United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Erie County -- Erie
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, a photocopy of an article, and other information.
General:
Created under the direction of the late John C. Ferguson, the World War II Memorial of Erie Pennsylvania was dedicated on November 11, 1999. The memorial is comprised of a garden and granite blocks engraved with the names of 727 soldiers from Erie County who died while in service during World War II, a brief pictorial history of the war, and images of a number of veterans who survived the war. The original landscaping for the site was designed to complement the memorial and to minimize maintenance needs. At its inception plantings included silver maples, a juniper hedge, pampas grasses, black-eyed Susans, and daylilies.
In 2001 John Ferguson asked his son, Tim Ferguson to assume responsibility for the upkeep of the landscape, which had been maintained by contracted professional landscaping crews. Tim took the opportunity to become more personally invested in the caretaking of the memorial and over the next few years he made various improvements to the property to enhance certain aspects of the memorial and to add more variety of color to the landscaping. Bradford pear trees were added to complement the scale of the monument, provide shade in the summer, and add color as they bloom in the spring. Shrub roses, an addition inspired by military cemeteries in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and gold mop juniper were added for color; the black-eyed Susans were replaced with Ninebark, as well as arborvitae, and boxwood, to provide a sheltering effect and promote a more serene environment. Red and white geraniums are used to add color, as are tulips and daffodils, and dwarf Japanese Maples add additional privacy and screening and provide a thematic link to the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.
Persons and groups associated with the garden include: John C. Ferguson (chairman, 1998-2006), John Timothy Ferguson (director, 2000-present), Erie School District (property owner), The Seedlings Garden Club (garden volunteers), Dan Dahlkemper (landscape architect, 1998-1999), Mike Geiger/Geiger & Sons (designer, stonemason, 1998-1999), Prudence Burnes (graphic artist, 1999)
Related Materials:
World War II Memorial Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (9 digital images)
See others in:
Garden Club of American collection, ca. 1920- [ongoing].
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.
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C., facility.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Associated American Artists records, circa 1934-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
