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Peachtree Garden Club visual arts materials

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.VIS289

Scope and Content

This collection contains images of club members participating in civic and social activities. Photographs of club projects such as the Atlanta History Center Swan Woods work days and decorating the Shepherd Center are included. Also a part of the collection are images of club meetings, luncheons, and garden and home tours. A large number of photographs document the restoration of the Swan Woods and its designation as the first Garden for Peace, an international network of gardens that ease suffering and promote peace. Of special interest are photographs, landscape drawings, and a poster of the ten year club project of the McBurney Art Memorial Garden also known as The Member's Garden.

Dates

  • 1955-2017

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.

Administrative/Biographical History

The Peachtree Garden Club (PGC), Atlanta's first garden club, was founded in 1923 to "stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening among amateurs, and the membership is limited to those who own a garden and take an active interest in its design, management and culture." The club was invited to join The Garden Club of America (GCA) in 1926 and helped to organize numerous other garden clubs such as the Garden Club of Georgia in 1928. Among the club's early achievements was the establishment of the Garden Center at Rich's in 1934, the First Atlanta Flower Show in 1934, and subsequently the Atlanta Flower Show Association in 1935, which later became the Southeastern Flower Show in 1988. The club also established the Dogwood Festival in 1936.

Administrative/Biographical History

The club's roadside beautification projects include the Peachtree Beautification Project from 1933-1936. Several other community projects were undertaken, such as the Lawson General Hospital garden in 1941 and in 1943 a Victory Garden at the Egleston Hospital for Children, (later named the Laura Davis Webster Garden). Boxwood and herb gardens were donated to the Founders' Garden at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. The PGC has worked on several conservation projects such as developing and maintaining the Swan Woods at the Atlanta History Center, a 10-acre ecological laboratory, beginning in 1967, which received the GCA Founders Fund Award in 1969. The garden became one of the notable Gardens for Peace in 1985.

Administrative/Biographical History

The PGC has published several books, including The Garden History of Georgia, 1733-1933 (PGC commissioned by the GA Bi-Centennial Committee in 1933) and Architecture of Neel Reid of Georgia with Cherokee Garden Club in 1973. The PGC established the Neel Reid Scholarship Fund in 1946 for UGA School of Environmental Design and later added the Neel Reid Traveling Fellowship to support students furthering their academic endeavors in their Landscape Architecture degree. The PGC continues to play an active role in community conservation projects and promoting the love of gardening and horticultural knowledge.

Extent

401 item(s) (365 color photographic prints, 26 color negatives, five black and white photographic prints, two color transparencies, two landscape drawings, and one poster)

Language

English

System of Arrangement

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

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Most of the items in this collection are located in cold storage (CS) as indicated by the descriptive inventory. Patrons must allow 24 hours after retrieval of item(s) before viewing material.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 1969, with subsequent additions

Related Archival Materials

Peachtree Garden Club records, MSS 681, Cherokee Garden Club, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center

Description Control

This collection was processed in 2018.

Title
Peachtree Garden Club visual arts materials
Author
Jennie Oldfield
Date
April 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