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 images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.
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:
Architectural League of New York records, 1880s-1974, bulk 1927-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund
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:
Architectural League of New York records, 1880s-1974, bulk 1927-1968. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund
An interview of Merle Armitage conducted 1964 February 6, by Sylvia Loomis, for the Archives of American Art.
Armitage speaks of his role as Public Works of Art Project regional chairman of Southern California, including his supervision of 126 artists involved in painting, drawing, sculpture, lithography and mural projects; experimental work in PWAP easel painting projects; censorship of subject matter in a mural for the Frank Wiggins Trade School; his opposition to government subsidized art programs; his impressions of Edward Bruce, Dalzell Hatfield, James Milford Zornes, and others associated with the PWAP. Armitage also speaks of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and contemporary book design.
Biographical / Historical:
Merle Armitage (1893-1975) was an art administrator and graphic artist of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 48 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
