Brazoria County. San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Dance Bayou Unit. About 560 m SE of the intersection of Farm Market Road 524 and County Road 743. Abundant in rich mesic forest and along forest edges throughout the unit. GPS-UTM 15 (NAD 83)., Texas, United States, North America
This collection, which dates from 1926-1986, documents the output of Moses Asch through the various record labels he founded and co-founded, and includes some of his personal papers. The Asch collection includes published recordings, master tapes, outtakes, business records, correspondence, photographs, and film.
Scope and Contents:
The Moses and Frances Asch Collection measures 841 cubic feet and dates from 1926-1987, with some contemporary, relevant correspondence, clippings, and ephemera added after 1987.
Most of the collection consists of audio recordings (commercial 78 rpm and long-playing records, open reel tapes, acetate discs, and test pressings), correspondence with recording artists and producers, artwork, photographs, ephemera, clippings, record production materials, writings, and business papers relating to Folkways Records. Materials relating to Folkways Records can be found primarily in the Correspondence, Folkways Production, Business Records, Photographs, Artwork, Sound Recordings, and Film series.
The collection also contains some biographical materials and personal correspondence, including materials related to Asch's first business, Radio Laboratories, located in the Biographical Materials series. Correspondence, ephemera, photographs, record production materials, business papers, and recordings relating to Asch's record labels before Folkways Records (Asch Recordings, Disc Company of America, Cub Records) are located in the Early Label Materials series as well as the Audio Recordings and Photographs series.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged in 10 series:
Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1987
Series 2: Folkways Production, 1946-1987
Series 3: Business Records, 1940-1987
Series 4: Woody Guthrie papers, 1927-1985
Series 5: Early Label Materials, 1940-1949
Series 6: Biographical Materials, 1926-1987
Series 7: Photographs
Series 8: Artwork
Series 9: Audio Recordings
Series 10: Film
At this time, the collection is partially processed. Please contact rinzlerarchives@si.edu for more information.
Biographical/Historical note:
The son of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, Moses Asch was born in Poland in 1905. His childhood was spent in Poland, France, Germany, and New York. While young, Asch developed an interest in radio electronics, which ultimately lead him to his life's work, recording the music and sounds of the world. He established several record labels in succession, sometimes partnering with other record companies. Two of his fist record companies, Asch Recordings and DISC Co. of America, went bankrupt. They were followed by his best-known label, Folkways Records, which was founded in 1948 with Marian Distler (1919-1964). He was still working on Folkways recordings when he died in 1986.
Folkways Records sought to document the entire world of sound. The 2,168 titles Asch released on Folkways include traditional and contemporary music from around the world, spoken word in many languages, and documentary recordings of individuals, communities, and current events. Asch's business practices revolved around the commitment to keep every recording issued by Folkways in print, despite low sales. Asch stayed afloat by cutting costs where he could (such as color printing) and offering a high-quality product, meticulously recorded and accompanied by extensive liner notes. In doing this, he could charge a slightly higher price than other commercial outfits. Despite a tenuous relationship with financial solvency, Folkways grew to be not only one of the most important independent record companies in the United States in the 20th century, but also one of the largest and most influential record companies in the world.
Asch's output of recordings on various labels, including published recordings, open reel master tapes, outtakes, and acetate disks, in addition to his business papers, correspondence, photographs, and other files were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987. The collection came to the Smithsonian with the understanding that all 2168 titles under the Folkways label would be kept available in perpetuity.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Provenance:
Ralph Rinzler arranged the Smithsonian's acquisition of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection in 1987, beginning with Asch before his death in 1986 and continuing with extensive discussions between Rinzler and the Asch family. Since its acquisition, archivist Jeff Place and others have added contemporary, relevant correspondence with Folkways artists and related individuals.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
United States of America -- Virginia -- Fauquier County -- Warrenton
Scope and Contents:
This file contains 40 digital images and 1 folder.
General:
This 34 acre property, established in 1901, is defined by its stately white oak trees, expansive lawns, and textured beds that shelter a ranch style house. It was involved in the creation of three gardening and conservation groups: the Warrenton Garden Club in 1911, The Garden Club of America in 1913, and the Garden Club of Virgina in 1920. In 2010, the current owners hired C. Colston Burrell of Native Landscape Design to re-envision and expand upon the original gardens. A goal in the design of the gardens was to create season-long interest with color, form, and texture. The design employs both native and site adapted ornamentals, though native trees and shrubs provide the foundation for the gardens.
The original house at Marshfield burned down in 1942 and was replaced with a modest brick house. Remnants of the original foundation form the walls enclosing a pair of water gardens connected by a slender rill. Ferns, hellebores, Virginia bluebells, and thousands of bulbs flank the entry drive, sheltered by dogwoods, redbuds, and oaks. A rocky rill bordered by white azaleas spills down from a decorative waterfall to a shallow goldfish pond with iris and woodland plants. The old lawn now features a series of garden rooms. Adjacent to the house are the Winter Garden and Luna Garden. The Winter Garden includes hellebores and early bulbs, along with shrubs such as daphne and quince. The Luna Garden features intricate plantings, originally being designed in the shape of a crescent moon, and later expanded as a set of opposing arcs. Featured in this garden room are blue phlox, bicolored daffodils, and alliums in the spring. From the Luna Garden, you pass under a tall wood and metal archway festooned with flowering vines to stand at the head of a sweeping vegetable and cutting garden. At the end of this 200-foot vista, the axis ends with a 20 foot harvest table set on a wide bluestone terrace backed with a bosquet of columnar ginkgo trees underplanted with 500 blue camassia.
The 200-foot-long Boxwood Allee, parallel with the vegetable terraces, combines old American boxwood from the original garden with a collection of Japanese maple cultivars set in niches. Plantings of tulips, daffodils, Iphion, hostas, lilies, and elephant ears repeat the length of beds in blocks of color and texture. The Secret Garden contains a Celtic Stela, a stone monolith by Boston artist, Karin Stanley. A series of colorful meadow gardens, accessed down a curved hallway of fringe trees, anchors the central lawn. The meadows are planted with native and a few site-adapted wildflowers. The season begins with drifts of daffodils, overtopped by wildflowers and native grasses. A stately sycamore anchors the lawn below the house. The Druidic Circle features a grouping of teak root knots surrounded by aged boxwoods along with winter-flowering witch hazels. Off the back terrace, within a weathered stone foundation of the original house that burned down, lies a pair of water gardens connected by a narrow rill. Double cascades provide a pleasing sound that mitigates the noise from the busy country lane. Water cascades into the ponds through wide, stainless-steel waterfalls and exists to the rill in shallow spillways. The 15 acre bottomland along Great Run has been restored to a native meadow. Beebalm, ironweed, cardinal flower, and blazing-star bloom in summer, followed by asters, goldenrods and the dancing plumes of big bluestem and Indiangrass in autumn.
Persons associated with the garden include: C. Colston Burrell (designer, 2012-2015); Benito Hernandez (gardener, 2012-present); Dolores Mendoza (gardener, 2012-present).
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.
Appleton Gardens of Marshfield (Warrenton, Virginia) 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.
United States of America -- Connecticut -- Litchfield County -- Litchfield
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, planting plans, and a photocopy of an article.
General:
An outstanding feature of Chestnut Hill Gardens is a 240-foot long perennial border planted in 2004 alongside a split rail and stone fence that separates the house and gardens from a nine-acre meadow. The owners first planted an 80-foot long border in the same location in 1982; by 2003 that border looked tired. Everything but the trees was dug up, more curves were added to widen the strip now three times the original length, and the soil was amended and tilled. Under the direction of landscape designer Mary Ann McGourty of Hillside Gardens four people replanted most of the perennials and shrubs that had been heeled into the vegetable garden temporarily, adding native plants and more deer resistant perennials - about 500 plants put in place on a single day in June 2004. Forty large pots of spring bulbs that were collected from the original border were replanted in the autumn. Milorganite, repellents and a large dog help reduce deer predation.
The 56-acre property includes a solar home, an octagonal barn with an espaliered crab apple tree, a vegetable garden in raised beds, a cutting garden, an ornamental grass garden, a parterre herb garden in raised beds with a water feature in the center, a pergola that shades the patio, a pinetum, and fruit trees. The varied plantings produce three seasons of color. The garden has been included in local garden tours on several occasions.
Persons associated with the garden include Mary Ann McGourty, Hillside Gardens, Norwalk CT (landscape designer, 2004).
Related Materials:
Chestnut Hill Gardens related holdings consist of 1 folder (20 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.
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.
