Search Results

Donor Name:

Sapporo Agricultural College  Search this

Length - Object:

122 cm

Width - Object:

127 cm

Height - Object:

1.2 cm

Culture:

Ainu, Tsuishikari Ainu  Search this

Object Type:

Robe

Place:

Hokkaido (Yezo), Japan, Asia

Accession Date:

1880

Topic:

Ethnology  Search this

Accession Number:

022633

USNM Number:

E150779-0

See more items in:

Anthropology

Data Source:

NMNH - Anthropology Dept.

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3f45973e5-b7a6-4e1e-affc-6d26208ce2f9

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8340475

Creator:

Kushi, Aveline, 1923-  Search this

Kushi, Michio, 1926-  Search this

Ohsawa, George  Search this

Extent:

29 Cubic feet (88 boxes)

339 Cassette tapes

218 Video recordings

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Cassette tapes

Video recordings

Videotapes

Vernacular photographs

Snapshots

Lectures

Audiotapes

Cookbooks

Date:

1960-2006, undated

bulk 1970-1989

Summary:

Publications, photographs, articles, audio and video recordings, and teaching materials relating to the rise of Macrobiotics in the United States, as popularized by Michio and Aveline Kushi. The bulk of the material was produced for the Kushi Foundation, Kushi Institute, and East West Foundation.

Scope and Contents:

This collection documents the work of Michio and Aveline Kushi as writers and teachers in popularizing macrobiotics in the United States. It consists largely of publications and recordings produced by three organizations created by the Kushis: the East West Foundation, the Kushi Foundation, and the Kushi Institute. The collection also includes publications and recordings created by others involved in macrobiotics and related areas. The materials in this collection span the years 1960 through 2006, but the bulk of the material is from the 1970s and 1980s.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1: East West Foundation, 1966-1991; undated

Subseries 1.1: Publications, 1966-1991

Subseries 1.2: Foundation Information, 1974-1988; undated

Series 2: Kushi Foundation, 1968-1999; undated

Subseries 2.1: Background Information, 1987-1989

Subseries 2.2: Forms and Publications, 1968-1995; undated

Subseries 2.3: One Peaceful World Campaign Information, 1973-1999

Subseries 2.4: One Peaceful World Press Publications, 1991-1999

Series 3: Kushi Institute, 1979-1999; undated

Subseries 3.1: Educators' Materials, 1983-1994

Subseries 3.2: Student Materials, 1979-1981; undated

Subseries 3.3: Course and Conference Materials, 1979-1999; undated

Subseries 3.4: Patient Files, circa 1980s-1991 (Restricted)

Subseries 3.5: Kushi Foundation Prison Project, 1993-1996

Subseries 3.6: AIDS Research Project, 1983-1989;undated

Subseries 3.7: Video Tapes, 1983-1989; undated

Sub-subseries 3.7.1: Educational, 1984-1989; undated

Sub-subseries 3.7.2: Promotional, 1983; undated

Subseries 3.8: Audio Tapes, 1980-1997; undated

Sub-subseries 3.8.1: Lectures, 1984; undated

Sub-subseries 3.8.2: Consultations, 1980-1982; undated (Restricted)

Sub-subseries 3.8.3: Simon's Rock College Summer Conference, 1987

Sub-subseries 3.8.4: , Summer Conference, 1988

Sub-subseries 3.8.5: Summer Conference, 1989 and 1990

Sub-subseries 3.8.6: Summer Conference, 1993

Sub-subseries 3.8.7: Summer Conference, 1997

Sub-subseries 3.8.8: Other and Unidentified Materials, 1985-1989; undated

Series 4: Michio Kushi Papers, 1981-1995; undated

Subseries 4.1: Biographical Information, undated

Subseries 4.2: Papers and Publications, 1981, 1995; undated

Subseries 4.3: Correspondence, 1984-1992

Series 5: General Publications, 1978-1996, undated

Subseries 5.1: Books by Michio and Aveline Kushi, 1979-1997

Subseries 5.2: Articles relating to Macrobiotics, 1982-1993; undated

Subseries 5.3: Books relating to Macrobiotics, 1978-1996

Subseries 5.4: Foreign Books, 1979-1995

Series 6: Other Macrobiotics Organizations and Publications, 1960-2006; undated

Subseries 6.1: East West Center of Washington, D.C., 1981-1988

Subseries 6.2: Oshawa Foundation, 1960-1990, undated

Subseries 6.3: Macrobiotic Organizations and Publications, 1969-2006; undated

Subseries 6.4, Miscellaneous Materials, undated

Series 7: Photographs, 1964-1971, 1994; undated

Biographical / Historical:

Macrobiotics is both a comprehensive vegetarian diet and a spiritual world view based on ancient Asian beliefs and practices. Founded by Sagen Ishizuka, macrobiotics began as a reaction to the introduction of western foods into Japan in the late nineteenth century. Ishizuka attempted to restate traditional Japanese beliefs in modern scientific terms in A Chemical Theory of Long Life, published in 1897, and A Method for Nourishing Life, published in 1898.

Ishizuka believed that the key to good health was the relationship between potassium and sodium. Health is maintained when these two elements are in good balance. If there is not a good balance, then one will become ill. Ishizuka believed the best way to maintain this balance was through a cereal based diet.

Ishizuka, along with his disciples, founded the Food Cure Society in 1908 to advance his ideas. After his death in 1910, society members, including Manabu Nishihata, a physician and social activist, carried on the work.

Yukikazu Sakurazawa, also known as George Ohsawa, joined the Food Cure Society in 1919. In 1923, after the destruction of his company in an earthquake, Ohsawa joined the staff of the society full time to disseminate its ideas. Mr. Ohsawa wrote many books for the society including a biography of Ishizuka. Ohsawa's most important contribution to the philosophy of macrobiotics was the incorporation of the concepts of Yin and Yang into macrobiotics.

In the 1930s Ohsawa traveled as a representative of the society across Europe to spread the philosophy of macrobiotics. After disagreements with the leadership of the society, Ohsawa left the organization in 1939 to start his own group.

Following his release from prison during World War II for his peace efforts, Ohsawa established macrobiotic teaching centers in Yokohama and Tokyo. It was at this point that Ohsawa met Michio Kushi. Michio Kushi was born in Kokawa, Wakayama-Ken, Japan, on May 17, 1926. While a student at Tokyo University, he became involved with the World Federalist Movement (WFM), an American organization working for world peace. It was through the WFM that Kushi met George Ohsawa. Kushi studied under Ohsawa for one year and then moved to New York City in 1949 to study political science at Columbia University.

While living in New York, Kushi came to believe that by returning to a traditional diet of whole, natural foods, humanity would regain its physical and mental balance and become more peaceful. It was at this time that Kushi began to teach the macrobiotic way of life.

Aveline Kushi was born Tomoko Yokoyama in 1923 in Yokota, Japan. Before coming to the United States for higher education in 1951, she was a member of the World Government Association, run by George Ohsawa. She married Michio Kushi in 1954 and was an active partner in their macrobiotic efforts. She wrote cookbooks and an autobiography. Aveline Kushi died in 2001.

Michio Kushi's work in New York grew steadily until 1965 when a pregnant woman died due to her decision to go on an austere form of the diet. After the death of this woman many medical authorities came out against macrobiotics. The close proximity in time of this incident and the death of George Ohsawa greatly damaged the movement. After these incidents Kushi decided to start over in Boston.

After the move to Boston, Kushi emerged as a prominent teacher and started to develop his own interpretation of macrobiotics. Kushi founded the East West Foundation and began to publish the magazine, The Order of the Universe. In 1970, East West Journal, intended for the general public, began publication. The scope of East West Journal was not limited to macrobiotics. It covered a variety of New Age topics and became the center of one of the first New Age networks. East West Journal provided contacts for people interested in eastern philosophies.

In 1975 Kushi began summer residence courses for serious students of macrobiotics and in 1977 he founded the Kushi Institute, now located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Mountains. The mission of the Kushi Institute is to train people in the ways of macrobiotics. The Institute offers a variety of classes around the themes of "health, healing, and well being." In the 1980s the Kushi Institute expanded its programs by creating the Kushi Foundation Prison Project and conducting research in the fight against AIDS. In 1986 the Kushi Foundation started the One Peaceful World campaign. This campaign's mission was to remind the public that peace begins with the individual, family, and community.

Sources: "Aveline Kushi 78, Leader in Health Food Movement," Associated Press, July 6, 2001 http://www.imss.macrobiotic.net/avelinekushi.html (consulted October 1, 2008) "Aveline Kushi, 78, Advocate of Macrobiotic Diet for Health," New York Times, July 23, 2001

Separated Materials:

In addition to the archival materials, the Division of Science, Medicine, and Society (now Division of Medicine and Science) acquired sixty-six artifacts. See accession numbers 1997.3165 and 1999.3026.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History by Michio and Aveline Kushi in August, 1997.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Series 3, Subseries 3.4: Patient Files and Subseries 3.8: Consultation Audio Tapes are restricted for seventy-five years (to 2066).

Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Technical Access: Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.

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:

Vegetarianism -- 1960-2000  Search this

Macrobiotic diet -- 1960-2000  Search this

New Age Movement -- 1960-2000 -- United States  Search this

Family -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Videotapes

Vernacular photographs

Snapshots

Lectures -- 1950-2000

Audiotapes -- 1950-2000

Cookbooks -- 1900-1990

Citation:

Michio and Aveline Kushi Macrobiotics Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0619

See more items in:

Michio and Aveline Kushi Macrobiotics Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d8330b7a-a8c2-465a-9f17-e0e96147ed36

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0619

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton

Dimensions:

H x W (with frame): 182 x 94.2 cm (71 5/8 x 37 1/16 in)

Type:

Painting

Origin:

Nathadwara, Rajasthan state, India

Date:

20th century

Topic:

Hinduism  Search this

Krishna  Search this

lotus  Search this

cow  Search this

India  Search this

South Asian and Himalayan Art  Search this

Credit Line:

Gift of Karl B. Mann

Accession Number:

S1992.17

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

Related Online Resources:

Google Cultural Institute

See more items in:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3bece8862-d40b-4d89-879b-dfab31390c09

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:fsg_S1992.17

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton

Dimensions:

H x W (with frame): 177.5 x 121.8 cm (69 7/8 x 47 15/16 in)

Type:

Painting

Origin:

Nathadwara, Rajasthan state, India

Date:

20th century

Topic:

peacock  Search this

worship  Search this

palace  Search this

cow  Search this

India  Search this

South Asian and Himalayan Art  Search this

Credit Line:

Gift of Karl B. Mann

Accession Number:

S1992.19

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

See more items in:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3fc9fbd57-7f8d-4798-b72d-eefb61b55059

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:fsg_S1992.19

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton

Dimensions:

H x W: 274 x 222.2 cm (107 7/8 x 87 1/2 in)

Type:

Painting

Origin:

Nathadwara, Rajasthan state, India

Date:

20th century

Topic:

Krishna  Search this

lotus  Search this

India  Search this

South Asian and Himalayan Art  Search this

Credit Line:

Gift of Karl B. Mann

Accession Number:

S1992.32

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

See more items in:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye37669d254-b81e-4a67-bfb4-43982faa7313

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:fsg_S1992.32

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton

Dimensions:

H x W: 267 x 205 cm (105 1/8 x 80 11/16 in)

Type:

Painting

Origin:

Nathadwara, Rajasthan state, India

Date:

early 20th century

Topic:

India  Search this

South Asian and Himalayan Art  Search this

Credit Line:

Gift of Karl B. Mann

Accession Number:

S1992.39

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

See more items in:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye305b3b8e7-24ac-4447-a44d-e19ddd585fe3

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:fsg_S1992.39

Medium:

Opaque watercolor on cotton

Dimensions:

H x W: 192.8 x 203.9 cm (75 7/8 x 80 1/4 in)

Type:

Painting

Origin:

Nathadwara, Rajasthan state, India

Date:

early 20th century

Topic:

India  Search this

South Asian and Himalayan Art  Search this

Credit Line:

Gift of Karl B. Mann

Accession Number:

S1992.41

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

See more items in:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye37080a735-7b52-48b4-a5b5-d25a28434e2b

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:fsg_S1992.41

Maker:

Killian Mfg. Co.  Search this

Measurements:

overall: 12.5 cm x 5 cm; x 4 15/16 in x 1 15/16 in

overall: 1 7/8 in x 4 3/4 in; 4.7625 cm x 12.065 cm

Object Name:

Condom, Envelope

contraceptive, condom

Date made:

ca 1940s-1950s

Associated subject; web subject:

Birth Control/Contraception  Search this

Sexually Transmitted Diseases  Search this

Subject:

Sex  Search this

ID Number:

1983.0871.86

Accession number:

1983.0871

Catalog number:

1983.0871.86

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-86f9-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_892353

Creator:

Abercrombie, Gertrude, 1909-1977  Search this

Names:

Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981  Search this

Armin, Emil, 1883-  Search this

Armour, Richard Willard, 1906-  Search this

De Diego, Julio, 1900-  Search this

Evans, B.  Search this

Huppler, Dudley, 1917-1988  Search this

Karidis, Jerome  Search this

Priebe, Karl J., 1914-1976  Search this

Purdy, Carl  Search this

Purdy, James  Search this

Rollins, Sonny  Search this

Rorem, Ned, 1923-  Search this

Terkel, Studs, 1912-2008  Search this

Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964  Search this

Warren, Paul, 1916-  Search this

Wilcox, Wendell  Search this

Wilde, John, 1919-2006  Search this

Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975  Search this

Extent:

5.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Sketches

Photographs

Writings

Date:

circa 1880-1986

bulk 1935-1977

Summary:

The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; files for artists that interested her; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; artists files; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.

Biographical material consists of biographical notes, Gertrude Abercrombie's will, address books, and a file titled "memorabilia." Personal and professional correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters and some drafts of Gertrude Abercrombie's outgoing letters. Letters from museums and galleries concern loans of paintings and exhibitions. A large amount of the personal correspondence consists of post cards including many antique ones, as well as cards containing original art work by Julio de Diego, Jerry [Jerome] Karidis, Karl Priebe.

Artist files consist of correspondence, printed material, and photographs concerning painters, writers, a jazz musician, and a photographer. The individuals represented are: Dudley Huppler, Jerome Karidis, Karl Priebe, James Purdy, Sonny Rollins, Carl Van Vechten, Wendell Wilcox, John Wilde, and Thornton Wilder.

Writings and notes include reminiscences, miscellaneous writings and notes, and a girlhood diary with brief entries. Five notebooks contain a variety of writings dating from 1953 through 1975, and undated. One volume concerns only her second husband Frank Sandiford.

Business records include a painting catalog on file cards, mailing and guest lists, and miscellaneous sales records. In addition, six notebooks record expenses, sales, inventories, mailing lists, a register of paintings, and a guest book.

There are two sketchbooks, Christmas card designs, sketches and drawings done by Gertrude Abercrombie. There are also prints, drawings, and a painting by Emil Arman, B. Evans, de Diego, and unknown artists.

Printed material consists of articles and clippings about Gertrude Abercrombie, exhibition catalogs, and reproductions. Also included are books by friends inscribed by the authors, among them: Nelson Algren, Richard Armour, Dudley Huppler, James Purdy, Ned Rorem, Paul Warren [pen name of Abercrombie's second husband, Frank Sandiford], Studs Terkel, and Thornton Wilder.

Audio recordings (33-1/3 rpm phonograph alums) are inscribed to Gertrude Abercrombie by the artists. Orlando's album cover, designed by Abercrombie, incorporates one of her paintings.

Records of the Estate of Gertrude Abercrombie and the Gertrude Abercrombie Trust, Donald Baum, Executor, consist mainly of correspondence with the institutions that were offered works of art by Gertrude Abercrombie and from her personal collection. Also included are general correspondence, financial and tax records, and legal documents.

There is one scrapbook dated 1943 containing photographs and printed material.

Photographs are of art work, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects; negatives, slides, and transparencies are included in this series, too. Photographs of art include the work of Gertrude Abercrombie, Karl Priebe, and Charles Sebree. People pictured are Gertrude Abercrombie and family, including her parents, Richard I. Livingston, Dinah Livingston, and Frank Sandiford. There are also 19th and early 20th century photographs of ancestors. Among the images of friends are: Ivan le Lorraine Albright, Arnold Blanch, Dudley Huppler, Doris Lee, Karl Priebe, and Richard Purdy. Photographs of jazz artists include: Louis Armstrong, George Davis, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Orlando, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughn, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. Of particular note the portraits of Gertrude Abercrombie and Dizzy Gillespie by Carl Van Vechten.Among the photographs of places are interior views of Gertrude Abercrombie's home and studio, unidentified landscapes, travel pictures of San Francisco and commercially produced stereopticon slides of other locations. Miscellaneous subjects are automobiles, cats, exhibition installations, and a still life setup.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1902-1976 (Box 1, OV9; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1935-1977 (Boxes 1-2; 1.65 linear ft.)

Series 3: Artist files, circa 1935-1977 (Box 2; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1919-1977 (Box 3; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 5: Business Records, circa 1944-1977 (Box 3; 0.2 linear ft.)

Series 6: Art Work, circa 1939-1975 (Boxes 3, 7; O.2 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1906-1977 (Boxes 3-4; 1.6 linear ft.)

Series 8: Audio Recordings, circa 1970-1974 (Box 7; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 9: Estate Records, circa 1976-1986 (Box 5; o.5 linear ft.)

Series 10: Scrapbook, circa 1943(Box 5; 1 folder)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1880-1978(Boxes 5-7; OV8, 1.0 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) lived and worked in Chicago and was a prominent member of Chicago's Hyde Park arts community.

Abercrombie was known for surrealist oil paintings featuring dreamlike landscapes and fantasies. Her wide circle of friends included locally and nationally known artists, writers, and jazz musicians who made her home a popular avant-garde salon. She was the inspiration for Richie Powell's "Gertrude's Bounce" and, appeared as a fictional character in Malcolm, Eustace Chisholm, and as herself in Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue all by James Purdy.

The only child of Tom and Lula Janes [Jane] Abercrombie, Gertrude was born in Austin, Texas in 1909, while her opera singer parents were in town with a traveling company. In 1913, the family relocated to Berlin to further Jane's career, but the outbreak of World War I forced their return to the United States. They lived with Tom Abercrombie's family in Alledo, Illinois, before permanently settling in Chicago.

Gertrude Abercrombie had a facility with language and possessed musical and artistic talents. After graduation from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a degree in romance languages in 1929, she studied figure drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a short time. She then enrolled at the American Arcademy of Art, also in Chicago, for a year long course in commercial art. Her first job was drawing gloves for Mesirow Department Store ads, followed by a stint working as an artist for Sears.

By 1932, Gertrude Abercrombie began painting seriously. The following summer, she participated in an outdoor art fair in downtown Chicago where she made her first sale and received favorable mention in a newspaper review of the event. Abercrombie's work that featured self-portraits and recurring images of personal symbols - trees, horses, owls, keys, shells, doors, stairways, ladders - began to attract attention. Beginning in 1934, Gertrude Abercrombie was employment as a painter in the WPA Federal Art Project in 1934, enabling her to feel validated as an artist and move from the home of her conservative, Christian Scientist parents to her own apartment. The Chicago Society of Artists presented a solo exhibition of Abercrombie's work in 1934, and in 1936 she showed at the Katharine Kuh Gallery (along with Rita Stein and Nicola Ziroli). In 1936 and 1938 Gertrude Abercrombie won prizes at the Art Institute of Chicago's Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity.

She left the WPA in 1940 and married lawyer Robert Livingston. Their daughter, Dinah, was born in 1942, and they soon moved to a large Victorian house on South Dorchester St. where Gertude lived for the remainder of her life. The couple divorced in 1948. That same year she married Frank Sandiford, a music critic whose pen name was Paul Warren. An accomplished improvisational pianist, Gertrude Abercrombie became friends with many prominent jazz artists whom she met through Sandiford; in fact, Dizzy Gillespie performed at their wedding. Abercrombie and Sandiford separated in 1964.

The 1940s through 1950s were Gertrude Abercrombie's most productive and prolific period. Although she no longer painted many portraits, he work remained focused on the same themes and symbols. She believed that art was about ideas rather than technique and insisted that "It is always myself that I paint." During this period, Amercrombie exhibited widely in group shows and had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Associated American Artists (New York), and Leonard Linn, Inc. (Winnetka, Ill.)

By the late 1950s, Gertrude Abercrombie began a long decline. Alcoholism started to take a toll. She suffered serious financial reverses, and in 1964 separated from Frank Sandiford. Debilitating arthritis eventually landed her in a wheel chair, and she became reclusive. In 1977, very near the end of her life, Gertrude Abercrombie was honored with a well-received retrospective exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. She was able to attend the reception and enjoy seeing the many old friends who were at the event.

Gertrude Abercrombie died in Chicago in 1977. Her will established The Gertrude Abercrombie Trust that cared for and distributed to various institutions her own paintings and a personal collection of works by other artists to selected institutions, mainly in the Midwest.

Related Material:

A photograph of Gertrude Abercrombie at home with her painting "Slaughter House", was donated by Donald Baum to the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1979 and transferred to the Archives of American Art that same year.

Provenance:

Donald Baum, executor of both the estate and trust of Gertrude Abercrombie, donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1978 and 1986.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers 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 -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Surrealism  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Sketches

Photographs

Writings

Citation:

The Gertrude Abercrombie papers, circa 1880-1986, bulk 1935-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.abergert

See more items in:

Gertrude Abercrombie papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93af9ed86-0dce-4ea7-9cb4-085eb5d48b67

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-abergert

Collector:

Watkins, J. Elfreth (John Elfreth), 1852-1903  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Creator:

White, John H., 1933-  Search this

Names:

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company  Search this

Pullman Railroad Company  Search this

Extent:

31.33 Cubic feet (94 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Articles

Color slides

Copy prints

Correspondence

Ephemera

Magazines (periodicals)

Manuscripts

Maps

Negatives

Newsclippings

Patents

Photocopies

Photographs

Research

Stereographs

Tickets

Writings

Date:

1830s-1990

Scope and Contents:

The archivist has arranged the collection into seven series. The collection consists primarily of photocopied material assembled by John White for many of his books about railroads. Many files contain original photographs, brochures, advertisements, correspondence, and trade literature. Original Pullman Palace Car photographs can be found across many files. It appears that original Pullman Palace Car photopgraphs were removed from sequence and filed among John White's files. Researchers should consult the Pullman Palace Car Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.1175. Additionally, original Baltimore & Ohio Railroad documents are found among many of the files. Researchers should also consult the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company Records, NMAH.AC.1086.

Series 1: Car Builders, arranged alphabetically by company or individual.

Series 2: Equipment, Rolling Stock, arranged in two sections: alphabetically by White's heading: Articles in Progress and alphabetical by type of railroad car under White's heading: Research Files for Book in Progress.

Series 3: Locomotives, arranged alphabetically by Locomotive builders in two sections, first by individual company and second by individuals.

Series 4: Railroad Companies and Lines, arranged alphabetically by railroad companies and railroad lines.

Series 5: Publications, White's files for his book The American Railroad Freight Car, which are arranged into two sections, Illustrations and Text. Both sections are arranged numerically by chapters or sections of the book.

Series 6: Freight Cars

Series 7: Passenger Cars

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into seven series. Most material arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.

Series 1: Car Builders

Series 2: Equipment--Rolling Stock

Subseries 2.1: Articles in progress

Subseries 2.2: Research Files for Books in Progress

Series 3: Locomotives

Series 4: Railroad Companies and Lines

Series 5: Publications

Series 6: Freights Cars

Series 7; Passenger Cars

Historical:

John H. White, Jr., (1933- ), historian and museum curator, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated with a B.A. in history from Miami University, Ohio, in 1958. Shortly after receiving his degree, White joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution as Assistant Curator of the Division of Transportation, Department of Science and Technology, National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT). White became Associate Curator of the Division, 1961-1966, Curator, 1967-1985, and Senior Historian, 1986-1989. White specialized in land transportation, particularly the history of railroads. He retired in 1990. His papers, the John H. White, Jr., Papers, circa 1959-1989 are at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

This collection of railroad materials was begun many years ago by employees of the Smithsonian Institution, and maintained later by curators and museum specialists working in the Division of Transportation, NMHT, later named the National Museum of American History (NMAH).

Some of the clippings date back to the time of J. Elfreth Watkins in the 1880-1890s. In 1885 Watkins was appointed Curator of the Section of Steam Transportation, which was successively known as Transportation and Engineering, and Technological Collections. Other portions of White's collection were clearly from Carl Mitman, author of several hundred entries on inventors and engineers in the Dictionary of American Biography and a Smithsonian employee who served as Curator of Mechanical Technology in 1919. In 1921 Mitman took the title of Curator of the Divisions of Mineral and Mechanical Technology, serving in this capacity until 1931. In 1931 the Division of Engineering was established. Mitman served as Curator of the Division and in charge of Mineral Technology, 1931-1938, Head Curator of the Department of Arts and Industries, 1932-1938, and Head Curator of the Department of Engineering and Industries, 1938-1948.

Some portions of this collection were acquired under the time of Frank A. Taylor (Mitman's protégé) who was Assistant Curator, 1928-1931, Assistant Curator for Mechanical Technology, 1932, Curator of the Division and in charge of Mechanical Technology, 1932-1948, Head Curator of the Division of Engineering and Industry, 1948-1957. In 1955 Taylor was appointed Assistant Director, United States National Museum (USNM), with special responsibility for planning the new NMHT, and in 1958 was appointed the first Director of the new museum. In 1962 Taylor became Director of the USNM with responsibility for both the National Museum of Natural History and NMHT.

Smith Hempstone Oliver of the Division of Transportation also kept up the files to a degree, though his main interest was in automobiles.

When White started employment at the Museum in June, 1958, there were, perhaps, two file cabinets on railroads. As Mr. White mentions in a letter to the archivist in March of 2002, "It was and is a great mix of odds and ends -- photos, news clippings, small prints, manufacturing catalogs, post cards, etc. Some junk and some treasure."

White found the material very useful for research and greatly expanded the collection. It more than doubled in size during his years in the Division, 1958-1990. The collection was White's working file and was set up to meet his needs. According to White, the collections greatest lack was cross referencing -- which was mostly in his head. He could usually find things but the organization might be confusing to other users. It was not intended for public use.

White is the author of many books on railroads, including:

American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830-1880. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968; 1997.

Early American Locomotives, with 147 engraving. New York: Dover Publications, 1972.

American Single Locomotives and the "Pioneer". Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.

The Pioneer, Chicago's First Locomotive. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1976.

The American Railroad Passenger Car. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.

The John Bull, 150 Years a Locomotive. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.

A Short History of American Locomotive Builders in the Steam Era. Washington, D.C.: Bass, 1982.

Great Yellow Fleet: A History of American Railroad Refrigerator Cars. Golden West Books, 1986

The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Provenance:

Collection materials donated by Jack White in 1995.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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:

Electric railroads  Search this

Freight cars  Search this

Locomotives  Search this

Porters  Search this

Railroads -- History  Search this

Railroad car builders  Search this

Railroad companies  Search this

Railroad passenger cars  Search this

Transportation  Search this

Genre/Form:

Articles

Color slides

Copy prints

Correspondence

Ephemera

Magazines (periodicals)

Manuscripts

Maps

Negatives

Newsclippings

Patents

Photocopies

Photographs -- 19th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Research

Stereographs

Tickets

Writings

Citation:

Division of Transportation Railroad Reference Files, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0523

See more items in:

Division of Transportation Railroad Reference Files

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83b50b7ee-ab37-4b18-b17c-cffb2543738e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0523

Collector:

McCormick, Mack  Search this

Musician:

Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this

Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this

Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this

Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this

Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this

House, Son  Search this

Howling Wolf  Search this

James, Harry  Search this

Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this

Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this

Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this

Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this

Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this

Rinzler, Ralph  Search this

Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this

Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this

Wallace, Sippie  Search this

Historian:

Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this

Singer:

Spivey, Victoria  Search this

Producer:

Strachwitz, Chris  Search this

Extent:

60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)

Culture:

African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this

Arkansas  Search this

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Business cards

Compact discs

Contracts

Correspondence

Folklore

Newspaper clippings

Posters

Road maps

Television scripts

Ephemera

Black-and-white negatives

Contact sheets

Color slides

Business records

Family papers

Resumes

Diaries

Journals (periodicals)

Financial records

Audio cassettes

Manuscripts

Playbills

Field recordings

Writings

Transcripts

Manuscripts for publication

Color negatives

Negatives

Articles

Place:

United States -- Race relations

Delta (Miss.)

Sugarland Prison (Tex.)

Greenwood (Miss.)

Robinsonville (Miss.)

Dallas (Tex.)

Houston (Tex.)

San Antonio (Tex.)

Tunica (La.)

Texarkana (Tex.)

Galveston (Texas)

Date:

1858-2015, undated

Summary:

Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated

Biographical / Historical:

Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.

Related Materials:

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055

Separated Materials:

National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.

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.

Occupation:

African American musicians  Search this

Topic:

Drafts (documents)  Search this

Blues (Music)  Search this

Blues musicians  Search this

Photographs  Search this

Postcards -- 20th century  Search this

telephone -- Directories  Search this

Plays  Search this

African American music -- 20th century  Search this

Sharecropping  Search this

Plantations  Search this

Zydeco music  Search this

Commercial recordings  Search this

Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this

Genealogy  Search this

African Americans -- Texas  Search this

Songsters  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this

Rodeos -- United States  Search this

Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this

Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this

Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this

Street scenes  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this

African Americans -- Folklore  Search this

American South  Search this

African American -- Social life and customs  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this

Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this

Conjunto music  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Folk music -- United States  Search this

Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this

Sound recordings  Search this

Sound recording and reproduction  Search this

Tejano music  Search this

Transcripts  Search this

Folklorists  Search this

Zydeco musicians  Search this

Musicians, Cajun  Search this

Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this

Music -- History and criticism  Search this

Festival of American Folklife  Search this

African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this

Guitar -- 20th century  Search this

Guitar music  Search this

Guitarists  Search this

Country musicians  Search this

Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this

Sound recording industry  Search this

Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this

Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this

Hawaiian guitar  Search this

Hawaiian guitar music  Search this

African American farmers  Search this

Sharecroppers  Search this

Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this

manuscripts -- Editing  Search this

African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this

Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this

African American prisoners  Search this

Crafts  Search this

Museum outreach programs  Search this

Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this

Black people -- Race identity  Search this

Race discrimination -- United States  Search this

Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Genre/Form:

Business cards

Compact discs

Contracts

Correspondence

Folklore

Newspaper clippings

Posters

Road maps -- United States

Television scripts

Ephemera -- 20th century

Black-and-white negatives

Contact sheets -- 20th cenury

Color slides -- 20th century

Business records -- 20th century

Family papers -- 20th century

Resumes

Diaries -- 20th century

Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century

Financial records -- 20th century

Audio cassettes -- 20th century

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Playbills

Field recordings

Writings -- 20th century

Transcripts -- 20th century

Manuscripts for publication

Manuscripts -- 20th century

Color negatives

Negatives -- 20th century

Articles -- 20th century

Citation:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

Digitization of Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs, and Slides was made possible by Andrew and Anya Shiva.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1485

See more items in:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485

Creator:

Hutton, William R., 1826-1901  Search this

Extent:

30 Cubic feet (33 boxes, 21 oversize folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Letterpress copybooks

Blueprints

Diaries

Drawings

Cashbooks

Business records

Business letters

Notebooks

Topographic maps

Tax records

Technical drawings

Stock certificates

Technical literature

Photoengravings

Notes

Maps

Microfilms

Linen tracings

Letter books

Letters

Land titles

Legal documents

Sketches

Salted paper prints

Reports

Receipts

Plans (drawings)

Photostats

Photographic prints

Architectural drawings

Administrative records

Albumen prints

Albums

Annual reports

Booklets

Account books

Books

Family papers

Financial records

Cyanotypes

Correspondence

Deeds

Printed material

Contracts

Photograph albums

Specifications

Christmas cards

Menus

Place:

France

Maryland

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Panama Canal (Panama)

New Jersey

New York (N.Y.)

Hudson River

Baltimore (Md.)

Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)

New York

Washington Bridge

New Croton Aqueduct

Kanawha River Canal

Washington Aqueduct

Potomac River -- 19th century

Washington Memorial Bridge

Hudson River Tunnel

Date:

1830-1965

Summary:

The papers document the life and work of William R. Hutton, a civil engineer during the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Materials include diaries, notebooks, correspondence, letterpress copy book, printed materials, publications, specifications, photographs, drawings, and maps that document the construction of several architectural and engineering projects during this period. Most notable are the records containing information related to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington Aqueduct, the Kanawha River Canal, and the Washington/Harlem River Bridge. There are also several records about railroads in the state of Maryland, the District of Columbia and elsewhere, including the Western Maryland Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Colorado Midlands Railway, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, and the Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad. The records can be used to track the progression of these projects, and engineering innovation during the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

Scope and Contents:

These papers document William R. Hutton's professional career as a civil engineer and his personal affairs. Although the personal materials in the collection provide insight into a man and a family that have been largely forgotten by biographers, it is the professional materials that are perhaps the most interesting to researchers. They provide a compelling narrative of the push to the West that occurred in 19th century America and the internal improvements movement typified by the American System plan proposed by Henry Clay. Perhaps best remembered for the high tariffs that accompanied it, the American System plan was also concerned with the advancement of internal improvements, such as canals, that would unite the East and West in communication, travel, and trade. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal can be seen as one of the products of this movement (1) and was in fact initially heralded as the first great work of national improvement (2).

The papers in this collection that are related to the construction and maintenance of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal are an invaluable documentation of efforts during this turbulent time to unite the eastern and western United States. They provide details of the canal from its initial construction to its decline with the incline at Georgetown project. The canal also serves as an example, or perhaps a warning against, federal involvement in state improvement efforts as it was the first project to be directly funded and staffed by the federal government (3). The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by then President John Quincy Adams whose toast, "to the canal: perseverance," (4) became an ironic omen, as construction of the canal took over twenty-two years to be completed. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal materials can be used as a case study for the problems encountered during canal building (5). These problems are best typified in the collection by the papers relating to the Georgetown incline. This project was headed by Hutton and was plagued with construction problems, boating accidents, and obsolescence from the moment of its completion. Despite these issues, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal remains a structure of historical significance in America. As the third and last effort to construct an all-water route to the West (6), the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is an important artifact of 19th century attitudes and efforts towards commerce, trade, travel, and communication between the eastern and western United States. Other significant canals and water structures represented in the collection are the Kanawha Canal, the Washington Aqueduct, and a large collection of materials relating to the Kingston Water Supply (New York).

One of the most significant internal improvements made during this time was the railroad. The legal conflicts that arose between the canal companies and railroads is also represented in the materials relating to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. These materials specifically deal with the legal conflict's between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The development and construction of the railroads is also represented in the materials documenting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, the Western Maryland Railroad, the Mexican National Railroad, the Colorado Midlands Railroad, and the Columbia Railroad.

The collection also demonstrates the spirit of innovation and invention that was prevalent in the engineering field in the nineteenth century. Joseph Gies writes, "...one of the distinctive characteristics of the great nineteenth century engineering adventurers was their readiness to gamble on the translation of theory into practice" (7). In this quote, he is speaking of the civil engineer Dewitt Clinton Haskins and a project that truly encapsulates engineering invention in the nineteenth century, the Hudson River Tunnel. Responding to the increase in the population of the City of New York in the late nineteenth century from sixty thousand to three and a half million, the Hudson River Tunnel was originally devised as a way to alleviate traffic and to transport train passengers directly across the Hudson River (8). Beginning with records dating from 1881 to 1901, the Hutton papers can be used to document not only the advances in engineering during this time but also the costs of progress. Haskins' initial efforts to build the tunnel using submerged air pressurized caissons were marked by failure and in some cases fatalities. Workers on the tunnel often suffered from what came to be known as "caisson disease" or "the bends," caused by the immense forces of compression and decompression experienced while working in the tunnels (9). This problem was so prevalent that as construction progressed the rate of worker deaths caused by "the bends" rose to twenty-five percent (10). Materials in the collection document worker complaints and deaths resulting from this disease as well as providing a technical record of the construction of the tunnel. The highlight of the materials relating to the Hudson River Tunnel is an album that contains photographs of workers in the tunnel and a detailed daily report of the construction progress on the tunnel that was maintained by Hutton's assistant, Walton Aims. The first hand account in these reports provides insight not only into the construction of the tunnel, but also the problems encountered.

Another project featured in the Hutton collection that was devised in response to the population explosion in the City of New York in the nineteenth century is the Harlem River Bridge, or as it is now known, the Washington Bridge. Known as one of the longest steel arch bridges of its time, the Harlem River Bridge also represents that spirit of invention and innovation that was prevalent in the civil engineering field during the nineteenth century. The collection provides an invaluable resource for those wishing to track the construction of the bridge from early concept drawings and proposals to finalized plans. Also present are photographs of the construction and workers. Societal response to the bridge in the form of newspaper and magazine clippings help to create the narrative of the Washington Bridge, and these are supplemented by correspondence from the builders, suppliers, and planners.

This collection also includes diaries, 1866-1901; letterpress copybooks, 1858-1901; correspondence on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Bridge over the Harlem River, and Maryland and Colorado railroads, 1861-1901, and on Hutton's financial and real estate affairs, 1835-1921; construction photographs of the Harlem River, Cairo, Poughkeepsie, Niagara bridges and the Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Aqueduct, and Capitol Dome (in the form of albumen, cyanotype, salted paper print); data and drawings; rolled land profile drawings; canal notes, 1828-1892; Hudson River Tunnel construction reports, 1889-1891; publications, drawings, and maps of railroad routes; pamphlets and reprints on hydraulic works and water supply; road, railway, bridge, and hydraulic construction specifications, 1870-1900; drawings (linen, oil cloth, and heavy drawing paper), and blueprints; account books, 1891-1899; and plans, drawings, field notebooks, and publications on American and European construction projects, especially in Maryland, New York, and France; personal correspondence detailing his role as executor for the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and the Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt and his relationships with his children, siblings, cousins, and colleagues, 1850-1942.

Materials are handwritten, typed, and printed.

Special note should be made that any materials dated after the year 1901 were added to the collection by another creator who is unidentified. It can be speculated that professional materials added after this date were contributed by his brother and colleague Nathanial Hutton or his son Frank Hutton. Personal materials contributed after this date may have been added by his wife, daughters, or other members of his extended family.

Series 1, Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901, consists of twenty seven letterpress copybooks containing correspondence between Hutton and other engineers, architects, and building suppliers. The letterpress copybooks in this series have been arranged chronologically. The books involve a process by which ink is transferred through direct contact with the original using moisture and pressure in a copy press. The majority of the correspondence is business- related. Some letterpress copybooks are devoted to specific projects such as the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The letterpress copybooks provide a record of correspondence written by Hutton, which makes it distinctive from the other correspondence in the collection. Most of the other correspondence has Hutton as recipient.

The letterpress copybooks also document Hutton's various residences throughout his life and provide a glimpse into the civil engineering profession at the time by demonstrating how engineers shared ideas and comments about projects. This can be supplemented with the printed materials in the collection as many of the authors also appear in the correspondence. Other topics covered in the letterpress copybooks include business reports (specifically the report of the president and directors of the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad), records of people and companies involved in projects, pasted in engineering sketches, engineering specifications and notes, travel expenses and estimates, construction histories and progress, legal issues with family estates, tax information, Colorado Railroad, payment certificate schedules, St. Paul Railroad, personal correspondence, title guarantees, Hudson River Tunnel, financial matters, real estate matters, insurance information, sketches and drawings, supply lists, cost estimates, the Memorial Bridge, Coffin Valve Company, engineering expenses, engineering calculations, payroll notes for Kingston Water Supply, proposals, account information, Hutton Park, reservoirs, contract drafts, French Society of Civil Engineers, inspection results (specifically Piedmont Bridge), land descriptions, damage reports, Morse Bridge, Illinois Central Railroad, North Sea Canal, moveable dams, iron works, site histories, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Kanawha River canal (lock quantities, specifications, payroll information), Pennsylvania Canal, and bills for services.

Series 2, Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901, consists of correspondence that relates to Hutton's architectural and engineering projects. This series is further subdivided into two subseries: Project Correspondence and General Correspondence. Subseries 1, Project Correspondence, 1876-1899, correspondence is divided by project and arranged alphabetically. Subseries 2, General Correspondence, 1861-1901, is arranged chronologically. Both series contain handwritten and typed letters. Some letters are on letterpress copybook pages and are most likely copies. Some materials are in French and Spanish. Special note should be made that this series does not contain all of the professional correspondence in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to project and placed in Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, in order to make it easier for researchers to access materials related to those subjects.

Subseries 1, professional correspondence topics include comparisons between construction projects (specifically comparisons of the Kanawha River Canal to other canals), supply lists, location recommendations, sketches, construction plans and modifications, bills for supplies and works, leaks in the gates, cost estimates, Brooklyn Water Supply, use of lake storage (Ramapo Water Supply), water supply to states and counties, damages to water supply pipes, estimates of water quantities, responses to construction reports, legal issues related to projects, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and payment for services.

Subseries 2, general correspondence topics include employment opportunities, committee meetings and elections, land surveys, sketches, engineering plans and ideas, work on projects, dismissal from projects, notes on supplies, Washington Aqueduct, construction progress, land purchases, Civil War, Jones Falls, cost of water pumps, steam drills, lots divisions and prices, repairs, report of the engineering bureau, tidewater connection at Annapolis, bridge construction, construction costs, statement of vessels that entered and cleared Baltimore, technical questions from colleagues, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, supply costs, letters of introduction, requests for reference, changes to plans and designs, survey reports, St. Andrew's lot, Canal Coal Company, publication process, American Society of Civil Engineers and its members, responses to project inquiries, Graving Dock gross revenue, job offers, specifications, trade figures, contracts, water levels, appointment dates and times, moveable dams, proposals for membership, salaries, Piedmont Coal Lands, maps, land profiles, Washington Bridge, board payments, Nicaragua Canal, Grant Coal Company, statistics, engineering notes, Hartford Bridge, water pressures, coal deposits, Colorado Coal, pipe lines, reservoirs, boat costs for canals, floods, bridges, letters of resignation, engines, Ruxton Viaduct, Colorado and Midland Railroad, Morse Bridge, share values, railroad locations, membership invitations, call for submissions, structural tests, record of accounts for room and board, appointments, water rights (Putnam County), publications, blueprints, visitation programs, cotton compresses, street trenches, pressures in dams, level tests, Portland Transportation bureau, trade information, concrete steel, Chicago drainage canal, ship canals, Augusta Cotton and Compress Company, Sooysmith case, Consolidated Gas Company, masonry, book binding, Columbia Railway Company, jetties, land grades, Chesapeake and Delaware canal, water wheels, pneumatic lock, tunnel arches, rifton power, Hutton's health, elevators, Brooklyn Bridge Terminals, girder weights, legal issues and their results, rating table for the Potomac, land profiles, transmission lines, transformers, water turbines, and water power on the Potomac River.

Correspondents for this series include the following: Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, Captain T.W. Symons, William Bryan, Ernest Flagg, John Hurd, Jake Wolfe, J.C. Saunders, J.H. Dolph, Charles J. Allen, G.H. Mendell, Virgil S. Bogue, B.A. Mounnerlyn, Edward Burr, H.G. Prout, R. William, H. Dodge, C.R. Suter, M. Mink, W.R. King, John Lyons, Alex Brown and Sons, John G. Butler, D. Condon, Bernard Carter, R.P. McCormick, D.R. Magruder, Andrew Banks, Isaac Solomon, C.J. Mayer, C.W. Kern, John Herring, James S. Mackie, D.R. Magunde, D. Rittaguide, R.S. Stevens, J.L. Raudolph (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), J.M. Lane, W.D. Stuart, W.G.P. Palmer (Committee Church of the Ascension), C. Crozet, General W. Hughes, V.R. Maus, J.M. Hood (Western Maryland Railroad Company), Ernest Pontzen, M. Haus, William F. Craighill, Harry Hutton, John W. Pearce, Reverend James A. Harrald, William Watson, A.L. Rives, Thomas Monro, A.F. Croswan (Commander United States Navy), H.R. Garden, William McAlpine, James Forrest, Wm. Bloomsfield, Daniel Ammen, Linel Wells, A. and Otto Sibeth, Alfred Noble, Clemens Hershel, Sidney Warner, E.H. de Rheville, Theodore Cooper, William Findlay Shunk, Lewis S. Wolfe, Rufus Mead, Theodore F. Taylor, John Bogart, J. Whaler, B. Williamson, Colonel F.V. Greene, Robert H. Sayre (Lehigh Valley Railroad Company), Charles W. Pussey, Louis Q. Rissel, V.C. Bogue, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville E.G. Leston, Edwin Parson, Rudolph Hering, R.S. Hale, F.M. Turner, Thosl Martindale, Justus C. Strawbridge, William M. Ayresm, R.L. Austin, A.M. Miller, P. Livingston Dunn, T.J. Cleaver, C.S. Dutton, H.A. Carson, William Bainbridge Jaudon, H.A. Presset, Thomas H. McCann, Russel Sturgis, H.G. Prout, Alexis H. French, John K. Cowen, F.W. Williams, J. Waldorf, B.H. Byrant, B.H. Jones, M.H. Rogers, J.W. Ogden, General W. Cashing, William Longhudge, A.J. Cameron, T.L. Patterson, J.J. Hagerman, H. Wigglesworth, Charles B. Rowland, E. Bantz, W.G. Lathrop, Clarence King, George Rowland, George A. Tibbals (Continental Iron Works), George N. Vanderbilt, Eugene C. Lewis, F.P. Burt, Colonel John C. Clarke, Lieutenant Thomas Turtle, W.S.M. Scott, E. Bates Dorsey, Bernard Carter, George M. Shriver (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), Russel Sturgis, Macmillan Publishing, James Abernethy, B. Baker, J.G.W. Fynje, A. Mallet, Jean Hersuy, L.F. Vernon Horcourt, Robert Lilley, A.J. Johnson, F.M. Colby, Henry D. Loney, A.S. Cameron, James A. Harrald, William Watson, John B. Lervis, A.L. Rives, Edwin F. Bidell, Frank H. Stockett, E. McMahon, C.F. Elgin, Enrique Budge, G. Clayton Gardiner, Dwight Porter, William A. Chapman, T.E. Sickels, Theodore Cooper, C.J. Warner, Institution of Civil Engineers, Robert Gordon, United States Coast of Geodetic Survey Office, C.P. Pattun, J.N. Putnam, Sidney B. Warner, H.D. Fisher, Union Pacific Railway Company, Lewis S. Wolle, George E. Waring Junior, The American Exhibition, G.F. Swain, American Society of Civil Engineers, N.H. Whitten, U.S. Engineer Office, Government Works Committee, J.J. Hagerman, D. Jackson, Sterling Iron and Railway Company, E.P. Alexander, E. Williamson, Central Railway Company of New Jersey, William A. Underwood, F. Collingwood, James Dun (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company), Henry F. Kilburn, Louis A. Bissell, Virgil G. Boque, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville Egleston, Charles Parson, George Swain, Continental Iron Works, Rudolph Hering, J.B. Gordon, Mayor's Office (Baltimore), Harry Robinson, Pennsylvania Railway Company, W.H. Gahagan, L. Luiggi, B.H. Bryant, T.J. Cleaver (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company), H.A. Carson, H.A. Presset (Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey), John K. Cowen, Vernon H. Brown, J. Waldorf, B.H. Bryant, L.F. Root, P.W. White, Metropolitan Railroad Company, Charles F. Mayer (Consolidated Coal Company, Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad Company), J.M. Lane (Western Maryland Railroad), Dr. R.S. Stewart (Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad), Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad (John Lyons, John G. Butler, D. Candon, R.P. McCormick, Andrew Banks), Thomas F. Rowland, J.A. Bensel, Walton Aims, S.D. Coykendall, H.C. Rogers, John F. Ward, T.B. Jewell, H.A. Pressey, C.S. Armstrong, J. Nennett, V.G. Bague.

Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, contains correspondence with immediate and extended family, specifically the heirs to the Benjamin H. Hutton and Joseph Hutton estates and Adele Gorman. Correspondence is primarily arranged chronologically, but some files have been divided based on subject or author (the Deer Park and Adele Gorman files), or by form (the Telegrams, and Cablegrams file). Special note is made of the posthumous correspondence file, which includes correspondence both relating to Hutton's death and correspondence that was written by family members after the years of his death. The series contains both hand written and typed letters. Some correspondence is in French. The correspondence demonstrates his relationship with his children specifically Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, and illuminates his role in his family. This series also provides details about nineteenth century upper class society and activities. Special note should be made that this folder does not contain all of the personal correspondence contained in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to recipient, or subject in order to make researching these recipients or subjects easier.

Series 3 correspondence topics include: estate payments, distribution of assets, funds transfers, estate lines, conflicts with tenants, sketches, lot maintenance, real estate sales, deeds, real estate sales negotiations, congratulations wishes on new babies, family illnesses, family affairs and travels, traveling directions, personal investments, invitations for social occasions, family debts, professional interests, professional and personal appointments, family issues, requests for money, sketches, advice to children (specifically Frank Hutton), life insurance, books, letters of introduction, legal issues, funeral expenses, charity donations, advertisements, minutes from professional organizations, army enlistment, deaths of friends and family, recipes, estimates of personal expenses, renovations, stock certificates (Great Northern Railway Company, New York), food, social activities, the weather, marriages, real estate and construction plans, and loan agreements.

Correspondents include the following: Frank Hutton, Thomas B. Brookes, J.L. Marcauley, C.M. Matthews, Edward J. Hancy, John M. Wilson, H.A. Carson, William H. Wiley (of John Wiley and Sons Scientific Publishers, New York), Georgina Hutton, Pierre and Jane Casson, George McNaughlin, Henrietta Hutton, Aaron Pennington Whitehead, J.B. Wheeler, B. Williamson, Robert De Forest, Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, Grace Beukard, J.C. Saunders, Mary Hutton, William J. Pennington, C.S. Hurd, Henry C. Cooper, Henry J. Segers, S.F. Miller, Annie Theller, Alfred Noble, Maria Burton, Joseph Hobson, E. Lennon, F. Hulberg, Charles Gordon Hutton, Edward C. Ebert, A. William Lewin, E.R. Dunn, William P. Craighill, Theodore Cooper, P.I. Chapelle, Anita McAlpine, Clarence King, Victoria Raymond, and Adele Gorman.

Series 4, Personal Materials, 1835-1946, contains documentation about Hutton's personal finances, role as executor of the Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt estates, Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Frank Hutton, John Caulfield (son-in-law), and B.F. and C.H. Hutton. The series has been divided into four subseries: Financial Records, 1876-1901, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, Other Huttons, 1876-1936, and Personal Material, 1878-1946. Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, contains correspondence relating to specific family estates and family members. This correspondence was separated from Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, to make it easier for researchers to access all records relating to the family estates. This series includes hand written, typed, and printed materials. Some materials are in French. All material dated after 1901 has been added to the collection by other creators such as Hutton's wife and children.

Subseries 1, Financial Records, 1876-1901, includes account books, account records, correspondence related to bank accounts, bank statements, financial notes, bills and proofs of payment, rent receipts, tax bills (New York, Flatbush, Montgomery County), checks, money exchanges, receipts for tax payments, real estate receipts, stock and bond certificates, loan agreements, executor accounts, rebate calculation sheet, and tax and insurance payments.

Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, includes property maps and information (rent, mortgage costs, deeds), correspondence, notes on estate distribution, estate assets, value of estate and estate payments, account records, loan agreements, receipts, proof of payments, checks, financial records, legal documents, insurance documents, tax bills, auction receipts, and wills relating to the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Countess H. de Moltke-Hivtfeldt, Annie Theller, and William R. Hutton. Also included are correspondence, property maps and information, and deeds and mortgages on Hutton properties.

Subseries 2, the estate and real estate records correspondence topics include: Virginia state building codes, construction costs, construction notices, purchasing offers for property, real estate prices, receipts of payments, property lines, real estate purchases and sales, real estate sales negotiations, deeds insurance estimates and costs, loan costs, property estimates, renovation costs, mortgages, property damages and repairs, property tax payments, insurance rates and payments, rent payments, telephone installation, building permits, rental agreements, reports on property condition, contracts of sale, conflicts with tenants, changes of address, deeds, distribution of estate monies, details about the Countess' illness, estate arrangements, changes of address, problems arising out of estate distribution, payment of debts, will details, selling of mortgage shares, accounts, estate settlement, money cables and transfers, dealings with lawyers, rent on Hutton Park property, legal and accounting fees, power of attorney transfer, investments, property security, land appraisals, lists of assets, legacy taxes, mortgages transfers, property management, Flatbush property, property rent and values, and physicians bills.

Correspondents include the following: A.C. Weeks, Walter I. Green, John D. Probsh, A.G. Darwin, Thomas H. McCann, Allan Farguhar, Thomas Dawson, Potter and Crandall Real Estate and Insurance Brokers, George C. Tilyou, H.D. Olephant, F. Winston, Richard E. Calbraith, Frank P. Martin, Henry DeForest, Henry C. Cooper, Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Company, John Ecker, C.K. Avevill, Georgina Hutton, Edward J. Hancy, Robert Graham, W.M. Bennett, Willis E. Merriman, Nathan L. Miller, Harry Hutton, Marquise de Portes (Adele Gorman), Annie Theller, Samuel L. Theller, Mrs. R. Locke, Frank Z. Adams, John Palmer (Secretary of State, New York), J.T. Cammeyer, Frank P. Martin, Florence Theller, Francis H. Seger, Henry C. Cooper, D.W.G. Cammeyer, Campbell W. Adams, Jane Casson, Elizabeth Hutton, Rene de Portes, H.G. Atkins, Grace Beukard, Aaron Pennington Muikhead, J.E. Delapalme, T.H. Powers, Egerton L. Winthrop Junior, George B. Glover, William Jay and Robert W. Candler, B. Williamson, J.E. Knaff, Cornelius C. Vermeule, S.V. Hayden, Charles G. Landon[?], H.A. Hurlbert, F.A. Black, John L. Calwalder, the Health Department of New York, A.G. Darwin, William Laue, Frederick Frelinghuysen, Charles S. Brown, Henrietta Hutton, Edward Gelon.

Subseries 3, Other Huttons, 1874-1936, includes professional drawings and proposals, checks, insurance information, correspondence, tax information, medical information, tax bills, relating to Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Henry and Harry Hutton, Frank Hutton (son), John Caulfield (son-in-law), B.F. Hutton, and C.H. Hutton.

Subseries 4, Personal Materials, 1878-1946, contains handwritten property notes, school notes, sermons, travel documents, menus, Christmas cards, jewelry box, postal guide, typed religious materials and flyers.

Series 5, Diaries, 1866-1901, contains twenty nine diary books that document both Hutton's personal and professional life. These diaries provide not only a record of Hutton's life, but were also used by Hutton himself as a reference tool. When working on projects he would refer to notes and observations he made in his diary (as evidenced by notes made in his diaries). The first pages of the diaries often list his height, weight and clothing sizes as they varied from year to year. A researcher could probably use the cashbooks (see Series 7) and the diaries in conjunction as both detail the purchases made by Hutton. Many of the diaries also include a short record of accounts in the back. The diaries are arranged chronologically.

Topics found in the diaries include short form accounts of daily activities and appointments, records of the weather, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, construction progress on projects, steam pumps, sketches and calculations, extension of Washington railroads, cost of food, work supplies, travel costs, costs of goods and food, work deadlines, home renovations, visits to family, cash accounts, accounts of household duties, produce on Woodlands property, records of deaths, debts owed, account of clearing Woodlands property, church visits, Hancock and Tonoloway Aqueduct, canals, Drum Point Railroad, Montgomery C. Meigs, Washington Aqueduct, Annapolis Water Works, telegram costs, wages for Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, William Craighill, Morris Canal, Annapolis Railroad and Canal, professional duties (inspections), Kanawha River Canal, travel schedules, professional expenses, cash received from Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, John's Dam, cathedral construction (St. Patricks?), Piedmont Bridge, Cumberland, account of farm property belonging to Major Campbell Bruns, Cunard Pier, Marquise de Portes, rent costs, Baltimore Canal, Kingston Water Supply, Croton Orange Estate, Pierre Casson, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, entertainment costs, Greenwood cemetery, train schedule, notes on illness, real estate sales, Hutton Park, Benjamin H. Hutton estate and heirs, estimates, accounts of correspondence received and sent, Central Railroad, rent on Orange properties, addresses, contracts and building supplies for projects, personal finances, Joseph Hutton property on Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, amounts paid and received, medical appointments, Ramapo Water Company, drawing progress of maps and diagrams, Harbor Board (New York), property repairs, inspection and test reports, reservoirs, lists of birthdays, Boston Tunnel, family financial issues, tax payments, and prayers.

Series 6, Notebooks, 1860-1900, document the engineering and architectural projects worked on by Hutton. The series has been divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899; Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886; and Subseries 3, Notes, 1863-1900. Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899, contains sixteen field notebooks used by Hutton. Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886, contains seven notebooks. Subseries three, Notes, 1863-1900, contains four documents.

Some notebooks correspond to specific projects such as the Kanawha River Canal (lockgate and Phoenix Waterline), Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Buffalo Reservoir, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Northern Adirondack Railroad account, Washington Aqueduct, Little Rock Bridge, Wilson-Adam Dock, Croten Brick Works, Hutton Park, Centennial Iron Works, Cumberland Canal, Williamsport Aqueduct, Catoctin Aqueduct, Alexandria Canal, Miller's Saw Mill, Seneca Dam, Union Tunnel, Cumberland Waterworks, Victoria Bridge, Welland Canal, North Sea Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Annapolis Water Company, Antietam Aqueduct, Interoceanic Canal, San Quentin Canal, Suez Canal, Amsterdam Canal, Harlem Bulkhead, Morris Canal, Blue Lake Canal, and Nicaragua Canal.

These notebooks should be used in conjunction with the other materials in the collection related to professional projects, as they often provide more detailed accounts of the construction and land surveys. Some of the notebooks contain entries from several different sources. The notebooks were probably shared among the engineers working on these projects. The notebooks also contain looseleaf ephemera such as hand written calculations, newspaper clippings, and blueprints. Languages found in this series are English and French.

Notebook topics include construction projects, supply needs, costs for labor, sketches (Woodland Mills, landscapes, dams, railway cars, Noland Tunnel), costs of crops, survey measurements, cost of livestock, aqueducts, inspections, canal bridges, seed prices, dams, measurements, coffer dam, canal maintenance, worker salaries, calculations, towpath sketches and measurements, shipping rates, worker accidents, water and coal used, geometrical sketches (Washington Aqueduct), locks, damage reports, interactions with other engineers (William Reading), coal shipments on the canal, travel expenses, land survey notes, drafts for correspondence, William Craighill, Victoria docks, lists of personal supplies used, construction time estimates, surveying expenses, telegram costs, sand pump, canal from Sherling to Tuxedo Bay, analysis of several artificial lakes and reservoirs, distances of reservoirs to main pipes, calculations for the Austin Wheel, engine construction, bridges, gauging water depth, results and observations of tests and performance, problems with construction, to-do lists, cost of land surrounding towpaths, Fawcett's Lock, Tarman's Lock, comparison of costs in transporting coal by water and by rail, inspection notes, iron work, drainages, leaks, cost of supplies, watergates, harbor ferries, railroad station distances, flood protection, Panama Canal via the Nicaraguan route, cost of jetties, water levels, pressure of steam, boilers, steam and water cycle, water depth, cement, Great Falls, Virginia, waterflow, soundings, time of floats, flow of currents, rain fall measurements, tunnel measurements, cost of trenching San Francisco water supply, record of livestock, cost of food, rates of sawing woods and mills, preliminary railroad line measurements, profile of final line, and railroad line profiles.

Series 7, Cash Books, 1856-1899, contains seven cashbooks which list prices for personal items purchased by Hutton. Topics include groceries, church dues, clothes, hygiene products, cigars, some short journal entries about his work (Williamstown), concerts, dinners, family addresses, cakes, meals, cars, stamps, office supplies (pencils and papers), valentines, glasses, gloves, fabric, medicine, needles, diapers, tobacco, shoes (adult and childrens), travel expenses, telegrams, candles, newspapers, liquor, coal oil, jewelry, allowances given to family members, bank deposits, monies paid and received, taxes, subscriptions, tailoring costs, deposits and payments into estate trusts, and notes about payments to Benjamin H. Hutton heirs. The cashbooks also contain some personal loose leaf ephemera such as prayers, sketches, and engineering notes collected by Hutton.

Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, contains documents about engineering and architectural projects throughout Hutton's career, including information about the professional organizations and the legal issues in which he was involved. This series has been divided into eight subseries based on project, document form, and document subject. Some materials are in French and Italian.

Series 8, Professional Projects, also includes correspondence related to specific projects, primarily the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, and the Georgetown Incline.

Topics include construction and repair to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, engineering and use of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, worker contracts, supply and labor purchases, design plans and proposals, construction and repair costs, supply notes and costs of supplies, water pressure and power, shipping materials and routes (specifically the shipping of coal), inspections and their findings, condition of canal dam and locks, water supply, drainage, sketches, board proceedings, business meetings, deeds, cost comparisons to other shipping methods, hiring processes, wages, cost estimates, Hutton's consulting fees, measurements and calculations, funding issues, worker conflicts, negotiations with municipal governments, payment schedules, bills for services, air pressure in Hudson River Tunnel, permission for construction, specifications, mortality rate among workers on the Hudson River Tunnel, construction reports, outlet incline, proposals for construction, letters of introduction, railroad versus water for trade, controversy with Tiersey, construction contracts, construction schedules, construction issues, construction progress, construction damage, basis for estimates, supply requests, internal politics, changes to construction plans, contract and price adjustments, issues with suppliers, construction delays, work permits, bills, worker issues, engineering notes, construction excavations, expenses, construction instructions, Union Bridge Company, lighting installations, construction processes, hiring practices, electrical conductors, water proofing, hydraulics, cement, concrete, payment of contributors, processes of approval for construction, meeting dates of the Harlem River Bridge Commission, and contract restrictions.

Correspondents include the following: W.W.M. Kaig, Henry Dodge, E. Mulvany, John Shay, James Clarke, H.D. Whitcomb, Horace Benton, J. Rellan, J.R. Maus, W.E. Merrill, A.P. Gorman, J.H. Staats, Vernon H. Brown, Charles H. Fisher (New York Central and Hudson River Railway Company), B. Baker, John Fowler, Benjamin and John Dos Passos, Charles B. Colby, Charles B. Brush, S. Pearson, Stanford White, Horace E. Golding, R.H. Smith, Daniel Lord, A. Fteley, Herbert Hinds, J.R. Bartlett, D.M. Hirsch, M.H. Bartholomew, Thomas O. Driscoll, W.E. Porter, Thomas F. Rowland, George Edward Harding, R.H. Dames, William Watson, James B. Eads, J.D. Bright, H. Aston, Charles Suley, A.M. Maynard, W.R. Henton, G. Geddes, H.P. Gilbut, Malcolm W. Niver (Secretary of the Harlem River Bridge Commission), J.D. Patterson, George Devin (Assistant Engineer Washington/ Harlem River Bridge), J.B. Wheeler, John Bogart, Charles Burns, J. McClellon, Rob Bassee, B. Williamson, Theodore Cooper, Lewis Cass Ledyard, R.M. Hunt, John Cooper, Henry Wilson, A.A. Caille, Myles Tierney, W. Pentzen, L.B. Cantfield, George Q. Grumstaid Junior, M.J. Funton, George Pierce, W.O. Fayerweather, Noah S. Belthen, Herbert Steward, W.M. Habirsham. Subseries 1, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965, consists of plans, blueprints, land profiles, drawings, boat rates, contract forms, order forms, descriptions of the canal, design information, engineering data, sketches, cost estimates, land titles, microfilm, business papers, supply bills, patent bills, news clippings, reports, specifications, stockholder's reports, receipts, water leases, printed materials, and correspondence.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project was started in 1828 and completed twenty two years later in 1850. The canal's main objective was to connect Georgetown to the coal banks above Cumberland, Maryland, providing a short and cheap trade route between the eastern and western United States. It was also hoped that the canal would provide greater communication and travel between these two regions. Plagued by natural disasters, and construction setbacks, the canal was never completed in time to be useful and became obsolete shortly after its completion. Canal trade was eventually put out of business by the increase of railroads. Although it was an important development in engineering at its inception, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is no longer in use and has become what locals affectionately refer to as "the old ditch." The canal was designated a National Historical Park in 1971 and consists of 184.5 miles of hiking and biking trails.

Subseries 2, Hudson River Tunnel, 1887-1901, consists of agreements for construction, certificates, contracts, and cost estimates, construction reports, engineering notebooks, engineering notes, sketches, land profiles, maps, progress profiles, plans, proposals, printed material, statements of expenses, and correspondence.

The Hudson River Tunnel project was started in 1874, and the final tubes were opened in 1910 after several construction setbacks. The tunnel connects Weehawken, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City. Today the Hudson River Tunnel, known as the North River Tunnels is used by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Transit rail lines.

Subseries 3, Harlem River Bridge, 1878-1982, consists of blueprints, printed materials, photographs, engineer's estimates, schedules, costs, reports, proposals, contracts, specifications, and correspondence.

The Harlem River Bridge project was started in 1885 and was completed in 1889. It spans the Harlem River in New York City, New York and connects the Washington Heights section of Manhattan with the Bronx. It was later named and is still known as the Washington Bridge and has been adapted over time to carry highway traffic. These adaptations have allowed the bridge to remain in use today.

Subseries 4, Other Projects, 1858-1832, consists of drawings, maps, blueprints, plans, proposals, cost estimates, bills, correspondence, sketches, land profiles, dimensions, engineering notes, account records, photostats, supply lists, calculations, legal documents, surveys, inspection reports, financial data, and measurements on architectural and engineering projects. Highlights of this subseries include: Western Maryland Railroad, Washington Aqueduct, Panama Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Piedmont Bridge, Northern Adirondack Railroad, Columbia Railroad, Morris Canal, Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad, Suez Canal, St. Gothard Canal, Tansa Dam, Colorado Midland Railroad Company, Memorial Bridge, Mersey Tunnel, Little Rock Bridge, Kingston Water Supply, Kanawha River Canal, Florida Ship Canal, East Jersey Water Company, Consolidated Coal Company, Dismal Swamp Canal, Boston and Baltimore Tunnels, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Annapolis Water Company, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad Company, and the Baltimore Beltline.

Subseries 5, Unidentified Project Files, 1872-1900, consists of bills of sale, engineering forms and regulations, cement test results and methods, census bulletin, contracts, cost estimates, correspondence, notes on publications, engineering data and notes, drawings, surveys, sketches, payrolls, photographs, and reports.

Subseries 6, Specifications, 1870-1900, consists of documents related to some of Hutton's projects, including specifications for bridges, reservoirs, canals, viaducts, docks, buildings, water works, and tunnels. Some specifications are more general, and some are blank proposal/specification forms. There are also proposals for estimates and a "call" or advertisement to contractors to bid on certain projects. Many of the specifications deal with projects in New York State, but projects in Pennsylvania, the City of Baltimore, and Europe are represented. The materials are arranged alphabetically by project name. There is one folder of documentation for the Potomac River Bridge (Arlington Memorial Bridge) in Washington, D.C. The Arlington Memorial Bridge was part of the 1901 McMillan Commission's plan for restoring Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's original plan for the capital. Two decades passed before construction was initiated by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. The documentation for the Memorial Bridge consists of calculations and monetary figures for materials such as granite.

Subseries 7, Legal Documents, 1886, contains documents related to a patent infringement suit for moveable dams involving Alfred Pasqueau vs. the United States. This file contains both a printed version of the case and a handwritten statement from Hutton.

Subseries 8, Professional Organizations, 1870-1902, contains documents related to professional organizations where Hutton held membership. Specific organizations represented are American Institute of Architects, American Society of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, Boston Society of Civil Engineers, Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France, Librarie Polytechnique, American Agency of "Engineering" in London, Imperial Institute, League of Associated Engineers, Railroad Corporation, American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the Century Association. Material in the subseries includes correspondence, candidates for membership, membership payments, membership lists, meeting minutes, schedule of terms, professional practices, charges, articles of association, invitations for membership, and election notes. Some materials are in French.

Series 9, Printed Materials, 1850-1913, contains a variety of printed materials relating to engineering and architectural projects written by Hutton and fellow engineers. This series can be used to examine not only professional developments of the period and responses to those developments, but also to track how ideas were transferred between engineers across countries and continents. This series should be used in conjunction with the professional correspondence found in this collection, as many of the authors also appear there. Some materials are in French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Subseries 1, Printed Materials by Hutton, 1852-1900, includes printed papers on the Missouri flood wave, the Ravine du Sud, the Potomac waterfront, the Colorado midlands, and the application of water supply machinery.

Subseries 2, Printed Materials by Others, 1826-1913, includes printed materials on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canals, Tehuantec Ship Railway, Interoceanic canals and railways, jetties, Nicaragua Canal, uses of cements, mortars, concretes, steam power, harbors, Niagara Falls, Kanawha River canal, Mississippi River, Hudson River Bridge, sewage disposal, Washington Aqueduct, specifications, construction progress reports, hydraulic experiments, water supply, drainage, road surfacing, sea walls, water-cooling apparatus, pollution reports, bridges, pipes, channels, reservoirs, irrigation, water power, and sewers.

Subseries 2 contains an issue of The North American Review in which Hutton has specifically highlighted an article entitled, "The Inter-Oceanic Canal." Please see the container list for names of authors.

Subseries 3, Printed Materials with No Author, 1852-1903, includes printed materials on harbor reports, Annapolis Water Company, Ramapo Water Company, water departments and boards, maps, engineer's reports, sea walls, preservation of structures, annual reports, Coal and Iron Railway Company, sewers, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, contract specifications, proposals, social club life, Croton Water Supply, law suits, water supplies, moveable dams, reservoirs, East River Bridge, Eastern Canal, water filtration, Kingston New Water Supply, water pipes, locks, docks, contracts, construction reports, Croton Water Supply, and surveys. Also included are issues of journals such as Le Correspondant, Circular of the Office of Chief Engineers, The Club, VIII Congres International de Navigation, Journal of the Association of Engineering Studies, and Journal of the Franklin Institute.

Subseries 4, Newspaper, Journals and Magazine Clippings, 1873-1900, contains clippings from a variety of newspapers such as Scientific American, andRailroad Gazette. Subjects included are the Union Tunnel opening in Baltimore, Drum Point Railroad, railroad company conflicts, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Metropolitan Railroad, Western Maryland Railroad, crop prospects, lumber trade, North Avenue Bridge, Nicaraguan Canal, harbors, river improvements, reactions to engineering projects, Belt tunnel, city transit, Washington, D.C. flood in 1880, tunnel shields, Springfield Bridge, railroad patents, Panama Canal, jetties, Hudson Tunnel, steel boilers, composition and use of cement, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Subseries 5, Oversized Printed Materials, 1889-1892, contains large printed materials related to the Washington Aqueduct, General Post Office Building, subway arches, cornices, Warwick's Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Renaissance paintings, botanical drawings, school buildings, church architecture, the Hospital for the Insane of the Army and Navy and the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal, Morningside Park, and the Mississippi Jetties. Also includes engravings of Hutton, T.N. Talfound, and F. Jeffrey and photographs of Montgomery C. Meigs, and Hutton. Some materials are in German and French.

References:

1. Ward, George Washington, "The Early Development of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Project," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series XVII, no. 9-11 (1899): 8.

2. Ibid., 88.

3. Ibid., 55.

4. Ibid., 90.

5. Sanderlin, Walter S., "The Great National Project: A History of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series LXIV, no. 1 (1946): 21.

6. Ibid., 282.

7. Gies, Joseph, Adventure Underground (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1962): 134.

8. Ibid., 131-132.

9. Ibid., 135-136.

10. Ibid., 145.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into ten series.

Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901

Series 2: Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901

Subseries 2.1: Project Correspondence, 1876-1899

Subseries 2.2: General Correspondence, 1861-1901

Series 3: Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942

Series 4: Personal Materials, 1835-1946

Subseries 4.1: Financial Records, 1876-1901

Subseries 4.2: Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921

Subseries 4.3: Other Huttons, 1874-1936

Subseries 4.4: Personal Materials, 1878-1946

Series 5: Diaries, 1866-1901

Series 6: Notebooks, 1860-1900

Subseries 6.1: Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899

Subseries 6.2: Notebooks, 1871-1886

Subseries 6.3: Notes, 1863-1900

Series 7: Cashbooks, 1856-1899

Series 8: Professional Projects, 1830-1965

Subseries 8.1: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965

Subseries 8.2: Hudson River Tunnel, 1887-1901

Subseries 8.3: Harlem River Bridge, 1878-1892

Subseries 8.4: Other Projects, 1858-1932

Subseries 8.5: Identified Project Files, 1872-1900

Subseries 8.6: Specifications, 1870-1900

Subseries 8.7: Legal Documents, 1886

Subseries 8.8: Professional Organizations, 1870-1902

Series 9: Printed Materials, 1826-1913

Subseries 9.1: Printed Materials by Hutton, 1852-1900

Subseries 9.2: Printed Materials by Others, 1826-1913

Subseries 9.3: Newspaper, Journals, and Magazine Clippings, 1855-1901

Subseries 9.4: Oversized Printed Material, 1889-1892

Series 10: Drawings, 1875, 1883

Biographical / Historical:

Not much is known about the history of William Rich Hutton outside of his role in architectural and engineering projects of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In many cases, he is spoken of only in reference to his projects, and the short biographies that have been written read more like a resume than a life story. Because of this lack of information, this note will focus on Hutton's professional accomplishments, but will attempt to make some comments on his personal life.

William Rich Hutton was born on March 21, 1826 in Washington, D.C., the eldest son of James Hutton (died 1843) and his wife, the former Salome Rich (1). He was educated at the Western Academy (Washington, D.C.) from 1837-1840 under George J. Abbot and then at Benjamin Hallowell's School in Alexandria, Virginia, where he received special training in mathematics, drawing, and surveying (2). Hutton began his professional career in California when he, along with his younger brother James, accompanied their uncle William Rich to work for the United States Army. His uncle was a paymaster for the army and Hutton became his clerk. They traveled around the new state paying the various platoons stationed there, but Hutton also occupied his time by drawing the landscapes and structures he saw in the settlements of Los Angeles, San Francisco, La Paz, Mazatlan, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Pedro, San Diego, and Cape San Lucas (3). These drawings are now held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Hutton held the position of clerk until the spring of 1849, and in July of that year he began working with Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord and completed the first survey of Los Angeles and its surrounding pueblo lands and islands. Hutton continued surveying in California from 1850-1851. He was hired by William G. Dana to survey the Nipomo Ranch in San Luis Obispo County and also surveyed the ranches Santa Manuela and Huer-Huero, both owned by Francis Z. Branch. After his employment with Dana, he became the county surveyor for San Luis Obispo County, where he prepared the first survey and map of the region. He also continued to survey ranches for Captain John Wilson during this time. In August 1851, he resigned from his position as county surveyor and moved to Monterey where he worked as an assistant to Captain (later General) Henry W. Hallack, superintendent of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County (4). He remained in this position until March, 1853 when he returned to Washington, D.C. by way of Mexico (5).

Hutton began his career as a civil engineer in Washington, D.C. He was first assigned to the position of assistant engineer on a survey of the projected Metropolitan Railroad in 1853, which was chartered to connect Washington, D.C. with the mainline of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1855 he began his professional relationship with Montgomery C. Meigs when he was appointed to the position of assistant engineer on the Washington Aqueduct. He also served as division engineer on this project until construction was shut down in 1861 because of the outbreak of the Civil War. Fortunately for Hutton, the construction on the Aqueduct was resumed in 1862, and when Congress transferred the supervision of the aqueduct project from the War Department to the Department of the Interior, Hutton was made chief engineer. By the end of the Civil War, Hutton's reputation as a civil engineer was established (6).

During this decade Hutton also served as the chief engineer for the Annapolis Water Works (1866) and as chief engineer for one of his most famous projects, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (1869-1871). Although some historians minimize Hutton as just one of many engineers to work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, he did make one major contribution to its construction: the Georgetown Canal Incline. Perhaps the final effort of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal company to compete with the emerging and fast expanding railroad, the Georgetown Incline was designed to allow canal boats to travel through the canal with low water levels and to alleviate canal congestion. Unfortunately, by the time the incline was completed use of the canal had decreased so significantly that it was no longer needed to help control traffic (7). Despite this, Hutton continued to work as a consulting engineer for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company until 1881, when he was let go because of the dwindling fortunes of the company (7).

In the 1870s and 1880s Hutton was busy with several engineering projects. During 1871-1873, he was the chief engineer in the completion of the Western Maryland Railroad to Hagerstown and Williamsport (9). He also practiced as an architect with his brother, the prominent Baltimore architect Nathanial Henry Hutton, during the years 1873-1880. He relocated to New York in 1880, serving as chief engineer for the Washington Bridge in 1888 and 1889 and the Hudson River Tunnel from 1889 to 1891. In 1886, he became the consulting engineer for the New Croton Aqueduct and served in the same position for the Colorado Midland Railway between the years of 1886-1889 (10).

As his personal and professional correspondence shows, Hutton continued to work on various engineering and architectural projects until his death on December 11, 1901. In addition to these projects, he also invented the innovative system of locks and moveable dams used in the Kanawha River Canal. He was awarded the Diplome d'Honneur for this featat the Paris Exposition in 1878 (11). His correspondence also demonstrates how Hutton was respected within his professional community. These letters refer to the accuracy of his work, his willingness to help other colleagues and supply them with reference materials and information, and, in addition to all this, his politeness. It seems that these qualities defined not only his personality but also his ideology. In one of the cashbooks in the collection, dated 1899, a hand written note contains a religious parable of "The Straw." The phrase in this parable that speaks most to Hutton's work ethic, and to the spirit of inventors everywhere, is this: "Even so however lowly may be the act, however little opportunities we may have of assisting others, we may still do something. Let us beg to fulfil our duty in this regards by making ourselves useful to others by some little act of thoughtful charity..." (12). Hutton, in his dedication to civil engineering, seems to have lived up to this virtue, and in his work he changed the landscape of Washington, D.C. and New York.

The Fairy Godfather: Hutton's Personal History

His professional records reveal a man who was fiercely dedicated to his work. His obituary references his professional life more than his personal life (13). Despite his reputation in the professional engineering community, his personal records demonstrate that Hutton was also dedicated to his family and children. In 1855, he married Montgomery County native Mary Augusta Clopper (died 1915). Together they lived on her family's estate known as the Woodlands, and had five children: Frank C. Hutton, Mary Hutton, Elizabeth Hutton (later Caulfield), Rosa Hutton, and Annie Salome Hutton (14). It is at this estate that Hutton died and was buried. The personal letters to his wife found in the Woodlands Collection held at the Montgomery County Historical Society show a man in love and willing to take time from his work to write to his wife. His letters to his children show a similar interest and compassion. In the many letters found in this collection from his daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) one can see a father who is interested in not only his daughter's activities abroad, but also in her opinion. This interest also extends to his son Frank Hutton, as their correspondence shows Hutton offering his son advice on his own engineering projects.

Hutton also served as executor to many of his extended family's estates. Many letters show the conflicts that Hutton had to mediate and the dependence of his cousins on him for advice and money. Although his family was wealthy (his cousin was Benjamin H. Hutton whose daughters married into the court of Napoleon III), they were volatile, and his records seem to indicate that he served as a mediator for many of their disputes. In addition to this, as his nickname of Fairy Godfather suggests, Hutton was always willing to lend his family either financial or moral support when needed. Unfortunately, little other documentation concerning Hutton's personal life exists outside of this collection and the one held at the Montgomery County Historical Society.

References:

1. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).

2. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): ix.

3. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942). and Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): x-xi.

4. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).

5. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii.

6. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii-xviii.

7. Skramstad, Harold, "The Georgetown Canal Incline," Technology and Culture, Vol. 10, no. 4 (Oct. 1969): 555.

8. Business Correspondence, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 22 February 1881, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 27, folder number 29.

9. "William Rich Hutton," The Club: A Journal of Club Life for Men and Women,(July 1894):37

10. Ibid.

11. Monzione, Joseph, "William R. Hutton," A.P.W.A. Reporter (Sept. 1977): 7.

12. Cashbook, 1899, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 23, folder number 5.

13. The Woodlands Collection, Montgomery County Historical Society.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

The Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, 1870-1890, (AC0987). Contains materials relating to the construction of the Washington Aqueduct including a book of drawings illustrating reservoirs, tunnels, culverts, and other structural elements, a Government Senate Document relating to construction progress, scrapbooks created by Meigs that include newspaper clippings about the Washington Aqueduct project, water supply, engineering projects, building construction, architecture and other subjects. Collection is currently unprocessed, but is available for research.

Materials in Other Organizations:

The William Rich Hutton Papers, 1840-1961, are located at the Huntington Library in California (see http://catalog.huntington.org).

The collection contains 95 drawings, 13 letters, and 39 facsimile copies of letters and manuscripts. The illustrative material includes both watercolor and pencil drawings of California (including Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, and the California missions), Baja California, Mexico, and Peru. There are also five pieces in the collection related to the author María Amparo Ruiz de Burton. In 1942, the Huntington Library published Glances at California 1847--853: Diaries and Letters of William Rich Hutton, Surveyor and California 1847--852: Drawings by William Rich Hutton.

The Hutton family papers are located at the Montgomery County Historical Society, Sween Library (see http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/sites/default/files/Family_Files.pdf).

The collection contains account books from the Woodlands estate, recipe books, livestock records, records of Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary and Rose Hutton (daughters), newspaper clippings (including his obituary), correspondence, record books, deeds, bills and receipts, engineering papers, religious momentos (funeral service cards), and insurance papers.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Mr. and Mrs. James J. Madine, a relative of Hutton's and last owners of the Woodlands estate; the Department of Forests and Parks, Maryland; Louis Fischer; and Mr. and Mrs. Mayo S. Stuntz, 1965-1966, 1974.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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:

Dams  Search this

Hydraulic engineering  Search this

Canals  Search this

Underwater tunnels  Search this

Railroad bridges  Search this

Railroad construction  Search this

Water-supply  Search this

Construction workers  Search this

Construction equipment  Search this

Concrete construction  Search this

Concrete  Search this

Coal -- Transportation  Search this

Civil engineers  Search this

Civil engineering  Search this

Canals -- Panama  Search this

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

Canals -- Maryland  Search this

Canals -- Design and construction  Search this

Bridges -- United States  Search this

Waterworks  Search this

Tunnels  Search this

Tunnels -- New York (N.Y.)  Search this

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

Underground construction  Search this

Locks and dams  Search this

Shipping  Search this

Iron and steel bridges  Search this

Sewage disposal  Search this

Railroads -- Maryland  Search this

Railroads -- 19th century  Search this

Railroad engineering  Search this

Railroad companies  Search this

Aqueducts  Search this

Arch bridges  Search this

Architects -- 19th century  Search this

Books  Search this

Bridges -- New York (N.Y.)  Search this

Bridges -- Design and construction  Search this

Bridge construction industry -- United States  Search this

Engineering notebooks  Search this

Docks  Search this

Domestic and family life  Search this

Architecture -- United States  Search this

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

Harlem River Bridge  Search this

Western Maryland Railroad  Search this

Annapolis Waterworks  Search this

Steam engineering  Search this

Harlem River Bridge Commission  Search this

Washington (D.C.) -- 19th century  Search this

Reservoirs  Search this

Patents  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Letterpress copybooks

Blueprints

Diaries

Drawings

Photographs -- 19th century

Cashbooks

Business records -- 19th century

Business letters

Notebooks

Topographic maps

Tax records

Technical drawings

Stock certificates

Technical literature

Photoengravings

Notes

Maps -- 19th century

Microfilms

Linen tracings

Letter books

Letters

Land titles

Legal documents

Sketches

Salted paper prints

Reports

Receipts

Plans (drawings)

Photostats

Photographic prints

Architectural drawings

Administrative records

Albumen prints

Albums

Annual reports

Booklets

Account books -- 19th century

Books -- 19th century

Family papers -- 18th century

Financial records -- 19th century

Diaries -- 19th century

Drawings -- 19th century

Cyanotypes

Correspondence -- 19th-20th century

Deeds

Printed material

Correspondence

Contracts

Photograph albums

Specifications

Christmas cards

Menus

Citation:

William R. Hutton Papers, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0987

See more items in:

William R. Hutton Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep84f6824ce-7291-4ac4-ab0f-abaa2071815e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0987

Creator:

United Telegraph Workers.  Search this

Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this

Extent:

452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Administrative records

Articles

Books

Clippings

Contracts

Drawings

Photographs

Patents

Newsletters

Photograph albums

Scrapbooks

Specifications

Technical documents

Date:

circa 1820-1995

Summary:

The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.

Scope and Contents:

The collection is divided into twenty-six (26) series and consists of approximately 400 cubic feet. The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994

Series 2: Subsidiaries of Western Union, 1844-1986

Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987

Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911

Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985

Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892

Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987

Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995

Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968

Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945

Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979

Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970

Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s

Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986

Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970

Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1867-1937, 1963

Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948

Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records 1852-1985

Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980

Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1913-1971

Series 21: Maps, 1820-1964

Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s

Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980

Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956

Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942

Series 26: Audio Visual Materials, 1925-1994

Series 27: Addenda

Biographical / Historical:

In 1832 Samuel F. B. Morse, assisted by Alfred Vail, conceived of the idea for an electromechanical telegraph, which he called the "Recording Telegraph." This commercial application of electricity was made tangible by their construction of a crude working model in 1835-36. This instrument probably was never used outside of Professor Morse's rooms where it was, however, operated in a number of demonstrations. This original telegraph instrument was in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company and had been kept carefully over the years in a glass case. It was moved several times in New York as the Western Union headquarters building changed location over the years. The company presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1950.

The telegraph was further refined by Morse, Vail, and a colleague, Leonard Gale, into working mechanical form in 1837. In this year Morse filed a caveat for it at the U.S. Patent Office. Electricity, provided by Joseph Henry's 1836 "intensity batteries", was sent over a wire. The flow of electricity through the wire was interrupted for shorter or longer periods by holding down the key of the device. The resulting dots or dashes were recorded on a printer or could be interpreted orally. In 1838 Morse perfected his sending and receiving code and organized a corporation, making Vail and Gale his partners.

In 1843 Morse received funds from Congress to set-up a demonstration line between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, Morse was not an astute businessman and had no practical plan for constructing a line. After an unsuccessful attempt at laying underground cables with Ezra Cornell, the inventor of a trench digger, Morse switched to the erection of telegraph poles and was more successful. On May 24, 1844, Morse, in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, sent by telegraph the oft-quoted message to his colleague Vail in Baltimore, "What hath God wrought!"

In 1845 Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general, Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses wherever he could.

The first commercial telegraph line was completed between Washington, D.C., and New York City in the spring of 1846 by the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Shortly thereafter, F. O. J. Smith, one of the patent owners, built a line between New York City and Boston. Most of these early companies were licensed by owners of Samuel Morse patents. The Morse messages were sent and received in a code of dots and dashes.

At this time other telegraph systems based on rival technologies were being built. Some companies used the printing telegraph, a device invented by a Vermonter, Royal E. House, whose messages were printed on paper or tape in Roman letters. In 1848 a Scotch scientist, Alexander Bain, received his patents on a telegraph. These were but two of many competing and incompatible technologies that had developed. The result was confusion, inefficiency, and a rash of suits and counter suits.

By 1851 there were over fifty separate telegraph companies operating in the United States. This corporate cornucopia developed because the owners of the telegraph patents had been unsuccessful in convincing the United States and other governments of the invention's potential usefulness. In the private sector, the owners had difficulty convincing capitalists of the commercial value of the invention. This led to the owners' willingness to sell licenses to many purchasers who organized separate companies and then built independent telegraph lines in various sections of the country.

Hiram Sibley moved to Rochester, New York, in 1838 to pursue banking and real estate. Later he was elected sheriff of Monroe County. In Rochester he was introduced to Judge Samuel L. Selden who held the House Telegraph patent rights. In 1849 Selden and Sibley organized the New York State Printing Telegraph Company, but they found it hard to compete with the existing New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company.

After this experience Selden suggested that instead of creating a new line, the two should try to acquire all the companies west of Buffalo and unite them into a single unified system. Selden secured an agency for the extension throughout the United States of the House system. In an effort to expand this line west, Judge Selden called on friends and the people in Rochester. This led, in April 1851, to the organization of a company and the filing in Albany of the Articles of Association for the "New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company" (NYMVPTC), a company which later evolved into the Western Union Telegraph Company.

In 1854 there were two rival systems of the NYMVPTC in the West. These two systems consisted of thirteen separate companies. All the companies were using Morse patents in the five states north of the Ohio River. This created a struggle between three separate entities, leading to an unreliable and inefficient telegraph service. The owners of these rival companies eventually decided to invest their money elsewhere and arrangements were made for the NYMVPTC to purchase their interests.

Hiram Sibley recapitalized the company in 1854 under the same name and began a program of construction and acquisition. The most important takeover was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and John J. Speed, without the knowledge of Ezra Cornell, their partner in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company (EMTC). With this acquisition Sibley proceeded to switch to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a bitter struggle Morse and Wade obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855, thus assuring dominance by the NYMVPTC in the Midwest. In 1856 the company name was changed to the "Western Union Telegraph Company," indicating the union of the Western lines into one compact system. In December, 1857, the Company paid stockholders their first dividend.

Between 1857 and 1861 similar consolidations of telegraph companies took place in other areas of the country so that most of the telegraph interests of the United States had merged into six systems. These were the American Telegraph Company (covering the Atlantic and some Gulf states), The Western Union Telegraph Company (covering states North of the Ohio River and parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota), the New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company (covering New York State), the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company (covering Pennsylvania), the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company (covering sections of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois), and the New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company (covering the southern Mississippi Valley and the Southwest). All these companies worked together in a mutually friendly alliance, and other small companies cooperated with the six systems, particularly some on the West Coast.

By the time of the Civil War, there was a strong commercial incentive to construct a telegraph line across the western plains to link the two coasts of America. Many companies, however, believed the line would be impossible to build and maintain.

In 1860 Congress passed, and President James Buchanan signed, the Pacific Telegraph Act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to seek bids for a project to construct a transcontinental line. When two bidders dropped out, Hiram Sibley, representing Western Union, was the only bidder left. By default Sibley won the contract. The Pacific Telegraph Company was organized for the purpose of building the eastern section of the line. Sibley sent Wade to California, where he consolidated the small local companies into the California State Telegraph Company. This entity then organized the Overland Telegraph Company, which handled construction eastward from Carson City, Nevada, joining the existing California lines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sibley's Pacific Telegraph Company built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Sibley put most of his resources into the venture. The line was completed in October, 1861. Both companies were soon merged into Western Union. This accomplishment made Hiram Sibley leader of the telegraph industry.

Further consolidations took place over the next several years. Many companies merged into the American Telegraph Company. With the expiration of the Morse patents, several organizations were combined in 1864 under the name of "The U.S. Telegraph Company." In 1866 the final consolidation took place, with Western Union exchanging stock for the stock of the other two organizations. The general office of Western Union moved at this time from Rochester to 145 Broadway, New York City. In 1875 the main office moved to 195 Broadway, where it remained until 1930 when it relocated to 60 Hudson Street.

In 1873 Western Union purchased a majority of shares in the International Ocean Telegraph Company. This was an important move because it marked Western Union's entry into the foreign telegraph market. Having previously worked with foreign companies, Western Union now began competing for overseas business.

In the late 1870s Western Union, led by William H. Vanderbilt, attempted to wrest control of the major telephone patents, and the new telephone industry, away from the Bell Telephone Company. But due to new Bell leadership and a subsequent hostile takeover attempt of Western Union by Jay Gould, Western Union discontinued its fight and Bell Telephone prevailed.

Despite these corporate calisthenics, Western Union remained in the public eye. The sight of a uniformed Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years. Some of Western Union's top officials in fact began their careers as messenger boys.

Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century the telegraph became one of the most important factors in the development of social and commercial life of America. In spite of improvements to the telegraph, however, two new inventions--the telephone (nineteenth century) and the radio (twentieth century)--eventually replaced the telegraph as the leaders of the communication revolution for most Americans.

At the turn of the century, Bell abandoned its struggles to maintain a monopoly through patent suits, and entered into direct competition with the many independent telephone companies. Around this time, the company adopted its new name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

In 1908 AT&T gained control of Western Union. This proved beneficial to Western Union, because the companies were able to share lines when needed, and it became possible to order telegrams by telephone. However, it was only possible to order Western Union telegrams, and this hurt the business of Western Union's main competitor, the Postal Telegraph Company. In 1913, however, as part of a move to prevent the government from invoking antitrust laws, AT&T completely separated itself from Western Union.

Western Union continued to prosper and it received commendations from the U.S. armed forces for service during both world wars. In 1945 Western Union finally merged with its longtime rival, the Postal Telegraph Company. As part of that merger, Western Union agreed to separate domestic and foreign business. In 1963 Western Union International Incorporated, a private company completely separate from the Western Union Telegraph Company, was formed and an agreement with the Postal Telegraph Company was completed. In 1994, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. was acquired by First Financial Management Corporation. In 1995, First Financial Management Corporation merged with First Data Corporation making Western Union a First Data subsidiary.

Many technological advancements followed the telegraph's development. The following are among the more important:

The first advancement of the telegraph occurred around 1850 when operators realized that the clicks of the recording instrument portrayed a sound pattern, understandable by the operators as dots and dashes. This allowed the operator to hear the message by ear and simultaneously write it down. This ability transformed the telegraph into a versatile and speedy system.

Duplex Telegraphy, 1871-72, was invented by the president of the Franklin Telegraph Company. Unable to sell his invention to his own company, he found a willing buyer in Western Union. Utilizing this invention, two messages were sent over the wire simultaneously, one in each direction.

As business blossomed and demand surged, new devices appeared. Thomas Edison's Quadruplex allowed four messages to be sent over the same wire simultaneously, two in one direction and two in the other.

An English automatic signaling arrangement, Wheatstone's Automatic Telegraph, 1883, allowed larger numbers of words to be transmitted over a wire at once. It could only be used advantageously, however, on circuits where there was a heavy volume of business.

Buckingham's Machine Telegraph was an improvement on the House system. It printed received messages in plain Roman letters quickly and legibly on a message blank, ready for delivery.

Vibroplex, c. 1890, a semi-automatic key sometimes called a "bug key," made the dots automatically. This relieved the operator of much physical strain.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Western Union records (Western Union Right of Way and Other Agreements, 1848-1990, bulk: 1910-1989 and the Western Union Locality Files, 1892-1995, bulk: 1910-1989) form part of the MCI Communications Corporation Records, 1849-1999. See accession 2225.

First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867

This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.

Separated Materials:

Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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:

Communications equipment  Search this

Communication -- International cooperation  Search this

Electric engineering  Search this

Electric engineers  Search this

Electrical equipment  Search this

Electrical science and technology  Search this

Telegraphers  Search this

Telegraph  Search this

Genre/Form:

Administrative records

Articles

Books

Clippings

Contracts

Drawings

Photographs -- 19th century

Patents

Photographs -- 20th century

Newsletters

Photograph albums

Scrapbooks -- 19th century

Scrapbooks -- 20th century

Specifications

Technical documents

Citation:

Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0205

See more items in:

Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b72e8493-288c-4bd0-84d5-011155da30a7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0205

Creator:

Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-  Search this

Names:

WBAI Radio (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

WRFM (Radio station : New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Barnet, Will, 1911-2012  Search this

Blaine, Michael  Search this

Cantor, Dorothy  Search this

Close, Chuck, 1940-  Search this

Downes, Rackstraw  Search this

Dückers, Alexander, 1939-  Search this

Field, Richard  Search this

Haas, Richard, 1936-  Search this

Hampleman, Jean  Search this

Kelly, W. J.  Search this

Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this

McCarthy, David, 1960-  Search this

Shaman, Sanford Sivitz  Search this

Storr, Robert  Search this

Tamburini, Fernando  Search this

Tsao, Vivian, 1950-  Search this

Updike, John  Search this

Viola, Jerome  Search this

Wallin, Leland  Search this

Ward, John  Search this

Warhol, Andy, 1928- -- Photographs  Search this

Witkin, Jerome  Search this

Yezzi, David  Search this

Extent:

31.8 Linear feet

16.68 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Slides (photographs)

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1940-2008

Summary:

The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.

Biographical material includes appointment books, several awards, annotated calendars, a catalogue raisonné working list, identification card, membership files, resumes, and one sound recording. Correspondence is with Will Barnet, Chuck Close, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Haas, Jack Levine, Robert Storr, John Updike, Leland Wallin, Jerome Witkin, family, galleries and museums, students, colleagues, artists, arts organizations, and includes a digital recording.

Also found are sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with Pearlstein by Vivian Tsao, Michael Blaine, Sanford Sivitz Shaman, David McCarthy, and broadcast stations WRFM and WBAI. Writing projects and lectures by Pearlstein consist of student work, numerous articles and essays, sound and video recordings of lectures and speeches, letters, memorials, miscellaneous manuscripts and notes, and a U.S. and U.S.S.R. Workshop Exchange project proposal. Writings by others about Pearlstein are by W.J. Kelly, Alexander Dückers, Richard Field, John Ward, Jerome Viola, Robert Storr, and David Yezzi.

Personal business records contain agreements, consignment and loan documents, donations, financial material, exhibition files, insurance and inventories, recommendations written by Pearlstein, reproduction permissions, digital recordings, and teaching files for various institutions. Art reproductions, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for exhibitions of artwork by Pearlstein and others, magazines and journals, newsletters, postcards, and publicity files that include one digital recording are in printed materials.

Two scrapbooks are of Egyptian and Roman architecture and objects accompanied by notes and a small amount of sketches, and one scrapbook is printed material regarding Pearlstein's work and exhibitions. Artwork is by Jean Hampleman, Fernando Tamburini, and unidentified artists. Photographs and moving images that include video recordings and motion picture film of Pearlstein in the studio, portraits, and candids; personal photographs of family, travel, and classmates including Andy Warhol and Dorothy Cantor; artist's models; events and exhibitions; and works of art.

Completed and unedited video and sound recordings, computer graphics footage, soundtrack material, and administrative records for the 1985 documentary video production Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model are also in this collection.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 10 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1964-2008 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 1, 36, OV42)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1955-2008 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 1-10, OVs 42-43, 0.168 GB; ER01)

Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1957-2003 (0.5 linear Feet; Box 10)

Series 4: Writing Projects and Lectures, circa 1945-2008 (2.5 linear Feet; Boxes 10-13, 37-38, 8.26 GB: ER02-ER13)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1955-2007 (1 linear Feet; Boxes 13-14, 3.77 GB: ER14-ER15)

Series 6: Printed Materials, 1946-2008 (3.0 linear Feet; Boxes 14-21, 36, OVs 42-43)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1953-1970s (0.4 linear Feet; Box 22)

Series 8: Artwork, undated, 1967-2004 (0.2 linear Feet; Box 22, OV 42)

Series 9: Photographs and Moving Images, 1940s-2008 (3.3 linear Feet; Boxes 22, 37, 39-41, 4.18 GB; ER16-ER18)

Series 10: Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model, Documentary Production Material, 1983-1991 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 23-30, SAV 31-35)

Biographical / Historical:

Philip Pearlstein (1924- ) is a painter and educator based in New York, N.Y.

Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he attended classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art as a child. While still in high school, his paintings were reproduced in Life magazine after winning Scholastic magazine's high school art competition. After graduating from high school Pearlstein enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology's (CIT) art school, but left after a year to serve in the Army during World War II. He gained knowledge of printing, drafting, and sign painting while stationed in Florida and Italy. After the war he returned to CIT as a student and became art editor of the engineering school's Carnegie Technical magazine. During this time Pearlstein met his wife, Dorothy Cantor, and became close friends with Andy Warhol, both classmates at CIT. Pearlstein moved to New York City with Warhol after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949. In 1955, he completed his thesis on Francis Picabia and received a Master of Arts in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

As Pearlstein's career evolved, he became known for his realistic nudes and landscapes. Many of Pearlstein's paintings were inspired by his travels to the western United States, Peru, Egypt, and to Italy as a 1958 Fulbright Grant recipient. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, and he has worked closely with the Tanager and Alan Frumkin Galleries in New York. In addition to his painting career, Pearlstein was an instructor at Pratt Institute from 1959 to 1963 and at Brooklyn College from 1963 to 1988. He is also a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, serving as president from 2003 to 2006.

Pearlstein continues to work and live in New York, N.Y.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Philip Pearlstein conducted by Paul Cumming, June 8 to August 10, 1972.

Provenance:

The papers were donated in multiple installments by Philip Pearlstein from 1975 to 2009.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.

Rights:

Audio visual material "Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artists' Model": Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposese of publication requires written permission from Pearlstein or his heirs. Contact Reference Services for more information.

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:

Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Architecture -- Egypt  Search this

Architecture, Roman  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Motion pictures (visual works)

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Slides (photographs)

Sound recordings

Transcripts

Video recordings

Citation:

Philip Pearlstein papers, circa 1940-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.pearphil

See more items in:

Philip Pearlstein papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ae8de1cb-660c-49be-b009-d765ed771ebe

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-pearphil

Architect:

van der Gracht, Ides  Search this

Landscape architect:

Shipman, Ellen Biddle, 1869-1950  Search this

Creator:

Little Garden Club of Rye--provenance.  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Medway Plantation,(Goose Creek, South Carolina)

United States of America -- South Carolina -- Berkeley County -- Goose Creek

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets, site plans, plant lists, and photocopies of articles.

General:

Medway Plantation comprises 6700 acres of longleaf and loblolly pine, live oaks, tupelo, swampland and lakes as well as the oldest masonry house in South Carolina. An ornamental garden with irregularly-shaped beds and serpentine paths, known as Miss Lou's garden, was redesigned in the 1930s by Ellen Biddle Shipman. The earlier garden was described as a bird sanctuary and nursery growing anise and Chinese bay trees, azaleas, fringe trees, roses, flowering almond, lilacs, spireas, myrtle, and yellow Jessamine, with wisteria growing up into deciduous trees. The surplus from Miss Lou's garden was planted in long borders alongside three shallow brick terraces, and along paths that led to a schoolhouse on the property. The current drive to the house has double borders of live oak trees hung with Spanish moss that were first planted after the Civil War. In the 1930s architect Ides van der Gracht designed a greenhouse with stepped gables, echoing that feature from the house, and added serpentine brick walls surrounding a garden of flowers and vegetables, on the site of the historic kitchen garden. Prior to the Civil War rice was cultivated at Medway Plantation, followed by cotton and the current crop, timber.

Medway Plantation was first organized as a land grant to Johan (or Jan) van Aerssen in the last quarter of the 17th century. He started the original house which during its long history was burned and rebuilt, nearly abandoned and used only as a hunting lodge, and finally renovated. The house has unusual stepped gables in the Dutch style, reflecting the van Aerssen heritage. After van Aerssen's death circa 1867 and the remarriage of his widow, Sabina de Vignon to Thomas Smith in 1689, the property came into the prominent South Carolina Smith family.

In the early days land parcels routinely were acquired and sold and the dimensions of Medway Plantation changed frequently, finally ending up at 6700 acres under the ownership of Sidney J. and Gertrude S. Legendre in the 20th century, who had purchased and annexed neighboring plantations. Before her death in 2000 Gertrude Legendre put the property in a non-profit foundation with a conservation easement to preserve the pine forests, wetlands, and wildlife. It is recognized as a breeding site for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, bald eagles, wood ducks and wintering ring-necked ducks, and provides habitat for deer, turkey and quail.

Persons associated with the garden include Johan van Aerssen (former owner and builder of original house, 1686-circa 1688); Sabina de Vignon, (former owner, 1688-1689); Thomas Smith and members of the Smith family (former owners, 1689-1701); Edward Hyrne (former owner, 1701-1711); Peter Gaillard Stoney and family (former owners, 1833-1930); Sidney J. and Gertrude Sanford Legendre (former owners, 1930-1993; Ides van Waterschoot van der Gracht (architect, 1930s); Ellen Biddle Shipman (landscape architect, 1930s).

Related Materials:

Medway Plantation related holdings consist of 2 folders (2 35mm slides (photographs), 34 digital images)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- South Carolina -- Goose Creek  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File SC082

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / South Carolina

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6eef92d46-4ed6-41e2-8ee9-f17ee6b00d50

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref12480

Landscape architect:

Briggs, Loutrel W.  Search this

Owner:

Chapman, Clarence  Search this

Provenance:

Little Garden Club of Rye  Search this

Creator:

Broughton, Thomas Col  Search this

Collection, John, Sir  Search this

Barker, Theodore G., Major  Search this

Chapman, Clarence  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Mulberry Plantation (Moncks Corner, South Carolina)

United States of America -- South Carolina -- Berkeley County -- Moncks Corner

Mulberry Plantation (Moncks Corner, South Carolina)

United States of America -- South Carolina -- Berkeley County -- Moncks Corner

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets, site plans, and photocopies of book excerpts and articles.

General:

The brick house at Mulberry Plantation was built on a bluff by the first owner, Thomas Broughton in 1714, the date inscribed in iron on the four weathervanes atop the four pavilions at the corners of the house. Situated along the Cooper River the current property comprises 805 acres and includes gardens on three levels: a formal boxwood parterre garden next to the house, a descending camellia walk, and a formal circle garden, all designed by Loutrel W. Briggs (b.1893-d.1977) circa 1930. Other features include a parterre kitchen garden, a Live oak allée, lagoon, rolling lawns and the oldest mulberry tree in the country. The plantation grew rice at various times in its history, as well as indigo and forest products. Another 19th century commercial project that did not succeed was breeding silk worms to produce domestic silk, with mulberry trees planted to house the worms. By the early 20th century the property was in decline and was sold out of the Broughton family to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence E. Chapman as a winter retreat. The Chapmans restored the house and brought in Briggs, known for developing the Charleston style for the many small gardens he designed in the city and at other Cooper River plantations.

Mulberry Plantation was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The style of the house has been described as Jacobean and French, with a mansard roof, rather than a typical low-country wooden structure. The brick house may have been used as a fortress against attacks during the Yamesse War in 1715, between settlers and Native Americans. At one time there were many slave cabins on the property but now only one remains that has been used as a hunting lodge.

Persons associated with the garden include Thomas Broughton and descendents (former owners, 1714-1914); Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Chapman (former owners, 1915-1981); Historic Charleston Foundation (former owners, 1981-1987); Loutrel Winslow Briggs (December 12, 1893-May, 1977) (landscape designer, circa 1930)

Related Materials:

Mulberry Plantation related holdings consist of 2 folders (2 35mm slides (photographs) + 27 digital images)

Mulberry Plantation related holdings consist of 1 slide (photograph) (col., 35mm.)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- South Carolina -- Moncks Corner  Search this

Plantations  Search this

Spring  Search this

Box  Search this

Formal gardens  Search this

Sundials  Search this

Gardens -- South Carolina -- Moncks Corner  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File SC061

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / South Carolina

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb60ba6e02c-2caf-4c96-88a7-9520448a1b9b

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref12489

Architect:

Eyre, Wilson, 1858-1944  Search this

Landscape architect:

Eyre, Wilson, 1858-1944  Search this

Creator:

Highlands Historical Society  Search this

Former owner:

Sheaff Family  Search this

Roosevelt, Nicholas Guy, 1883?-1965  Search this

Roosevelt, Emily Wharton Sickler, 1884-1970  Search this

Sinkler, Caroline, 1860-1949  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

The Highlands (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania)

United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Montgomery County -- Fort Washington

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes a worksheet, narrative history, copies of articles, Garden Club of America correspondence, and copy of "The Highlands Preservation Master Plan" by George E. Patton (December 1977).

General:

The Highlands lies on the old Skippack Pike in the White Marsh Valley. The English-style stone house was built by Anthony Morris in 1796. The Sheaff family developed the garden with two stone walls--one being crenelated. During Caroline S. Sinkler's ownership after 1915, the garden was renovated closely following the original existing features. Along both walls, there used to be lean-to greenhouses. These were removed by Sinkler and used to create a new wall. The plan of the garden had two axes that formed four separate gardens, one of them a parterre with a large sundial. Small pools, Italian sculptures, and garden ornaments were placed in the garden during Sinkler's time. Decay of the garden began after the death of Mrs. Roosevelt; subsequently the property was bequeathed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Persons and organizations associated with the garden include: Anthony Morris (former owner, 1796); George Sheaff (former owner); John Sheaff (former owner, ?-1915); Caroline Sinkler (former owner, 1917-1941); Nicholas G. and Emily Roosevelt (former owners, 1941-1957); Archie Coutts (gardener); Wilson A. Eyre (landscape architect, 1917); George Saylor (gardener); Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (owners, 1957-); and the Highlands Historical Society.

Related Materials:

The Highlands related holdings consist of 1 folder (5 glass lantern slides and 7 35 mm. slides)

See others in:

The Highlands, ca. 1930.

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- Pennsylvania -- Fort Washington  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File PA008

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Pennsylvania

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb691f7754a-ff9c-4dd3-aeb8-58101872598f

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref16467

Former owner:

Washington, George, 1732-1799  Search this

Clifton, William  Search this

Resident:

Lear, Tobias, 1762-1816  Search this

Owner:

American Horticultural Society  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

River Farm (Alexandria, Virginia)

United States of America -- Virginia -- Alexandria

Scope and Contents:

There are three 35 mm. slides depicting horticultural details which were not catalogued.

The folder includes a work sheet, site analysis map-1985, article copy and brochure.

Former Title:

Wellington

Walnut Tree Farm

Cliftons Neck

General:

River Farm was first called Piscataway Neck by Margaret and Captain Giles Brent in 1653. During William Clifton's ownership, the property was known as Cliftons Neck. George Washington bought the property in 1760 to lease. The largest track at this time was called "River Farm." Tobias Lear, a renter, had called the property Walnut Farm. In 1859, a century after Washington purchased the property from Clifton, Charles Augustine Washington sold 652 acres of River Farm to three Quaker brothers, Stacey, Isaac, and William Snowden of New Jersey in order to acquire lumber for the ship building. The Snowdens divided the acreage, then known as Wellington, into three sections. In 1866, 280 acres including the present-day River Farm were sold to three men known as "The Syndicate." A writer from The Washington Sunday Star visited the estate in 1904 and referred to it as "this broken and pathetic house." The Wellington property was subsequently purchased in 1912 by Miss Theresa Thompson, a member of a prominent local family. Miss Thompson made changes and improvements at Wellington, but is was for Malcolm Matheson, who bought the property in 1919, to transform it into the early-20th century country estate we know today. The American Horticultural Society purchased River Farm in 1973 and made it their headquarters. The Society maintains display and test gardens on the 27 acre site. The 1757 main house is furnished in period; and the gardens offer identified plants.

Persons associated with the property include: Captain Giles Brent (former owner, 1653); Giles Brent (former owner); George Brent (former owner); Cliftons of Chotank (former owners 1739); George Washington (former owner, 1760); Charles Augustine Washington (former owner); Stacey, Isaac, and William Snowden (former owners, 1859); "The Syndicate" (former owners, 1866); Miss Theresa Thompson (former owner, 1912); Malcolm Matheson (former owner, 1919); and the American Horticultural Society (owners, 1973-present).

Related Materials:

River Farm related holdings consist of 2 folders (3 glass lantern slides and 10 35 mm. slides)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- Virginia -- Alexandria  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File VA110

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Virginia

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6de036a2b-ea32-4acd-9a21-8c288309c490

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref18786

Creator:

Ely, Helena Rutherfurd, -1920  Search this

Provenance:

Garden Club of Orange and Dutchess Counties  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Meadowburn (Warwick, New York)

Meadowburn (Vernon, New Jersey)

United States of America -- New York -- Orange County -- Warwick

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets; landscape plans; copies of photographs; copy of biography of Helena Rutherfurd Ely(October 1951); compilation of notes from oral history by Albert Furman, Jr. (1998-2000); and copies of articles and programs.

Former Title:

Ely Gardens [Middletown Daily Times-Press, 7 November 1925]

General:

Meadowburn was the summer home of Helena Rutherfurd Ely, a prominent gardening author who wrote three books at the beginning of the 20th century. Her first book, A Woman's Hardy Garden, is reflected throughout the five acres of gardens she designed at Meadowburn. She has been called the American Gertrude Jekyll, as they both advocated a casually abundant, hardy, no-fuss gardening style. Towards the end of her career as a designer/gardner, Mrs. Ely was more and more drawn to the use of evergreens.

Vernon, New Jersey, Warwick, New York's "sister town" across the state line, is also shown as Meadowburn's location. Meadowburn straddles the border between the two states. According to Helena Ely Rutherfurd Meade's biography of her mother written in 1951, "Meadowburn Farm is mainly in New Jersey, but there is still a good bit of it in the State of New York." Though it is listed in a registration form (1992) for the National Register of Historic Places as being located in Vernon Township, New Jersey, this designation only covered the "significant features of the house and gardens at Meadowburn Farm; five acres, more or less."

Persons and organizations associated with this garden include: Louisa and Mary Rutherfurd (former owners, 1853-1860); John and Charlotte Rutherfurd (former owners, 1860-1881); Helena Rutherfurd Ely (former owner, 1881-1920); Alfred Ely, Jr. (former owner); Charles H. Coster (former owner, 1930-1977); Albert Furman, Sr. (gardener, 1893-1948); Albert Furman, Jr. (gardener (1948-2004); and Kurt Seligman (frog sculpture and fountain pool).

Related Materials:

Meadowburn related holdings consist of 3 folders (26 35 mm. slides)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- New York -- Warwick  Search this

Gardens -- New Jersey -- Vernon  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File NY286

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / New York

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb64ebec3d4-4da0-4ca9-b047-593e01fcd9e1

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref27161

Provenance:

Garden Club of Rye  Search this

Former owner:

Bird, Henry  Search this

Erikson, Alice Bird  Search this

Landscape architect:

Erikson, Alice Bird  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Bird Homestead (Rye, New York)

United States of America -- New York -- Westchester -- Rye

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets and photocopies of articles.

General:

Located on the banks of the tidal Blind Brook estuary, lined with salt marshes, Bird Homestead was the home of Henry Bird (1869-1959), a prominent entomologist and president of the New York Entomological Society who specialized in the study of moths. The landscape and garden was of a modest size and represents a unique combination of a small self-sufficient farm with ornamental perennial beds, shrubs, and roses plus fruit trees that combined both beauty and utility, along with specific plants grown for entomological research. The Greek revival style house, outbuildings, picket fence and stonewall all date to the 19th century, a rarity on Westchester County's Long Island Sound Shore.

The garden features date primarily from the 1920s and 1940s, with additions in 2012 for educational purposes. The Bouton-Bird Erikson family owned the property for five generations from 1852-2009. The non-profit Bird Homestead Preservatio trust now operates the property as a historic, environmental, and educational site.

The Greek revival style house built in the 19th century, white oak trees shading the house, the remains of earlier gardens, and outbuildings including a barn, a workshop and chicken coop. The small family farm was self-sufficient until well into the 20th century, raising chickens and growing fruits and vegetables. The property is being restored by the Bird Homestead Preservation Trust and is used to teach children about the natural environment including organic gardening in four raised beds on the site of an earlier large cold frame. A cedar arbor for grape vines was recently hoisted back to stand vertically in the garden after many years of leaning at a severe angle. Surviving shrubs near the house include lilac, wisteria, roses, azalea, mock orange and beautybushes, and a bed of ferns is undisturbed by neglect for many years.

Henry Bird encouraged the use of beneficial insects in the garden rather than spraying pesticides and maintained a small garden area with plants that would attract the insects he wanted to study. Bird also was a proponent of native plants and established a large natives garden at 'Bye-Wood' on the Mr. and Mrs. William J. Knapp estate, which led him to write "A Proposed Type of American Garden" with Louise Allen Knapp, published in 1929 in ASLA's "Landscape Architecture" journal. Daughter Alice Bird Erikson (1903-1993) was an artist and trained as a landscape architect at the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture. In 1942 she illustrated Trees of the Countryside (Alfred A. Knopf) by Margaret McKenny, who had been a classmate.

Persons associated with the garden include Henry Bird (former owner, 1959), Alice Bird Erikson (former owner and landscape architect, 1903-1994); City of Rye, New York (2009- ).

Related Materials:

Bird Homestead related holdings consist of 1 folder (24 digital images)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:

Gardens -- New York -- Rye  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File NY873

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / New York

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6d79386ff-6e30-4e1b-8aaf-99adb384c45e

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref30065