These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
Extent:
270 Cubic feet (233 boxes, 850 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Linen tracings
Paper flimsies
Business records
Design drawings
Blueprints
Patents
Specifications
Reports
Photograph albums
Photographs
Trade literature
Date:
1784-2004, undated
bulk 1915-1930
Summary:
The engineering firm that became Lockwood Greene was founded by David Whitman, a mill engineer, in 1832. Amos D. Lockwood, a consultant, succeeded Whitman and entered a partnership with Stephen Greene in 1882. The firm specialized in industrial engineering and construction; they designed and built a wide variety of structures and work environments worldwide over the next century. Lockwood Greene was acquired by CH2M HILL in December, 2003. Before its acquisition by CH2MHILL it was reportedly the oldest industrial engineering, construction, and professional services firm in the United States.
Scope and Contents:
The Lockwood Greene records are a comprehensive range of documents related to the appraisal, building, construction, design, evaluation, and engineering of facilities for a variety of clients. The material covers the entire period of industrialization of the United States, and, provides a thorough record of the textile industry, both in New England and the South. Some of the textile mills are documented with unusual completeness, showing water and steam power layouts, factory village plans, and landscaping schedules. A broad range of other building typologies is also covered, including projects with public or retail functions, such as early automobile showrooms, hospitals, apartments and private dwellings, churches, and schools.
In-depth study of the company's earliest history is hampered by a scarcity of records, many of which were lost in the great fire that destroyed Boston's city center in 1872. Nevertheless, graphic and textual evidence does exist within the collection that illuminates these early projects, in addition to the fabric of surviving buildings. The Lockwood Greene records document several commissions that the firm would return to again and again over the course of many decades as clients requested plant additions, upgrades to mechanical and operating systems, and other substantive changes. Researchers are encouraged to examine the blueprints, elevations, and plans for these later additions in order to find illustrations of the firm's earlier interventions at the site. In addition to drawings, other visual evidence for nineteenth-century projects can be found in the company's extensive photo files, which often document structures for which drawings do not exist.
The Lockwood Greene records contain an abundance of graphic and textual evidence for structures designed after 1910 until the 1930s. After this period, visual documentation becomes much more limited. This is partially due to the evolution of drafting tools and information management technologies within the architecture and engineering profession. Lockwood Greene was an early adopter of technological innovations in rendering and data capture, beginning with the introduction of aperture cards and microfilm and extending to the adoption of computer-aided design (CAD) programs. These more modern formats were not part of the acquisition, and, at the time of writing, still reside with the company.
The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of interest to historians of architecture and engineering, as well as those that study the history of business and labor relations. It provides extensive textual and documentary evidence on the evolution and growth of American engineering and the increasing professionalization of the discipline through specialization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rich holdings of architectural drawings, photographs, and specifications provide unparalleled resources that trace the evolution of industrial buildings and their typologies; experimentation with building materials and systems, particularly with regards to fireproofing; and the history of textile manufacture in the United States. In addition, there is also rich visual and documentary evidence of the changing relationships between corporations and their employees through photographs, plans, and designs for company towns and mill villages, as well as through corporate records that illustrate the work culture of Lockwood Greene itself. The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of special interest to historic preservationists as the awareness of the significance of industrial and vernacular buildings continues to grow, and detailed design drawings and other visual material will be of especial value for restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive-reuse projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1, Project Drawings, Renderings, and Plans, 1784-1969, undated
Series 2, Photographs and Slides, 1881-2001, undated
Series 5, Non-Lockwood Greene Publications, 1910-1984, undated
Series 6, Audio-Visual, 1964
Biographical / Historical:
Lockwood Greene, one of the nation's oldest engineering firms, traces it roots to 1832, when Rhode Island native David Whitman began a machinery repair service. Riding the wave of the early industrial revolution in textile manufacturing, Whitman added mill design services to his repertoire, which formed the backbone of a flourishing consulting business for the rest of the century. Whitman was one of the first itinerant mill engineers or "doctors" that traveled throughout New England advising various industrialists on the placement, design, and construction of their factories and the layout of the complicated system of machinery and shafting that they contained. His largest commission was the design of the Bates Manufacturing Company complex in Lewiston, Maine, which was incorporated in 1850 and soon became one of the largest textile producers in New England.
Upon Whitman's death in 1858, his unfinished work was assumed by Amos D. Lockwood, a prominent mill agent and astute businessman who had built a name for himself in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The successful completion of the projects at Lewiston brought enough additional demand for Lockwood's services to prompt him to relocate to Boston, where he formally opened an independent consulting office with partner John W. Danielson in 1871. For the next ten years, A.D. Lockwood & Company was involved in a least eight major mill design projects, half of which were for new construction. One of these projects, the design and construction of the Piedmont Manufacturing Company in Greenville (now Piedmont), South Carolina was especially significant and is considered to be a prototype for the Southern textile industry.
In 1882, Lockwood established a new business, Lockwood, Greene and Company, with Stephen Greene, a professionally-trained civil engineer who had joined the firm in 1879. As the firm grew, it expanded its scope as consultants supplying all of the necessary architectural and engineering services a prospective owner needed to initiate, equip, and run a complete plant. Acting as the owners' representative, the company supervised construction and installation but did not directly act as builders or contractors. Lockwood
Greene's objective expertise was legendary and made it a leader in this emergent field. As Samuel B. Lincoln explains in his history of the company:
"The new firm's knowledge and experience in the textile industry enabled it to analyze samples of cloth and, from such samples, to provide everything necessary for a completed plant to make such goods in any desired quantity. It did not at any time act as selling agents for machinery or equipment, neither did it accept commissions or rebates from suppliers: by this policy it maintained a position as impartial and independent engineer." (pages 105-107)
Greene became president of the company upon Lockwood's death in 1884. Under his leadership, the company expanded into additional industries and designed an array of other industrial building types that would prefigure the diversity of later work. In 1893, the company revolutionized American industry by designing and constructing the first factory whose operating power was provided entirely over electric wires from a remote power plant, rather than relying upon a water source or a stockpiled fuel supply. The Columbia Mills project created a great deal of publicity for the firm and was a signal to other manufacturers that there were viable alternatives to the use of steam power.
As changing economic conditions led Lockwood Greene to move away from its traditional reliance upon the textile manufacturing industry, it was very successful at soliciting projects for a wide variety of structures, from newspaper plants and automotive factories to convention halls and schools. After 1900, Lockwood Greene expanded its operations and opened branch offices in other cities, including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, and Charlotte. In 1915, Edwin F. Greene, president and son of Stephen Greene, reorganized the firm as Lockwood, Greene & Company, Incorporated This new entity served as the parent company and controlled three subsidiaries: one to own and operate cotton mills that Greene had acquired; one to manage other companies' textile mills; and one to provide engineering services.
Lockwood Greene expanded its operations tremendously as the textile industry boomed under wartime demand and in the years following. The severe textile depression from 1923 to 1928 caused the collapse of this structure, however, as Lockwood Greene continued to suffer deep losses in the textile mills that it owned. The parent company was dissolved in 1928 and the engineering subsidiary, which had remained profitable, was salvaged as Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated.
After a rocky start with the onset of the Depression, the company began to prosper during the Second World War and its growth continued steadily throughout the next several decades. In the late 1960s, as a result of declining business, the company's headquarters was transferred from Boston to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1981, Phillipp Holtzman USA, a subsidiary of Phillipp Holtzman AG of Frankfurt, Germany, acquired a majority interest in Lockwood Greene. In 2003, CH2M Hill, a global provider of engineering, construction, and operations services based in Denver, Colorado, acquired the company.
From its beginnings under David Whitman, Lockwood Greene has become one of the most diversified engineering firms in the United States. The firm is best known as a designer of industrial and institutional buildings, but the company has become a leader in many additional areas in recent years. Lockwood Greene dominates the market in the design and production of the germ- and dust-free "clean room" facilities required by the pharmaceutical industry and micro-electronics manufacturers. The company has also developed expertise in designing integrated security and networking systems for industrial plants, international port facilities, and military installations worldwide.
Banham, Raynor. A Concrete Atlantis: U.S. Industrial Building and European Modern Architecture, 1900-1925. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986.
Biggs, Lindy. The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology, and Work in America's Age of Mass Production. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Bradley, Betsy Hunter. The Works: The Industrial Architecture of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Greene, Benjamin Allen. Stephen Greene: Memories of His Life, with Addresses, Resolutions and Other Tributes of Affection. Chicago, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1903.
Heiser, William J. Lockwood Greene, 1958-1968, Another Period in the History of an Engineering Business. Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated, 1970.
Lincoln, Samuel B. Lockwood Greene: The History of an Engineering Business, 1832-1958. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1960.
Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated The Lockwood Greene Story: One-Hundred-Fifty Years of Engineering Progress. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated; undated.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Instituion Libraries
"[Trade catalogs from Lockwood, Greene & Co.]", Trade Literature at the American History Museum
Books, Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Lockwood Greene, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1997 (original drawings). An addendum to the collection was donated by CH2M HILL in 2007.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. One film is tored at an off-site facility and special arrangements must be made to work with it. 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. 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.
Originally skinned with mahogany and covered with lightweight cotton "glider cloth," then covered with a shellac-based varnish. In 2000, restorers removed original fabric and shellac coating, recovered with Grade A cotton fabric followed by several coats of nitrate dope, then lemon shellac, finishing with several coats of Johnson Wax.
United States of America -- District of Columbia -- Washington
Varying Form:
Victorian Garden, formerly known as.
General:
The Enid A. Haupt Garden was dedicated on May 22, 1987. It is located between the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arts and Industries Building, and south of the Smithsonian Institution Building, commonly referred to as the Castle. This 4.3 acre area actually sits atop the Quadrangle complex - an underground facility made up of three Smithsonian museum spaces: the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center. Above-ground kiosk entrances to the Sackler and African Art museums are located in the Haupt Garden itself. The Haupt Garden contains three discrete gardens within it: the Parterre, the Moongate Garden, and the Fountain Garden.
After the Castle's construction was completed in 1855, the area to its south became known as the South Yard. In 1887, it functioned as a zoo for bison to promote the conservation of their over-hunted population. The bison were moved to the newly-established National Zoological Park in 1889, and for nearly a century, the South Yard was home to a number of different buildings including the Aerodrome Shop, a solar radiation lab, a bug house (where beetles cleaned skeletal remains of animal specimens), temporary storage and collection buildings, a U.S. Army hangar, and a greenhouse and Quonset hut for the Office of Horticulture. In 1976, the Smithsonian's Office of Horticulture (now Smithsonian Gardens) planted the Victorian Garden parterre on the South Yard, in celebration of America's Bicentennial and to complement a Victoriana exhibition on horticulture in the adjacent Arts and Industries Building. This garden was inspired by a similar parterre made for the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter authorized $500,000 for the planning and construction of the Quadrangle - an underground complex built in the South Yard - to house the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center. In 1982, the Victorian Garden was removed. Construction on the Quadrangle spanned from June 21, 1983 to 1987. Architect Jean Paul Carlhian of the firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbot was in charge of designing the Quadrangle complex which incorporated an initial design concept by Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura.
Once basic construction was complete and soil returned to the ground-level (i.e. roof) of the Quadrangle, it was clear that there was more room for gardens beyond the reincorporated parterre. Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley invited philanthropist Enid A. Haupt to tour the garden site, hoping Mrs. Haupt would finance a Zen garden west of the parterre. In fact, she financed the entire design and construction of the new garden with a $3 million endowment, stipulating that the garden be mature when it opened in 1987. With funds in place, work on the garden began, with the primary goal being to harmonize the stylistically varied buildings in and around the Quadrangle (the three entrance pavilions to the underground museums, the Smithsonian Castle, Freer Gallery of Art, and the Arts and Industries Building). The design of the garden was a collaborative effort between principal architect Jean Paul Carlhian, the landscape architectural firm Sasaki Associates, Inc., landscape architect Lester Collins, and James R. Buckler, Director of the Smithsonian's Office of Horticulture. Together they designed the three gardens described below.
Enid A. Haupt (1906-2005) was a publishing heiress and philanthropist who especially supported American horticulture. In addition to this garden, Mrs. Haupt's horticultural philanthropy created and/or preserved several renowned garden spaces including The Enid A. Haupt Glass Garden at the Howard A. Rusk Institute, NYU Medical Center in New York City; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York; The Haupt Fountains on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.; River Farm in Alexandria, Virginia; and The Cloisters in New York City. In 1994, the American Horticultural Society awarded her the Liberty Hyde Bailey award for her philanthropy.
The Parterre is the Victorian-style centerpiece of the Haupt Garden. It is a carefully manicured garden with a changing palette of colors and textures, laid out in symmetrical patterns that are redesigned every few seasons. Designs incorporate such motifs as diamonds, fleurs-de-lis, and scallops. While parterre is a French term meaning "on the ground," parterres as an ornamental garden style originated in 16th century Renaissance Italy.
The Moongate Garden is next to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and was inspired by the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. The Temple of Heaven was designed using a geometrical, axial layout, centered on the cardinal points of the compass. The Moongate Garden's dominant features are stone and water, which symbolize the body and spirit of the earth in Chinese culture. Two 9-foot-tall pink granite moon gates stand on the southwest and northeast corners of the garden; two more lie as benches in the opposite corners. A circular platform lies in the center of a granite-paved square pool, connected by bridges to each side of the square.
The Fountain Garden is next to the National Museum of African Art, and was modeled after the Court of the Lions at Alhambra, a 13th-century Moorish palace in Granada, Spain. As with most Islamic gardens, the Fountain Garden is symmetrical and includes a central fountain with four water channels. Respectively, these channels represent paradise itself, and the four rivers of paradise described in the Koran: water, milk, honey, and wine. At the garden's north end is a chadar - a patterned, sloping stone ramp that has water running down it.
The Renwick Gates are cast iron carriage gates at the garden's entrance on Independence Avenue. The gates were erected in 1979, based on an 1849 drawing by James Renwick, Jr., architect of the Castle. The design includes piers made of the same sandstone that went into the Castle's great reddish walls from a quarry in Seneca, Maryland.
A European linden tree once stood in the northeast corner of the South Yard. When construction on the Quadrangle began, Secretary Ripley directed that the tree remain unharmed. Construction personnel and arborists minded the tree, helping it live through the end of construction. However, it died of old age two years later, in 1989.
The Downing Urn was originally erected on the National Mall in 1856 in memory of landscape designer and horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852). The urn was restored in 1972. In 1989, it was moved to where the linden tree had stood in the Haupt Garden.
Plantings include saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana), Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), weeping Higan cherry (Prunus pendula 'Pendula Rosea'), golden shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea), coneflower (Echinacea), dusty miller (Senecio cineraria), and pansy (Viola x wittrockiana).
Persons associated with the garden include: Enid A. Haupt (donor, 1987). Jean Paul Carlhian (principal architect, 1987). Lester Collins (landscape architect consultant, 1987). Constantine Seferlis (stonecarver, 1979). James Renwick Jr. (architect, 1849). James Goode (SI Castle keeper, design and construction supervisor, 1979-1987). S. Dillon Ripley (Smithsonian Secretary, 1964-1984). Michael Riordan (horticulturist, 1995- ).
Related Materials:
Enid A. Haupt Garden related holdings consist of 3,124 35mm slides (photographs), 979 photographic prints, 15 contact sheets, 12 transparencies, and 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 -- District of Columbia -- Washington Search this
Genre/Form:
Digital images
Slides (photographs)
Photographic prints
Negatives
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Gardens Image Library, Archives of American Gardens, Smithsonian Institution.
United States of America -- District of Columbia -- Washington
Varying Form:
East or Victorian Fragrance Garden, formerly known as.
General:
The Mary Livingston Ripley Garden is a half-acre ornamental garden with over one thousand different plantings. Located between the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the garden is immediately south of the National Mall and lies partly over the roof of the 9th Street tunnel, which was completed in 1971. The garden's beginning stems from tragedy; in 1976, a fire destroyed the Litchfield, Connecticut home of Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley. Winter creeper, trained as espaliers by Ripley's mother, were rescued and replanted on the west side of the Hirshhorn's perimeter wall, which had been constructed two years prior. Ripley's wife Mary, a scholar and avid gardener, saw potential in the space as an inclusive garden accessible even to visitors who were visually impaired or in wheelchairs - a garden filled with fragrant plantings on raised beds. For funding, Mrs. Ripley appealed to the Smithsonian Women's Committee (SWC) which she herself had founded in 1966, and of which she was a former president. The SWC agreed and awarded a contract to the architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen in July 1978 for the design and construction. Construction was completed in 1981.
In 1988, the SWC renamed the garden as the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, in honor of Mrs. Ripley's vision for what would otherwise have likely become a parking lot. Kathrine Dulin Folger, a supporter of the Smithsonian Institution and proponent of horticulture, established an endowment fund for the continued care of the garden in 1994. Horticulturalist Janet Draper began tending the garden in 1997, with the goal to expose visitors to a wide variety of ornamental plants coexisting in harmony. In 2009, foot traffic from crowds during the January 20th presidential inauguration of Barack Obama seemingly destroyed the garden. However, spring that year brought unexpected regrowth, demonstrating that this garden's strengths lie not only in aesthetics, but also in physical resilience.
The Ripley Garden's geometry is unusual in that its paths are predominantly curvilinear. This layout is meant to encourage visitors to slow down and enjoy the plantings. The paths and raised beds are constructed of brick. Features include an antique cast iron fountain, benches placed in alcoves, small birdhouses, and a vertical living wall installed in 2013.
Plantings include daylilies (Hemerocallis 'Mango Thrills'), tulips (Tulipa 'Snow Parrot,' 'Zurel,' 'Violet Beauty,' and 'Negrita'), grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise'), Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus), and columbine (Aquilegia sp.).
See also Arts and Industries Building -- East/Fragrance Garden for an additional 822 35mm slides (photographs).
Persons associated with the garden include: Mary Livingston Ripley (advocate, circa 1970s). Smithsonian Women's Committee (donor, 1978). Hugh Newell Jacobsen (landscape architect, 1978-1981). Kathrine Dulin Folger (donor, 1994). Janet Draper (horticulturist, 1997- ).
Related Materials:
Mary Livingston Ripley Garden related holdings consist of 1,236 35mm slides (photographs), 164 photographic prints, negatives, and 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 -- District of Columbia -- Washington Search this
Genre/Form:
Digital images
Slides (photographs)
Photographic prints
Negatives
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Gardens Image Library, Archives of American Gardens, Smithsonian Institution.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, vol. 32, no. 8, July 1930; vol. 63, no. 7, May 1961; and vol. 64, no. 1, November 1961.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Arthur Raymond Brooks Collection, NASM.1989.0104, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
4.19 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes) (1 12x17 box) (4 blueprint storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Architectural drawings
Floor plans
Date:
1977-2002
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of project files of the Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations (OFEO), with earlier records dating from when OFEO was known as the
Office of Design and Construction (ODC), that were reviewed by the Office of the Secretary. The files primarily document renovation and repair projects in the Smithsonian
Institution Building and the Arts and Industries Building. Other museums and buildings documented in this collection include: the National Museum of African Art, the Arthur
M. Sackler Gallery, and the National Museum of Natural History. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, and notes; specifications, floor plans, and blueprints; review
comments; manuals; and reports.
Topic:
Buildings -- Repair and reconstruction Search this
107.16 cu. ft. (105 record storage boxes) (2 document boxes) (2 tall document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Architectural drawings
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Place:
Mall, The (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
circa 1960-1980
Descriptive Entry:
This record unit consists of project files documenting the repairs, improvement, and renovation of existing Smithsonian buildings. The records include memoranda with
Smithsonian offices, correspondence with contractors, blueprints, cost analyses, specifications, and photographs.
Buildings and museums documented in this collection include: the Smithsonian Institution Building, the National Mall, the Silver Hill Facility, the Barney Studio House,
the Belmont Estate, the Canal Zone Biological Area at Barro Colorado Island (now the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute), the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (Carnegie Mansion),
the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Government Printing Office at Lamont Street, the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, the Renwick Gallery, the National Air and
Space Museum, the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History), the National Museum of Natural History, the Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden, the Arts and Industries Building, L'Enfant Plaza offices, the Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies (now the Smithsonian Environmental Research
Center), the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts (later named the National Museum of American Art), the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum Support
Center, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Institution Service Center, the Hillwood Museum, the Old Post Office Building, the National Zoological Park,
the Quadrangle Complex, and miscellaneous other facilities.
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Buildings -- Repair and reconstruction Search this
