Series V. Photographs, 1917-2006
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
This series is composed of photographs of the activities, places, people and plants associated with the Horticultural Society of New York. The formats include glass plate lantern slides (4-1/2" x 3-1/2"), 35mm slides, transparencies, photographic prints (both black and white and color), and negatives. The series is arranged into subseries by subject, including: Events, Programs, Facilities and Staff, Images Used in HSNY publications, and Other Images. The photographs in subseries A through D provide snapshots of the workings of the HSNY from the 1960s to 2000s. Photographs in subseries E focus on plants, and very few relate to identifiable Horticultural Society activities.
Events consists of photographs featuring events organized by HSNY. There are images of annual meetings, classes for children and adults, library benefits, staff parties, exhibits, and tours. One set of images documents the HSNY's participation in the annual "New York is Book Country" street fair on 5th Avenue from 1996-2002. (Note that photographs of the many Flower Shows HSNY was a part of are housed separately in Series III, Flower Show records).
Programs documents HSNY's public outreach gardening and planting programs. The majority of the images are slides of urban community gardens created in neighborhoods lacking access to green space. It includes photos of the garden at Riker's Island prison, as well as images of the Green Team, an internship program designed to help people released from prison transition back into their communities.
Facilties and Staffincludes images of the HSNY's offices, library, archives and collections storage space. It includes many snapshots of staff and volunteers at work. A number of photographs document incidents of water and fire damage to the facilities.
Images Used in HSNY Publicationsis comprised of visual materials that were used to illustrate various HNSY publications, including the newsletter. Some images are mounted to boards, with notes indicating crop marks and other editing instructions.
Other Images primarily includes images that emphasize plants, either as individual specimens or in the context of gardens, landscape architecture, and floral arrangements. It contains many images associated with international and domestic United States locations. Of note are a captioned photograph album of World War I scenes of warfare and the related destruction of trees in France (1917); lantern slides of Mrs. Louis Levy's azalea and rock garden in Dobbs Ferry, NY; a photograph album documenting a trip to Japan (1967); sets of educational slides about planting; and two photograph albums of cacti cultivated by Richard Weiler. There are also sets of photographs arranged by the name of the photographer, including those by Ralph Bailey of House & Garden.
Arrangement Note
Series V. Photographs, 1917-2006 is divided into the following subseries:
Subseries V.A. Events, 1959-2006
Subseries V.B. Programs, 1969-1995
Subseries V.C. Facilities and Staff, 1941-2003
Subseries V.D. Images used in HSNY publications, 1980-2000
Subseries V.E. Other Images, 1917, 1940s-2002 (bulk, 1950s-1970s)
Subseries V.A. Events, 1959-2006
Scope and Contents Note
This subseries consists of photographs featuring events organized by HSNY. There are images of annual meetings, classes for children and adults, library benefits, staff parties, exhibits and tours. One set of images documents the HSNY's participation in the annual "New York is Book Country" street fair on 5th Avenue from 1996-2002. The subseries also contains 3 folders of slides of various events that were housed together in a binder, in no particular order. These have been kept together. There is also one folder of oversize material.
Most images in this series are dated, and some are captioned; however, for the most part, people in the photos are not identified
Annual meetings, 1994-1995
Annual meetings, 1998, 2006
Book Country, 1996
Book Country, 1997
Book Country, 1998
Book Country, 1999
Book Country, 2000
Book Country, 2002
Book Country, undated
Classes, 1979-1995
Classes, 1999-2000
Classes, undated
Exhibits, 1970-1988
Exhibits, 1999-2000
Exhibits, 2001-2002
Exhibits (oversize), undated
Festivals, 1969, 1985
Flower composition album, 1967
Flower arranging competition entries, undated
Library benefits, 1994-1996
Library benefits, 1997
Library benefits, 1998
Library benefits, 1999
Library benefits, 2000
Library benefits, 2004
Library benefits, undated
Parties and receptions, 1994
Parties and receptions, 1995
Parties and receptions, 1998-2002
Parties and receptions, undated
Press events, 1994
Tours, 1959-1995
Tours, 1994-2002
Miscellaneous Events, 1960s-1996
Scope and Contents Note
Includes photographs of the orchid named for Patricia Murphy, owner of the Candlelight Restaurant in Westchester, one photo with Murphy.
Various Events (slides from binder), 1969-1984
Subseries V.B. Programs, 1969-1995
Scope and Contents Note
This subseries documents HSNY's public outreach gardening and planting programs. The majority of the images are slides of urban community gardens created in neighborhoods lacking access to green space. Also included are photos of the garden at Riker's Island prison, which is part of a job-training program. In addition this subseries features images of the Green Team, an internship program to help people released from prison transition back into their communities. The subseries contains one folder of oversize material.
Community gardens: Bronx, 1976-1978
Community gardens: Brooklyn, 1976-1978
Community gardens: Gateway, 1977
Community gardens: Manhattan, 1969-1979
Community gardens: Queens and Staten Island, 1977-1978
Community gardens: Rikers Island, 1988-1989
Community gardens: Unidentified, undated
Community gardens: Oversize, 1975-1980
Green Team, 1995
NYPL planting, 1990
Tree Corps, 1977-1979
Tree Corps, 1980-1986
"Our Work in Bellvue", 1976
Subseries V.C. Facilities and Staff, 1941-2003
Scope and Contents Note
This subseries is comprised of images of the HSNY's offices, library, archives and collections storage space. It includes many snapshots of staff and volunteers at work. A number of photographs document incidents of water and fire damage to the facilities. There is one folder of oversize material.
Architectural design drawings (oversize), undated
Library and archives, 1941-2002
Staff and volunteers, ca. 1960-1995
Water and fire damage, 1995-2003
Subseries V.D. Images used in HSNY publications, 1980-2000
Scope and Contents Note
This subseries contains images that were used to illustrate various HNSY publications, including the newsletter. Some images are mounted to boards, with notes indicating crop marks and other editing instructions.
Photos mounted on board, 1980-2000
Slide, negatives and prints, 1980-2000
Subseries V.E. Other Images, 1917, 1940s-2002 (bulk, 1950s-1970s)
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The subseries primarily includes images that emphasize plants, either as individual specimens or in an aesthetic context, such as with gardens, landscape architecture, interiors, topiaries, or floral displays. The subseries includes many images associated with international or domestic United States locations; while these images often emphasize plants they also include commercially-produced souvenir images of built structures and general tourist travel snapshots. While many of the images have some basic level of identification, most lack a more detailed context and few seem to relate to identifiable Horticultural Society activities (see subseries V.A. for those). Most of the images seem to date from the 1960s to early 1980s, but there are earlier and later views. The formats in the subseries include glass plate lantern slides (4-1/2" x 3-1/2"), 35mm slides, transparencies, photographic prints (mostly black and white), and negatives.
Although much of the subseries has a certain degree of randomness to it and ambiguity as to context, several portions are well-defined and substantive. These include a captioned photograph album of World War I scenes of troop movements and trench warfare with their related destruction of trees in France (1917); lantern slides of Mrs. Louis Levy's azalea and rock garden in Dobbs Ferry, NY; a photograph album documenting a trip to Japan (1967); sets of educational slides concerning sowing and repotting and turfgrass diseases; images by recognized photographers Ralph Bailey of House & Garden and Bruce Cratsley; an organized set of slides depicting seasonal wildflowers; and two photograph albums of cacti cultivated by Richard Weiler.
Arrangement Note
There was no overall original order to the images in this subseries. They were compiled together and arranged by the processing archivist. Nonetheless, images found together in slide cases, sleeves, folders, etc., were kept together as found. The overall subseries is arranged roughly in the following sequence, though there is considerable overlap at points:
1) Images emphasizing places or travel, including gardens and grounds
2) Images emphasizing the work of a particular photographer or of a particular subject
3) Images emphasizing particular plants or types of plants.
Processing Information Note
The subseries was processed primarily by archivist Larry Weimer. Archivist Joseph Ditta processed the lantern slides. Only a minimal level of processing was performed for much of the subseries; consequently, many of the 35 mm slides remain in their original containers.
Places: Greece, Corsica and Other Europe; Caribbean, Central and South America; Middle East and Africa. (Slides) (4 folders), 1960s-1981
Places: Italy (Slides) (3 cases), 1960s
Places: Japan Travel Photo Album, 1967
Places: Tucson (transparencies) (2 folders), undated
Places: Rooftop Garden, undated
Places: Scott Appel's Florida Trip, 2002
Places: Washington Cathedral Grounds (Photos by Bonde & Sons), undated
Places: Mrs. Louis S. Levy's Azalea and Rock Garden, Dobbs Ferry, NY. Glass Lantern Slides #1-72 (1 of 2 boxes), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a descriptive key to the slides in this box and the next, prepared in 2008.
Places: Mrs. Louis S. Levy's Azalea and Rock Garden, Dobbs Ferry, NY. Glass Lantern Slides #73-91 (2 of 2 boxes), undated
Places: Mrs. Louis S. Levy's Azalea and Rock Garden, Dobbs Ferry, NY. Glass Lantern Slides. Extras, Sections 1-8 (1 of 2 boxes), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a descriptive key to the additional Levy slides found in this box and the next.
Places: Mrs. Louis S. Levy's Azalea and Rock Garden, Dobbs Ferry, NY. Glass Lantern Slides. Extras, Sections 9-15 (2 of 2 boxes), undated
Places: Europe, United States, Other. (Slides) (21 cases in flat box), 1950s-1970s
Scope and Contents Note
Includes 21 small boxes of 35mm slides, mostly of Europe, but also many of the eastern U.S. Many are also of unidentified locations.
Places: Italy/Austria, Miscellaneous (Negatives), 1962
Scope and Contents Note
Tentatively identified as the Netherlands, Japan, and the southern U.S.
Places: Unidentified Tours, undated
Places: Miscellaneous Prints, undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes Mohonk Mountain House, Trinity Church (Manhattan) graveyard, Old Westbury Gardens, Frelinghuysen arboretum, Stamford arboretum & nature center, and private gardens.
Places: Miscellaneous Slides, 1960s-1980s
Places: Wilton Gardens (2 folders), 1979
Places: Port Washington?, 1970s
Photographer: Ralph Bailey. Correspondence, 1960, 1968
Photographer: Ralph Bailey. Photographs (6 folders), undated
Photographer: Ralph Bailey. Duke Foundation Gardens (Negatives), undated
Photographer: Ralph Bailey. (Slides in Flat Box), undated
Photographer: Bruce Cratsley. Photographs. (1 of 2), 1976-1977
Scope and Contents Note
Includes photos of Lincoln Center's Henry Moore Sculpture Pool and Beaumont Theatre.
Photographer: Bruce Cratsley. Photographs. (2 of 2). (Flat Box), 1976-1977
Photographer: Peter Fink (Flat Box), undated
Photographer: Chris Phinney (Flat Box), undated
Photographer: Ellen Stockdale-Wolfe (Flat Box), 2003
Scope and Contents Note
Includes the color photograph Purple Loose Strife, Millbrook, NY, print 1/50, in memory of Eleanor Lamanna Stockdale.
Photographer: John Yang (Flat Box), 1982
Scope and Contents Note
Includes one photograph of the garden of Schneider and Parnas in Wilton, CT, inscribed to Luther Greene from Yang (negative #326-11, 5/11/82).
Subjects: WWI Scenes in France (Flat Box), 1917
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a photo album with images from France in World War I. Includes photos of troops, troop movements, and troops in trenches. A focus of many of the photos is the destruction of fruit and other trees. The photos are captioned in French. The pages are fragile. Separate sheets include captions in English and background documents.
Subjects: Bird Houses (Transparencies), undated
Subjects: Jimmy Carter, Peanut Farmer, 1968
Scope and Contents Note
Includes one photograph of future U.S. President Jimmy Carter holding some of a peanut crop in Plains, Georgia.
Subjects: Clarence L. Hay, circa 1970
Scope and Contents Note
Includes the unframed photograph and related label from the HSNY room named in memory of Hay (1884-1969).
Subjects: Various Slides (2 folders), 1960s-1970s
Scope and Contents Note
Includes miscellaneous slides depicting gardening, types of gardens, plants in a garden setting (e.g., shrubs, vines, lawns, topiaries, etc.), decorative fixtures, and the like.
Subjects: Sowing, Pricking Out & Repotting (Slides in Flat Box), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a set of slides for an educational program by J.S. Dakers.
Subjects: Diseases of Turfgrass (Slides in Flat Box), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a set of slides for an educational program compiled by the New York State Turfgrass Association, by R.W. Smiley of Cornell.
Subjects: Trelease Selenium Lecture, 1940s?
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a case with a set of slides that appears to be a lecture on selenium content of plants (black-taped slides). Also in the case are other slides that may or may not be related. Some of these slides are of plants and rocks seen on a trip in the western U.S. Other slides are of miscellaneous plants.
Subjects: Zoo Animals (Slides in Flat Box), undated
Plants: Richard Weiler Photograph Albums of Cacti (2 folders), 1960-1965
Scope and Contents Note
Includes photographs of the cacti as displayed in the solarium of the New York Athletic Club.
Plants: Cannabis (Transparencies), undated
Plants: Plant Propagation, undated
Plants: Carnivorous, 1974
Plants: Ferns, Lichens, Manuscript Images (Slides), 1960s-1970s
Plants: Flower Arrangements, 1935-1951
Plants: Flower Arrangements (from albums), 1961-1962
Plants: Flower Arrangements, 1967
Plants: Flower Arrangements, undated
Plants: Tulipieres from Tulipomania, 1979
Plants: Wildflowers Slides, 1986
Scope and Contents Note
Includes three sets of slides of wildflowers, labelled, organized and donated to HSNY by Robert York.
Plants: Miscellaneous Gardens & Arrangements, undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Photographic Prints (4 of 6 folders), undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Photographic Prints (2 of 6 folders), 1930s-1980s
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a photograph of an olive grove by Jesse Tarbox Beals (used on the cover of a Bulletin in 1937), various flower arrangements that won prizes in the 1930s, Mayor Edward Koch with tulips at City Hall Park, and spring garden pilgrimage in 1938.
Plants: Miscellaneous Transparencies, undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Negatives, undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Slides (1 of 3 boxes), 1940s, undated
Scope and Contents Note
This box and the next two include various sets of 35mm slides concerning various plants. Most of the slides are undated, but those that are dated are from 1940-43. Most of the slides are unidentified. Those with identification are of plants, with identification as to where the photo was taken. These locations are generally New Jersey (e.g., Brielle, Matawan) and New York City parks or the greater metropolitan area. The sets are numbered from 1-55, 106-109, and 121-139; each individual slide is marked as part of a particular set.
Plants: Miscellaneous Slides (2 of 3 boxes), 1940s, undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Slides (3 of 3 boxes), 1940s, undated
Plants: Miscellaneous Slides, 1960s-1990s
Scope and Contents Note
Includes one flat box with several small cases, boxes, and envelopes of 35mm slides.
Plants: Miscellaneous Lantern Slides (1 of 4 boxes), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a set of 24 slides produced by J. Horace McFarland Company of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; a set of 11 slides depicting gardens with Tudor-style houses; and 13 slides of men working in gardens.
Plants: Miscellaneous Lantern Slides (2 of 4 boxes), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes 47 slides of gardens and houses.
Plants: Miscellaneous Lantern Slides (3 of 4 boxes), undated
Scope and Contents Note
Includes 53 slides of plants, gardens, redwood forests, and other similar, varied images. These continue into the next box. Some slides are negatives.