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Julia O. Martin papers

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS1137

Scope and Content

The majority of this collection contains correspondence, estimates, ledgers, proposals, and planting studies that provide a history of Julia O. Martin's career as principal of Julia O. Martin Landscape Design. Martin's resume and clippings offer details of her personal and professional life. Of special note are Martin's garden design sketches included in various planting studies.

Dates

  • 1937-1997, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Administrative/Biographical History

Julia Orme Martin (1926-1999) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Clarke Cohen Orme (later Mary Cohen Bienvenue) (ca. 1903-?) and Charles Dickerson Orme (1897-1972). Her grandfather was Major John Sanford Cohen (1870-1935) who served as a United States Senator and as an editor and later president for the Atlanta Journal from 1917-1935. After her parents divorced in the mid-1930s, Martin spent part of her childhood in Europe, particularly Portugal and France, with her mother and her sister, Beau. She attended Washington Seminary School in Atlanta, Georgia, and the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. She attended the University of Georgia and later graduated from Georgia State University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. She married Justus C. Martin, Jr. (1925-1993) in the late 1940s. The Martins had two daughters, Maudie Martin Huff and Julia Martin McClelland.

Administrative/Biographical History

Julia Orme Martin was the principal landscape designer for Julia O. Martin Landscape Design and helped restore and preserve Ansley Park in Atlanta, Georgia. She was a member of the Ansley Park Garden Club and served on the Board of the Ansley Park Beautification Foundation. A longtime member of the Board of Managers of the A. G. Rhodes Homes, she was also a sustaining member of the Junior League of Atlanta, and a member of the Atlanta Town Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames in the State of Georgia. Julia Martin designed gardens in the Southeast for two decades, beginning in the early 1970s. Like most women landscape designers of this period, Martin primarily worked in the arena of residential landscape design. Her most notable projects include the A. G. Rhodes Home on Boulevard Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia; the Henry B. Tompkins property on West Wesley Road, Atlanta, Georgia; and the Columbus Museum, once the home of W. C. Bradley, Columbus, Georgia. She is also known for her landscape designs for her primary home located on Westminster Drive in Ansley Park as well as the gardens she designed for Oldfield, her vacation home in Sargentville, Maine.

Extent

0.21 linear ft. (one half document case)

Language

English

System of Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2011

Related Archival Materials

Julia Orme Martin Landscape Design Plans, VIS 182, Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center

Description Control

This collection was processed in 2017.

Title
Julia O. Martin papers
Author
Jennie Oldfield
Date
January 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040