley in 1916. (Book 2754, pg. 99, Land Records of Prince George's County) That same year they transferred 6.754 acres, part of the Vineyard, to son Robert and his wife Lois, (Book 2765, pg. 201, Land Records of Prince George's County)

On December 28, 1965, Frank and Elizabeth participated in a land exchange/purchase of the farm of Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown located along the Patuxent River in Benedict, Charles County, Maryland. Franklin had rented this farm the year before and was impressed enough by its location and arability to work out a purchase. Frank and Elizabeth traded 65.9920 acres that would eventually become Franklin's under Frank's will. On February 21, 1966 they deeded the Charles County farm to Franklin and Adina. Adina named this property Serenity Farm. The property consisted of 480.66 acres. (Liber 179, page 708 etc., Land Records of Charles County)

On February 5, 1970, after a short illness, Frank died at Cafritz Memorial Hospital. He was buried at St. Paul's Episcopal Church near his parents. In his will, probated March 4, 1970 he left thirty acres of the property purchased from the German American Land Company and A. Noltensmeir to Elizabeth. He willed forty acres of the same parcel to daughter Mary Robinson Conner. The remainder of Ferndale Farm was willed to Franklin and the remaining acreage of the Vineyard was left to Robert Lee. Franklin Alexander Robinson was born August 13, 1932 at the Garfield Hospital in Washington, D.C.. He received his schooling in the public school system of Prince George's County, graduating from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. He was a charter member of Gwynn Park's chapter of The Future Farmers of America. He was extremely active in FFA, achieving the Degree of Maryland Farmer in 1950 and their highest award, the Degree of American Farmer at their convention in Kansas City, Missouri in October 1953. He obtained his private pilots license in 1954. He entered the United States Army in February 1955 and went through basic training at Camp Gordon, Augusta, Georgia. After basic training he was transferred to Camp Hanford, Washington State. There he worked part time on the farm of Dick and Theresa Laurent during his off duty hours and began a lifelong friendship with them. He returned home to farming on an agricultural discharge in October of 1956. On July 27, 1958 he married his high school sweetheart, Adina Mae Via, daughter of Robert Milton and Virginia Woods Via. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962), and Adina Theresa (1963).

Franklin continued expanding and improving the farming operation by modern methods and means. At times, he farmed over one thousand acres, both owned and rented. On February 21, 1966, his parents deeded their purchase of the Ralph W. and Cordelia H. Brown farm in Benedict to he and Adina, later known as Serenity Farm Franklin and Adina engaged an architect to draft house plans for an anticipated new residence. A small A frame vacation home was built on the property so the family could spend weekends there.

On December 14, 1966, after a long illness, Adina died from complications associated with Hodgkin's Disease. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Waldorf, Charles County. Franklin married Margaret Walker Lennox (nee Tallen, known as Rita) on August 21, 1970 (Marriage Records of Prince George's County, Maryland). This marriage ended in divorce in 1977. There were no children from this marriage.

On July 14, 1975 the Robinson family, Franklin, his second wife, Margaret, her daughter Margaret W. Lennox, Franklin, Jr., R. David, A. Theresa and Elizabeth B. Robinson, moved to Serenity Farm. On July 17, 1975 Franklin and Elizabeth sold the remaining acreage of Ferndale Farm to Brandywine Sand and Gravel, thus ending 131 years of ownership by the Robinson family. Elizabeth Bourne Robinson died on July 15, 1976 and was buried beside her husband at St. Paul's Church, Baden. Franklin married Hiltrud (Ceddie) Harris (nee Sedlacek) on July 15, 1978. (Robinson Family Bible) This marriage ended in divorce in 1986. There were no children from this marriage. Franklin married Diedre Gale Merhiage on April 19, 1989; this marriage ended in divorce in 1997. There were no children from this marriage. He married Remelda Henega Buenavista on January 13, 2007.

The Robinson family continue day-to-day operations of Serenity Farm. The land is well suited to the growing of tobacco and small grains, which crops, (with the exception of tobacco) along with a flock of sheep, are cultivated there to the present time. After the crop year 2001 the Robinson family took the tobacco buyout program offered by the state of Maryland and ceased growing tobacco. Franklin is active in farming and community affairs having served on the vestry of St. Thomas Episcopal Parish, the Board of Directors of MTGA, the Board of the Production Credit Association, the Boards of three schools, Holy Trinity Day School, Queen Anne School, and Calverton School, and numerous other organizations. Currently the farm consists of approximately 275 acres. In 1981 a state agricultural land preservation district of 222.755 acres was created. This was the first such district in Charles County and one of the first in the state of Maryland.

In 1985, R. David began a greenhouse business for the sale of spring flowering bedding plants and hanging baskets but currently works in conjunction with Farming 4 Hunger to grow produce for local area foodbanks. A. Theresa is involved in the daily running of the farm along with Franklin. Franklin, Jr., obtained a BFA degree in Drama from The Catholic University of America in 1981 and an MA from The American University in Film and Video Production in 1988. He was a civilian employee of the United States Air Force (USAF) from November 1981 to January 1986. He pursued a full time career as a professional actor from 1986-2007 and is a published author and produced playwright. The three siblings have been involved in community affairs, with R. David sitting on the Charles County Agricultural Preservation Board, A. Theresa having served on the vestry of Trinity Episcopal Parish, Charles County, and Franklin, Jr. having served on the vestries of both Trinity Parish and St. Thomas Episcopal Parish, the Board of the Washington Literacy Council, a choir member of the choir at St. Thomas Church, among other church related posts and as chair of the Charles County Historic Preservation Commission.

Via Family

The Via family traces its origins to the colony of Virginia, where the probable progenitor of the line, Amer Via, a French Huguenot, settled in Manakin Town, Albemarle County between 1670-1700. It is impossible to trace the Via line definitively due to the loss of Virginia county records during the Civil War.

The Via family line covered in this collection can be definitively traced to William Via of Fredericksville Parish, Louisa (later Albemarle) County, Virginia. The William Via family lived west of the present day town of Whitehall at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an area commonly known as Sugar Hollow. William Via III served in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Craig, daughter of Thomas Craig and Jane Jameson, on March 17, 1784. William died on June 27, 1836, in Albemarle County (Rev. War Pension Appl. 6363, National Archives). His son Thomas married Sally, widow Griffin, on January 1, 1811 (Albemarle County Marriage Records). Their son, Hiram Karl Via (1812-1893), married Harriet Ardenia Naylor by license dated March 7, 1836 (Albemarle County Marriage Records).

Hiram and Harriet's son, Robert St. Clair Via (1844-1925), served as a private in Company I, 7th Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States Army (CSA Military Service Records, National Archives). After the war he married his first cousin, Mary Frances Naylor, daughter of Samuel Chapman Naylor and Eliza Jane Gardner, on April 3, 1866 in Rockingham County (Rockingham County, Virginia, Marriage Records). Sometime between 1870 and 1872, they moved to Linn County, Missouri, and settled about seven miles from the town of Bucklin. Their son, Hiram Chapman Via (1872-1933), was born there. In 1893, the family returned to Virginia, and settled on a farm in Greene County near the town of Stanardsville.

Hiram Chapman Via operated a mill as well as a farm. On March 15, 1899, he married Adina Eleanor Eusebia Runkle, daughter of Milton D. L. Runkle and Roberta A. Beadles (Greene County, Virginia, Marriage Records). They had three children: Bernice Olive (1902-1999), Robert Milton (1906-1983), and Deward Daniel (1909-1977).

Robert moved to Washington, D.C.. In December 1927 he began employment with the Capitol Traction Company as a streetcar conductor (Robinson and Via Family Papers). During the early 1930s, Robert rented a townhouse at 715 A St., SE, where he lived with his sister Bernice V. McMullan and her son, William C. McMullan; his brother and sister in law, and his parents. Next door, at 717, lived the Moses Albright family, including Moses's stepdaughter Ida Virginia Woods (1914-2010), daughter of Jesse Lee Woods (1894-1918) and Donna Mae Barker (1896-1928) of Frederick County, Maryland. Robert and Virginia began a courtship and on September 3, 1932 were married in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland (Frederick County, Maryland, Marriage Records).

After their marriage, Robert and Virginia lived in various locations in the Washington metropolitan area. Their first child, Robert Delano, was born on March 24, 1933, and their second child, Adina Mae, was born on April 12, 1937. Virginia was employed outside the home while her children were in school. Her first job before her marriage had been with Woolworth's in Martinsburg, WV working the candy counter and then before the birth of her son at The Hecht Company on F St. in Washington, D.C.. After her marriage she worked briefly for the United States Postal Service in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Beginning in the 1950s, she worked for Charles of the Ritz as a receptionist in their beauty salon located in Woodward & Lothrop's F Street store in Washington, D.C.. She also worked as salon manager at the Charles of the Ritz salons in the Woodward & Lothrop stores in Seven Corners, Virginia, and Chevy Chase, Maryland. She retired due to health reasons in 1973.

On September 10, 1941, Robert and Virginia purchased Lot #43 in Woodlane subdivision in Prince George's County. (Book 619, pg. 12, Land Records of Prince George's County) A house was designed for them for this lot by Clyde E. Phillips. They did not construct a home on this property due to the outbreak of World War II. Robert, due to his employment in public transportation, did not serve with the Armed Services in World War II. On October 18, 1946, they purchased approximately thirty acres bordering on Burch's Creek near the towns of Clinton, also know as Surrattsville, and T.B. in Prince George's County from Joseph H. and M. Pauline Blandford. (Book 873, pg. 483, Land Records of Prince George's County) Over the next three years, hiring private contractors, doing work themselves, and with the help of Robert's brother Deward, they built the two story house designed by Phillips in 1941. They moved to the farm from Capitol Heights in 1949. Robert raised hogs, small grains and a crop of tobacco yearly on this farm and also maintained his job with Capitol Transit (formerly Capitol Traction). In 1954, Robert and Virginia purchased a farm of approximately 150 acres in Island Creek, Calvert County, Maryland. The intention was for Robert and his son to enter into a full time farming operation on expanded acreage. Robert D. Via, known as Delano, graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June 1951. Delano was a part-time farmer and pursued a career as a country and western singer with Bashful Bob and the Rhythm Rangers, he being Bashful Bob. He was employed in various jobs, and began a tour in the Army in 1953. By the time the Via family moved to Calvert County in 1956, he decided to pursue careers other than farming. He eventually traveled and worked in various parts of the United States. He married first Delores Cooper, second Gloria J. Irick, and finally Candice Marinelli in December 1974, they had two children, Robert Marin (1975) and Kirstin Marin (1976).

On June 1, 1956 Robert resigned from his position at Capitol Transit due to health reasons. He and his family moved to the farm in Island Creek, Calvert County where he began full time farming. He and Virginia sold the thirty-acre farm in Prince George's County on June 21, 1956 to Melvin C. and Geraldine H. Rardia. (Book 2003, pg. 564, Land Records of Prince George's County) Virginia continued her employment with Charles of the Ritz. Adina, now a graduate of Gwynn Park High School, was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland. They both commuted daily from Calvert County to their places of employment.

Robert farmed in Calvert County, raising hogs, cattle, small grains and tobacco. Over the course of the next twenty-seven years, Robert and Virginia sold smaller parcels off the farm. In 1974, Robert and Virginia built a small retirement home designed for them by Calvert Masonry Contractors. Robert died on December 22, 1983. He was buried beside his daughter Adina in Trinity Memorial Gardens. At the time of Robert's death, the farm consisted of 28.694 acres. In 1998, Virginia deeded the remainder of the farm, then less than six acres, to her grandson, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr. who sold all but a one-acre lot in April 1999.

Virginia continued to live on the farm in Calvert County, maintaining a small herd of cattle. In the fall of 1989 Franklin, Jr. went to live with her. In 1993, the onset of Alzheimer's Disease required her to move to Serenity Farm and take up residence with her granddaughter A. Theresa. Virginia participated in various studies on Alzheimer's Disease conducted by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland beginning in 1992. She was profiled in the September 1997 issue of Washingtonian Magazine. In October of 1998 she moved to All American Senior Care in Brandywine, Maryland and in 1999 she moved to Morningside, an elderly care facility in Waldorf, Maryland. In 2002, she moved to St. Mary's Nursing Center in Leonardtown, Maryland. The remainder of the farm was sold in 1999 and 2002. She died January 14, 2010 and was buried at Trinity Memorial Gardens in Waldorf.

Adina Mae Via was born April 12, 1937 at the Homeopathic Hospital in Washington, D.C.. Adina grew up in Washington, D.C. attending public schools. She moved with her family to the Burch's Creek farm, Prince George's County, in 1949. She enrolled in the Prince George's County school system, and graduated from Gwynn Park High School in June of 1955. After graduation, she was employed by the USAF at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs.

In July of 1956, she moved with her family to the Via farm in Island Creek, Calvert County. On July 27, 1958 she married Franklin A. Robinson at the Chapel of the Incarnation. They had three children: Franklin Alexander (1959), Robert David (1962) and Adina Theresa (1963). In the fall of 1958, she and Franklin took up residence in the home they had built on Ferndale Farm. She resigned from her position with the USAF in 1959.

On December 14, 1966, at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC, Adina died from complications due to Hodgkin's Disease. She had been battling this disease for many years prior to her death. She was buried in Trinity Memorial Gardens, Charles County.

Related Materials:

Materials at Other Organizations

The Maryland Historical Society holds items (costume, farming related implements) related to the Robinson and Via families.

Separated Materials:

Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Work and Industry (Agriculture Collection) holds agricultural implements and artifacts associated with both the Robinson farms and the Via farm; the Division of Home and Community Life holds clothing, textiles (crib quilt), jewelry, cosmetics and Adina M. Robinson's sewing box and dress patterns; (Costume and Textiles Collection). See accession numbers: 1989.0688, 1990.0394, 1991.0010; 1991.0722, 1992.0184, 1992.0283, 1992.0321, 1992.0474, 1992.3106, 1994.0064, 1994.0304, 1997.0327, 1998.0038, 1998.0129, 2001.0196, 2002.0087, 2003.0015, 2005.0009.

Division of Armed Forces History (National Numismatics Collection) holds the Robert M. Via Trolley Token Collection.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center, by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., in November 1993.

Restrictions:

Unrestricted research use on site to portions of collection, but some papers of living persons are restricted. Access to restricted portions may be arranged by request to donor. Gloves required for unprotected photographs. Viewing film portions of the collection and listening to LP recording requires special appointment.

Rights:

The Archives Center does not own exclusive rights to these materials. Copyright for all materials is retained by the donor, Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.; permission for commercial use and/or publication may be requested from the donor through the Archives Center. Military Records for Franklin A. Robinson (b. 1932) and correspondence from Richard I. Damalouji (1961-2014) are restricted; written permission is needed to research these files. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Farms -- Maryland  Search this

Holidays  Search this

Amusement parks -- California  Search this

Children's parties  Search this

Rural women  Search this

Sheep ranches  Search this

Parks -- California  Search this

Rural families  Search this

Tobacco -- Harvesting  Search this

Tobacco -- Storage  Search this

Street-railroads  Search this

Street-railroads -- Employees  Search this

Travel  Search this

Urban transportation  Search this

Work and family  Search this

Tobacco curing  Search this

Women in agriculture  Search this

Farm equipment  Search this

Farm buildings  Search this

Family recreation  Search this

Family festivals  Search this

Farm ownership  Search this

Farm life -- 20th century  Search this

Farm management  Search this

Illiterate persons  Search this

Christmas  Search this

Soldiers  Search this

Students  Search this

Family -- 20th century  Search this

Family farms  Search this

Easter  Search this

Electric railroads  Search this

Acting -- 1980-2000  Search this

Amateur films  Search this

Agricultural machinery  Search this

Agriculture -- 20th century -- Maryland  Search this

Tobacco farmers  Search this

Housewives -- United States  Search this

Weddings  Search this

Farmers  Search this

Dairy farms  Search this

Genre/Form:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Correspondence -- 1930-1950

Photographs -- 20th century

Postcards

Baby books

Phonograph records

Postcard albums

Ephemera

School yearbooks

Diaries

Albums

Housebooks

Photographs -- 19th century

Snapshots

Home movies

Family papers

Scrapbooks

Funeral registers

Cookbooks

Architectural drawings

Citation:

The Robinson and Via Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Preservation of the 8mm films in this collection was made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Film Preservation Fund.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0475

See more items in:

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0475

Creator:

Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company  Search this

Names:

Anthracite Water Company  Search this

Extent:

17 Cubic feet (51 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Correspondence

Reports

Circular letters

Letterpress copybooks

Place:

Shamokin (Pa.)

Reading (Pa.)

Pennsylvania -- Anthracite coal industry

Pottsville (Pa.) -- Anthracite coal industry

Ashland (Pa.) -- Anthracite coal industry

Mahanoy City (Pa.) -- Anthracite coal industry

Schuylkill River (Pa.) -- Anthracite coal industry

Date:

1866-1927

Scope and Contents:

This collection consists of approximately seventeen cubic feet of records of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, dating from the period 1866-1927. The bulk of the collection comprises 124 letterpress copybooks from the company's Engineering Department. These contain letters and reports sent by engineers located at the major centers of the company's operations in the Schuylkill coal field — Ashland, Mahanoy City, Pottsville, and Shamokin. They also include the Chief Engineer, the Assistant Engineer, division engineers, resident engineers, associate engineers, mining engineers and their assistants, and transitmen. Among these were George S. Clemens, Joseph B. Garner, John R. Hoffman, James F. Jones, Henry M. Luther, Roland C. Luther, Henry Pleasants, John H. Pollard, John H. Strauch, and S. B. Whiting.

Their letterpress copybooks reflect the evolving organization of the Engineering Department, as job titles were changed and individuals were promoted or transferred from one post to another. The copybooks either accompanied the man when he took up a new post or remained in the office, where they were used by his successors. The copybooks in this collection have been arranged into series by person and position. Several additional volumes have been placed in a series of miscellaneous records at the end of the collection.

The correspondence in these volumes deals with all aspects of mining construction and operations, engineering personnel matters, and coordination with the Railroad for the shipment of coal, as well as periodic reports of operations and wagon accounts detailing how much coal had been shipped. Also included is correspondence relating to the formation and operation of the Schuylkill Coal Exchange Committee, which was set up to ease competition among the railroads in the Schuylkill region.

The collection also includes eight letterpress copybooks kept by S. B. Whiting while he was General Manager and General Superintendent of the company (1882-ca. 1888) . Whiting also kept letterbooks in which he pasted letters received from his superiors: Series 1 of the collection consists of two volumes of letters received (1879-1883) from Franklin B. Gowen, President, and one volume of letters received (1881-1884) from George DeB. Keim, General Solicitor and Vice President. In addition, there are eight letterpress copybooks kept by Roland C. Luther during his tenure as General Superintendent (ca. 1888-1902) and one volume from his tenure as the company's Second Vice President (1903-1905) . Also included is a volume of printed circular letters from both the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and from the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company (1874-1887), which is located in Series 16.

Of additional interest is the inclusion of letters relating to the operation of the Anthracite Water Company among the letterpress copybooks of George S. Clemens, who served as that company's manager in the 1910s. In addition, several of the circular letters pertain directly to the 1888 anthracite coal strike.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into 16 series.

Series 1: Letters received, S. B. Whiting, 1881-1883

Series 2: George S. Clemens, Shamokin, Ashland, and Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1875-1921

Series 3: Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1866-1881

Series 4: John H. Pollard, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1881-1905

Series 5: John H. Pollard, T. R. Spinney, and Joseph Garner, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1888-1911

Series 6: John H. Pollard and T. B. Van Buren, Ashland and Mahanoy City, 1902-1913

Series 7: Division Engineer, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1902-1927

Series 8: Henry M. Luther and John H. Pollard, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1881-1905

Series 9: Joseph S. Harris, Pottsville, 1871-1877

Series 10: J. Price Wetherill, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1879-1881

Series 11: James F. Jones and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1881-1891

Series 12: John R. Hoffman and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1883-1909

Series 13: Henry Pleasants and S. B. Whiting, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1874-1880

Series 14: S. B. Whiting and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville and Reading, Pennsylvania, 1877-1905

Series 15: George A. Brooke and John H. Strauch, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1879-1909

Series 16: Miscellaneous Records, 1873-1987

Biographical / Historical:

The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. was organized in order to ensure its parent company, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, a dominant position in the transportation of anthracite coal from the Schuylkill fields of eastern Pennsylvania. For thirty years after its incorporation in 1833, the Philadelphia & Reading had been the main carrier of coal from this region, shipping anthracite coal from independently owned mines to Philadelphia. By the mid-1860s, however, the company faced increasing competition from other railroads as well as interruptions in supply due to miners' strikes. In response, Franklin B. Gowen, President of the Philadelphia & Reading, decided to gain control of enough coal acreage to ensure the company's survival. However, since it was illegal for railroads to directly own coal fields or operate mines in Pennsylvania, the company had to organize a separate company for the purpose. Accordingly, the Laurel Run Improvement Company was incorporated in May 1871. By taking advantage of a loophole in the Laurel Run company's charter, the Philadelphia & Reading purchased it in November 1871, and thus circumvented the legal restrictions on railroad ownership of coal lands. The newly-acquired company was renamed the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company in December 1871.

The company quickly acquired coal lands: by 1872, 80,000 acres had been purchased; by 1874, almost 100,000 acres - approximately one-third of the entire Schuylkill coal field. Originally, the company did not intend to mine coal itself; rather, it would rent the collieries it had acquired to independent operators, with the stipulation that the end product must be shipped over the Philadelphia & Reading railroad's lines. Unfortunately, this arrangement did not prove to be either practical or profitable and the company had to take direct control of its mining operations. Despite this step, however, the Coal & Iron Company continued to be unprofitable. In 1913 the United States government brought suit against the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, claiming that its ownership of both the Coal & Iron Company and the Railroad were a monopoly of trade. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against the railroad in 1920. Under the terms of an agreement worked out by the Court, in December 1923, the Philadelphia & Reading transferred its interests in the Coal & Iron Company to a new company formed for the purpose — the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Corporation.

Related Materials:

Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Work & Industry has a collection of photographs from the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, 1866-1927.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware The bulk of the surviving records of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and its parent company, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.

Provenance:

These records were obtained by the National Museum of American History sometime prior to 1978. They were transferred from the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to the Archives Center in July 1989. An additional thirty-five volumes were transferred to the Archives Center in July 1996.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Rights:

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Anthracite coal industry  Search this

Coal -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Coal mines and mining -- Pennsylvania  Search this

Anthracite Coal Strike, Pa., 1902  Search this

Engineers  Search this

Engineering  Search this

Genre/Form:

Correspondence -- 1930-1950

Reports

Circular letters

Letterpress copybooks

Citation:

Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company Records, 1866-1927, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0282

See more items in:

Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0282

Maker:

Keuffel & Esser Co.  Search this

Physical Description:

wood (part material)

paper (part material)

brass (overall material)

cloth (part material)

Measurements:

overall: 14.2 cm x 57.5 cm x 16.5 cm; 5 19/32 in x 22 5/8 in x 6 1/2 in

Object Name:

calculating rule

slide rule

Place made:

United States: New York, New York City

Date made:

ca 1915

Subject:

Rule, Calculating  Search this

U.S. National Government, executive branch  Search this

Mathematics  Search this

Business  Search this

ID Number:

1996.3079.01

Catalog number:

1996.3079.01

Nonaccession number:

1996.3079

Maker number:

3518

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Mathematics

Science & Mathematics

Slide Rules

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-27c0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_690746

Creator:

Favretti, Rudy J.  Search this

Extent:

31.5 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Invoices

Research

Contracts

Reports

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Date:

circa 1950-2010

Summary:

The collection contains the project design records of Rudy J. Favretti. , a landscape architect and professor noted for his extensive work in historical restoration of gardens, parks, and landscapes. He donated his collection of garden design files, plans, and images to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens in March 2011.

Scope and Content Note:

The collection contains the records of landscape architect Rudy J. Favretti and includes correspondence, research notes, reports, drawings, plans (some from other engineering or design firms), photographic images, contracts, invoices, newspaper clippings, copies of historic records and other items relating to Professor Favretti's professional design work. His projects range from small private gardens to extensive garden restorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century gardens, parks, and historic sites. Professor Favretti also worked on a number of civic improvement and land use projects like parks and roadways. The majority of projects are located in New England (particularly Connecticut), the mid-Atlantic states and the southeastern United States. The collection also includes Professor Favretti's research files for his biography on landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann as well as numerous brochures and pamphlets he gathered during trips he took to gardens across the United States, and 35mm slides he took of some of these sites.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged into 4 series: Series 1: Project Files; Series 2: Administrative Files; Series 3: Jacob Weidenmann Research and Biography Filesand Biography Files; Series 4: Visited Gardens

Biographical Note:

Rudy J. Favretti was born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1932. He obtained degrees from the University of Connecticut, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts. Favretti holds Bachelor's degrees in horticulture, landscape design, and landscape architecture, as well as Master's degrees in ornamental horticulture, landscape architecture, and regional planning. Professor Favretti taught landscape architecture at the University of Connecticut from 1955 to 1988. Since 1988 he has been Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut specializing in landscape history and preservation. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Virginia, Columbia University, and a Visiting Faculty Fellow at Yale University. In his professional career, Rudy Favretti worked on over 700 commissioned individual and collaborative design, master planning, and preservation projects. These works include notable sites such as Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia, Monticello and Mount Vernon in Virginia, the Emily Dickinson House in Massachusetts, and the Vanderbilt Estate in New York. Favretti has authored more than 20 books and monographs and over 60 journal and magazine articles on a vast range of topics though most notably on historic landscape restoration and colonial gardens He co-authored For Every House a Garden (1977) and Landscapes and Garden for Historic Buildings (1978) with his wife Joy P. Favretti. His most recent work, Jacob Wiedenmann: Pioneer Landscape Architect (2007), is a biography of the nineteenth century landscape architect.

Professor Favretti is a member of several professional and academic societies including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Association for Olmsted Parks, and Phi Kappa Phi. He has been awarded honors in landscape preservation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Garden Club of America. He is currently a member of the National Register Review Board for Connecticut and the Director of the Connecticut Olmsted Alliance. He served as the consulting landscape architect for the Garden Club of Virginia from 1978 to 1998. The Garden Club of Virginia established the Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship in his honor to support the research and documentation of historic Virginia gardens.

Related Materials:

The Rudy Favretti Papers are available at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center of the University of Connecticut. These include landscape plans dated 1962-1979 for numerous public spaces throughout Connecticut.

Provenance:

The records and files were generated and/or compiled by Rudy J. Favretti in the course of his landscape design, landscape restoration, and academic work.

Restrictions:

Access to original images 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:

For information or study purposes only. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Monuments  Search this

Museums  Search this

Agriculture  Search this

Historic sites  Search this

Horticulture  Search this

Memorials  Search this

Landscape architecture  Search this

Gardens -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Invoices

Research

Contracts

Reports

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Rudy J. Favretti CollectionPapers.

Identifier:

AAG.FAV

See more items in:

Rudy J. Favretti collection

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aag-fav

Edited by:

W.E.B. Du Bois, American, 1868 - 1963  Search this

Subject of:

The Crisis, American, founded 1910  Search this

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American, founded 1909  Search this

Illustrated by:

John Henry Adams Jr., American, 1880 - 1944  Search this

Written by:

Jessie Redmon Fauset, American, 1882 - 1961  Search this

Medium:

ink on paper with metal

Dimensions:

H x W: 9 3/4 × 6 3/4 in. (24.8 × 17.1 cm)

H x W (Open): 9 3/4 × 13 1/2 in. (24.8 × 34.3 cm)

Type:

magazines (periodicals)

Place printed:

New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America

Date:

March 1912

Topic:

African American  Search this

Advertising  Search this

Associations and institutions  Search this

Business  Search this

Civil Rights  Search this

Education  Search this

Housing  Search this

Literature  Search this

Lynching  Search this

Mass media  Search this

Poetry  Search this

Race relations  Search this

Social life and customs  Search this

Social reform  Search this

Theatre  Search this

Theatre companies  Search this

U.S. History, 1865-1921  Search this

Credit Line:

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Object number:

2015.97.14.3

Restrictions & Rights:

Public domain

See more items in:

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification:

Documents and Published Materials-Published Works

Movement:

Anti-Lynching Movement

Data Source:

National Museum of African American History and Culture

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5aa371455-85aa-4302-9581-84d672800cb6

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmaahc_2015.97.14.3

Collection Photographer:

Fogg, John M. (John Milton), 1898-1982  Search this

Extent:

8 Slides (photographs) (35mm)

Type:

Archival materials

Slides (photographs)

Date:

1959

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit all requests for appointments in writing. 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.

Topic:

Fruit trees  Search this

Arboretums  Search this

Agricultural buildings  Search this

Peach  Search this

Gardens -- New York (State)  Search this

Apple trees  Search this

Apples  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, John M. Fogg Photographic Slides

Identifier:

AAG.FOG, File NY584

See more items in:

John M. Fogg photographic slides

John M. Fogg photographic slides / Series 1: Garden images / 1.1: Gardens in the United States / New York

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-fog-ref38

Creator:

Fay, W. Garland, Col./Mrs.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Hollerith family  Search this

Hollerith, Herman, 1860-1929  Search this

Garden Club of America  Search this

Georgetown Garden Club  Search this

Collection Photographer:

Hollerith, Lucia Beverly, 1891-1982  Search this

Hollerith, Nannie Talcott, 1898-1985  Search this

Hollerith, Virginia  Search this

Extent:

1 Slide (col.)

Type:

Archival materials

Slides

Place:

Maryland -- St. Mary's City

United States of America -- Maryland -- St. Mary's County -- St. Mary's City

Date:

04/01/1970

General:

The Potomac River can be seen from the Southern Colonial Mansion, Mulberry Fields built in 1760.The Po

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images 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.

Topic:

Summer  Search this

Vista  Search this

Agricultural land  Search this

Rivers  Search this

Flowering trees  Search this

Dogwoods  Search this

Gates -- wooden  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Hollerith Family Slide Collection.

Identifier:

AAG.HOL, Item MD149002

See more items in:

Hollerith Family slide collection

Hollerith Family slide collection / Gardens and Sites / Maryland / MD149: St. Mary's County -- Mulberry Fields

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-hol-ref397

Collection Creator:

Hollerith family  Search this

Hollerith, Herman, 1860-1929  Search this

Garden Club of America  Search this

Georgetown Garden Club  Search this

Collection Photographer:

Hollerith, Lucia Beverly, 1891-1982  Search this

Hollerith, Nannie Talcott, 1898-1985  Search this

Hollerith, Virginia  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images 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.

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Hollerith Family Slide Collection.

Identifier:

AAG.HOL, File MD227

See more items in:

Hollerith Family slide collection

Hollerith Family slide collection / Gardens and Sites / Maryland

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-hol-ref71

Creator:

Curry, John Steuart, 1897-1946  Search this

Names:

Curry, Kathleen, 1899-  Search this

Extent:

10.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Video recordings

Photographs

Sketches

Interviews

Date:

1848-1999

Summary:

The papers of painter, muralist, and illustrator John Steuart Curry, and Curry family papers, measure 10.1 linear feet and date from 1848 to 1999. Papers document his career and family history through certificates, correspondence, photographs, clippings, contracts, receipts, inventories, writings, notes, and other materials. The papers contain particularly rich documentation of Curry's period as artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin, from 1936 to 1946. Mural projects in Kansas, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin are also documented.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of painter, muralist, and illustrator John Steuart Curry, and Curry family papers, measure 10.1 linear feet and date from 1848 to 1999. Papers document his career and family history through certificates, correspondence, photographs, clippings, contracts, receipts, inventories, writings, notes, and other materials. The papers contain particularly rich documentation of Curry's period as artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin, from 1936 to 1946. Mural projects in Kansas, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin are also documented.

Biographical Materials include chronologies, biographical narratives, genealogical notes, certificates and awards, and other ephemera related to Curry and his family. Family Correspondence includes the earliest records created by Curry himself, including letters home from art school and from the East Coast during his early career.

Correspondence and Project files document mural projects, appearances, gallery relationships, and other activities from the early 1930s until his death in 1946 with correspondence, photographs, clippings, contracts, writings, and other miscellany. Subject files include pictorial reference and research files created by Curry for subjects depicted in his murals and paintings. Curry's writings include essays, lectures, interviews, and notes related to his technical and philosophical approach to art, as well as notes from his various travels, and essays by others about Curry. Personal Business Records contain records of artwork, business transactions, and personal finances.

Print Materials include print copies of published artwork by Curry, including magazine illustrations from Curry's early career. Extensive clippings, exhibition catalogs, and a scrapbook created by Curry as a youth are also found. Photographs depict Curry throughout his life in formal portraits, candid snapshots, and publicity photographs, with a significant number of photographs depicting Curry creating and posing with his artwork. The Artwork series contains a few sketches by Curry and seven canvases used for testing art materials. Additional sketches are found in Subject Files and scrapbooks.

Estate Papers contain materials dated after Curry's death in 1946 and mainly document the activities of Kathleen Curry in managing her husband's estate from 1946 until her death in 2001. Estate papers contain writings about Curry, correspondence, inventories of artwork, and alphabetical files documenting sales, exhibitions, and other projects.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into ten series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1911-1993 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 2: Family Correspondence, 1916-1946 (Box 1; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 3: Correspondence and Project Files, 1928-1946 (Boxes 1-3, OV 11; 2.3 linear feet)

Series 4: Subject Files, 1848-1946 (Boxes 3-4, OV 11-12; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 5: Notes and Writings, circa 1911-1946 (Box 4; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1916-1952 (Box 4, OV 13; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 7: Print Materials, 1918-1985 (Boxes 4-5, 10; OV 12-13; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1900-1998 (Boxes 5-6, OV 14; 1.1 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork, 1941, undated (Box 7, OV 12, 14, 15; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 10: Estate Papers, circa 1946-1999 (Boxes 7-9 and rolled document; 2.3 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Painter, muralist, and illustrator John Steuart Curry is considered one of the three important painters of the American Regionalist movement, along with Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and Grant Wood of Iowa. Curry was born in north-eastern Kansas in 1897, and grew up on his family's farm. Curry left high school to attend the Kansas City Art Institute briefly, and then studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916 with Edward J. Timmons and John Norton. Curry later spent a year in Paris studying with Basil Schoukhaieff in 1926 and 1927.

Curry began his career as a freelance illustrator in Leonia, New Jersey, under the influence of Harvey Dunn. Curry's illustrations were widely published in illustrated magazines such as Boy's Life, Country Gentleman, and Saturday Evening Post in the early 1920s. He married Clara Derrick in 1923 and lived in Greenwich Village, and then Westport, Connecticut, from 1924 to 1936. Derrick died in 1932, and in 1934 Curry married Kathleen Gould.

Curry's career shifted from illustration to painting during the 1920s and 1930s, bolstered by success in exhibitions and sales. Exhibits included the National Academy of Design (1924), the Corcoran Gallery (1927-1928), a solo exhibition at the Whitney Studio Club (1930), and the Carnegie International Exhibition (1933). Early sales include Baptism in Kansas, purchased by the Whitney in 1930, and Spring Shower, purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in 1932. Curry taught at Cooper Union (1932-1934) and the Art Student's League (1932-1934), and painted his first murals in Westport under the Federal Art Project in 1934.

In 1936, he was appointed artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture as part of a rural art program developed by rural sociologist John Burton. The purpose of his residency was to serve as an educational resource for rural people of the state. Curry stayed in this position until his death in 1946, carrying out the program's mission through lectures and visits with dozens of art and civic groups around the state, and by making himself available to rural artists through correspondence and guidance in his studio. He also helped to organize annual rural art exhibitions for UW's Farm and Home Week beginning in 1940. In return for his work, he was given a salary and a studio on campus and the freedom to execute his own work as he chose.

Under the Federal Art Program's Section of Painting and Sculpture, Curry completed two murals in the Justice Department building in Washington in 1936, Westward Migration and Justice Defeating Mob Violence, and two murals in the Department of the Interior building in 1938, The Homestead and The Oklahoma Land Rush. A design that was rejected by the government for the Justice building, a mural entitled Freeing of the Slaves, was later executed at the University of Wisconsin in their law library. From 1938 to 1940, Curry worked on murals for the state house rotunda in Topeka, Kansas admist a stormy, public controversy over his dramatic depiction of Kansas history. The legislature effectively blocked Curry's completion of the project through a formal resolution not to remove marble that was blocking areas that were part of Curry's design. Infuriated, Curry left the unfinished murals unsigned, and later derided the state frequently for the treatment he received. The Kansas State legislature issued a formal apology and appreciation of the completed murals in the 1990s.

Despite the lack of appreciation of his home state, Curry did receive recognition elsewhere during his lifetime as an artist of national importance. He continued to paint and exhibit in the art centers of the East Coast. In 1941, he won the Gold Medal Award at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts exhibition, and in the 1942 Artists For Victory exhibition, he won the top prize for Wisconsin Landscape. Curry's book illustrations were in high demand, and he contributed to books such as My Friend Flicka, editions of Lincoln's and Emerson's writings, and Wisconsin writer August Derleth's The Wisconsin. A biography of Curry written by Laurence Schmeckebier was published in 1942.

Curry died in 1946 of heart failure. A retrospective that had been planned for the living artist opened less than a month after his death at the Milwaukee Art Institute. His wife, Kathleen Curry, maintained his estate until her death, in 2001, at the age of 102. Additional retrospective exhibitions were held at Syracuse University in 1956 and in the Kansas State Capitol in 1970. In 1998, the exhibition "John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West" was organized at the University of Wisconsin and traveled to the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.

Related Material:

The Archives of American Art holds an oral history interview with Kathleen Curry regarding John Steuart Curry conducted in 1990 and 1992.

Separated Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 164-168 and 4574-4576) including 98 sketchbooks, 1919-1942; a ledger, 1938-1946, of expenses with four loose letters to John Steuart Curry in Italian and Spanish; a notebook, 1932-1938, titled "Account and records of works, etc."; a journal, undated, of drafts of poems, and approximately 50 sketches. Loaned materials were returned to the lender some of which were subsequently donated to the Worcester Museum of Art in Worcester, Massachusetts. This material is not described in the collection container inventory.

John Steuart Curry memorabilia received with the Kathleen Curry's donation in 1979 (baby cup, baby dress, overalls, medals, paint box, watercolor box, 2 photographs) were transferred to the Spencer Museum of Art in 1985.

Provenance:

John Steuart Curry's widow, Kathleen Curry, lent materials on reels 164-168 for microfilming in 1971. In 1979, she subsequently donated portions of the material lent, along with additional items, some of which were transferred to Spencer Museum of Art. In 1972, Mildred Curry Fike, John Steuart Curry's sister, gave material and R. Eugene Curry, a brother, donated more material in 1975 and 1993. Ellen Schuster, John Steuart Curry's daughter, donated the home movies in 1973 and Daniel Schuster, John Steuart Curry's son-in-law, gave additional papers in 1991 in 1992, 1995, and 1999. In 1992, 1999 and 2000, additions were received from Kathleen Curry that may contain material previously filmed as a loan on reels 164-168.

Restrictions:

The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Access to undigitized portions requires an appointment.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Painters -- Wisconsin  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Art -- Technique  Search this

Works of art  Search this

Regionalism  Search this

Muralists -- Wisconsin  Search this

Illustrators -- Wisconsin  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Video recordings

Photographs

Sketches

Interviews

Citation:

John Steuart Curry and Curry family papers, 1900-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.currjohn

See more items in:

John Steuart Curry and Curry family papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-currjohn

Artist:

Covarrubias, Miguel, 1904-1957  Search this

Publisher:

Tarjeta Postal  Search this

Names:

Tlaloc  Search this

Collection Creator:

National Philatelic Collection, Smithsonian Institution.  Search this

Blenkle, Victor A., Dr., 1900-1978 (physician)  Search this

Collection Source:

Extractive Industries, Division of.  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (color; Ink on paper, 3.5" x 5.5".)

Container:

Box 27, Item Grouping Religion--Mexico (Aztec).

Culture:

Indians of Mexico -- Religion  Search this

Aztecs -- Religion and Mythology  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Postcards

Picture postcards

Place:

Mexico

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex, depicting Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god. He wears a feather headdress and costume with a long tail and carries unidentified objects in his hands. The caption and illustration indicate he is also a patron of farming and agriculture. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "God of the Rain / He who causes the rains and growth of vegetation." (Bourbon Codice. Lam. 7). Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.

Local Numbers:

AC0200-0000006 (AC Scan)

Collection Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Collection Rights:

Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Gods  Search this

Genre/Form:

Postcards

Picture postcards

Collection Citation:

Victor A. Blenkle Postcard Collection, c. 1880-c. 1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution,

See more items in:

Victor A. Blenkle Postcard Collection

Victor A. Blenkle Postcard Collection / Series 3: Subjects / Religion, Mexican -- Aztec

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0200-ref2176