This collection contains over 37,000 35mm slides, 3,000 glass lantern slides and garden files that may include descriptive information, photocopied articles (from journals, newspapers, or books), planting lists, correspondence, brochures, landscape plans and drawings. Garden files were compiled by Garden Club of America (GCA) members for most of the gardens included in the collection. Some gardens have been photographed over the course of several decades; others only have images from a single point in time. In addition to images of American gardens, there are glass lantern slides of the New York Flower Show (1941-1951) and trips that GCA members took to other countries, including Mexico (1937), Italy, Spain, Japan (1935), France (1936), England (1929), and Scotland.
A number of the slides are copies of historic images from outside repositories including horticultural and historical societies or from horticultural books and publications. The GCA made a concerted effort in the mid-1980s to acquire these images in order to increase its documentation of American garden history. Because of copyright considerations, use of these particular images may be restricted.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Garden Club of America was established in 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the Garden Club of Philadelphia and eleven other garden clubs met to create a national garden club. Its purpose is to foster the knowledge and love of gardening and to restore and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and gardening and conservation efforts. The GCA was incorporated in Delaware in 1923, with its headquarters established in New York City. Today, local clubs are organized under twelve regional zones. The GCA continues its tradition of hosting flower shows and publishing material related to gardening in the United States.
The GCA's glass lantern slides were used by The GCA for presentations and lectures about notable gardens throughout the United States dating back to colonial times. An effort was made in the late 1980s, in preparation of the 75th anniversary of the Garden Club of America's founding, to collect the disbursed slides. These slides were to eventually form the Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens. The informational value of this collection is extensive since a number of images of the more than 4,500 gardens represented show garden designs that have changed over time or no longer exist. While the majority of images document a range of designed upper and upper-middle class gardens throughout the U.S., the scope of the collection is expanding as volunteers photograph and document contemporary gardens including community and vernacular gardens.
The gardens illustrate the design work of dozens of landscape architects including Marian Coffin, Beatrix Farrand, Lawrence Halprin, Hare & Hare, Umberto Innocenti, Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen, Warren Manning, the Olmsted Brothers, Charles Platt, Ellen Biddle Shipman, and Fletcher Steele. Because of their proximity to the gardens, works of notable architects and sculptors may also be featured in the images.
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.
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.
The records of the Sculptors Guild measure 5.7 linear feet, date from 1936-1979, and document the history of this non-profit artist organization from its inception in 1937 to the late 1970s. The records contain correspondence and minutes documenting the activities of the Guild's various committees, legal and financial records, artist files for Guild members, exhibition files, printed material, scrapbooks and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the Sculptors Guild measure 5.7 linear feet, date from 1936-1979, and document the history of this non-profit artist organization from its inception in 1937 to the late 1970s. The records contain correspondence and minutes documenting the activities of the Guild's various committees, legal and financial records, artist files for Guild members, exhibition files, printed material, scrapbooks and photographs.
The early years of the Guild's history, from 1938-1948, are particularly well documented in business records including detailed meeting minutes of the executive board, membership and nominating committees, and exhibition and cultural committees. Correspondence files provide a good overview of the development of Guild programs and changes within the organization from 1937-1976, although coverage of events from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s is relatively sparse. Researchers should consult subseries 1.2: Correspondence by Subject, for records relating to this period.
Artist files provide biographical information for and photographs of many of the Guild's members. Scrapbooks, exhibition files and printed material document the founding of the Guild and its exhibitions from the late 1930s to the 1970s. The collection also contains photographs of Guild members, officers and many of its exhibitions.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1937-1976 (Boxes 1, 9, OV 10; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 2: Business Records, 1936-1974 (Boxes 2-3; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Artist Files, 1936-circa 1965 (Boxes 3-4, 7; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Exhibition Files, circa 1938-1979 (Boxes 4, 9, OV 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1938-1952 (Boxes 7-9; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1938-1974 (Boxes 5-6, OV 10; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Photographs, circa 1938, circa 1960s (Box 6; 1 folder)
Historical Note:
The Sculptors Guild was founded in New York City in 1937 by a group of artists interested in the promotion of contemporary sculpture in a wide variety of styles through free group exhibitions and educational programs. Membership in the Guild was obtainable only by invitation, based on a sculptor's creative ability and professional standing.
The Guild held annual exhibitions of contemporary sculpture in locations such as the terrace of the International Building at Rockefeller Plaza, Bryant Park, the New York Botanical Gardens, and perhaps most notably at Lever House, marking the introduction of the exhibition of professional art in corporate lobbies. The Guild frequently combined demonstrations and lectures with its exhibitions. Many traveling exhibitions circulated under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Board of Education of the City of New York. The Guild also held several outdoor exhibitions in various other locations in New York City, and at the New York World's Fair in 1939-1940.
Between 1937 and 1964 the Sculptors Guild was supported by membership dues, a 30 percent commission taken on sales of sculpture at annual exhibibitions and private funding. In the mid-1960s the Guild recognized the need for increased funding from foundations and established the Friends of the Sculptors Guild to this end.
The Sculptors Guild was headquartered at various New York locations throughout its history. From 1937-1938, it was located at 52 West 8th Street, moving in early 1939 to 37 East 4th Street. Later that year the Guild moved again, to 96 Fifth Avenue, where it stayed for 25 years. In 1966 the Guild moved to 106 West 16th Street and, in the following year, to 797 Madison Avenue. In 1991 the Guild was located at 35 East 85th Street. The Sculptors Guild is still in operation in 2005 and is located at the Soho Building, 110 Greene Street, New York City.
Provenance:
The Sculptors Guild records were donated by the Sculptors Guild in 1966, 1979, and 1991 and were microfilmed on Reels D262-D266A and 5908-5910 in the order in which they were received.
Restrictions:
Collection is partially microfilmed. Use of material not microfilmed 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.
Topic:
Sculpture, American -- Societies, etc. Search this
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Hollerith Family Collection includes approximately 2,200 35mm slides dating from 1952 to 1980 that document the horticultural interests and travels of sisters Virginia and Nan Hollerith, members of the Georgetown Garden Club in Washington, D.C. The images primarily show private and public gardens, plantations, and historic sites in the mid-Atlantic and the southeast regions of the United States. Included in the collection are slides documenting the activities of the Georgetown Garden Club and various floral arrangements.
Arrangement Note:
The Holleriths used a self-designed numbering system to organize their 35mm slides. They captioned most slides with the name of the garden or site shown in the slide.
Biographical/Historical note:
Lucia, Nannie (Nan) and Virginia Hollerith were the daughters of inventor Herman Hollerith and his wife Lucia Beverly Talcott Hollerith. Other Hollerith children include Herman Hollerith, Jr. (1892-1982), Charles Hollerith (1893-1972), and Richard Hollerith (1900-1967).
Herman Hollerith's invention of the punch card tabulating machine, which played an integral role in the creation of the modern information processing industry, was implemented in the 1890 census to summarize census data. His business, the Tabulating Machine Company, would ultimately become International Business Machines (IBM). Upon selling his business in 1911, Herman Hollerith purchased a Georgetown residence known as Mackall Square, and added to the property a second home, which was known as the Hollerith House. The three Hollerith sisters spent the bulk of their lives in residence at this Georgetown home and at the family's Mathews County, Virginia property, known as Brighton, or Mobjack Farm.
Lucia Beverly Hollerith, the eldest of the six Hollerith children, was born in 1891. A visual artist, she studied at the Corcoran School of Art and taught floral arrangement at the National Cathedral School for Girls. Born in 1898, Nannie Talcott Hollerith, commonly addressed as Nan, appears to have been particularly engaged in the maintenance of the Hollerith family estate. Virginia Hollerith was born in 1902. The youngest of the Hollerith children, she published a biographical piece about her father in the Spring 1971 issue of Isis by the History of Science Society.
Mrs. Lucia Hollerith, mother of the Hollerith children, co-founded the Georgetown Garden Club in 1924. The three sisters were active members throughout their lives, as well as active members of Christ Church in Georgetown, where they regularly contributed floral arrangements for the altar. These and other floral arrangements are documented in the collection, as are the Hollerith sisters' activities with the Georgetown Garden Club.
Related Archival Materials note:
Related materials may be found in the Hollerith Family Papers at the Washington D.C. Historical Society's Kiplinger Research Library and Collections, the Papers of the Hollerith Family at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, the Barnard-Talcott Hollerith Family Papers in the Special Collections Research Center at The George Washington University, and the Papers of Herman Hollerith in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.
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.
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:
Gardening -- United States -- societies, etc Search this
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Hollerith Family Slide 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.
Discourse, on the Objects and Importance of The National Institution for the Promotion of Science, Established at Washington, 1840, Delivered at the First Anniversary
