Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Handwritten letter to E. White from H. Tubbs |
Scope & Content |
Handwritten letter to E. White from H. Tubbs The Willowwood Papers collection contains the personal papers of Henry Tubbs, Robert Tubbs, and Benjamin Blackburn. This item belongs to Series 1: Henry Tubbs |
Object Name |
Letter |
Catalog Number |
WW2018.001.0010 |
Collection |
Willowwood Collection |
Physical characteristics |
1 handwritten letter |
Creator |
Blackburn, Benjamin |
Biographical History |
The Tubbs brothers were enthusiastic gardeners, interested in Horticulture beginning as youths at the family home in Kingston, NY. Henry, Hal (2/19/1878 - 7/26/1958), affable and gregarious, worked briefly in publishing at Charles Scribner's Sons. In July, 1908 They purchased "Paradise Farm' 135 acres of land with its huge weeping willows lining the brook, swaying toward the frame house and its cluster of outbuildings. The brothers knew they had come home and christened their new property "Willowwood Farm". Hal and Robert were interested in horticulture and built a greenhouse and potting shed. Robert still worked in the city, coming home on weekends and holidays with many new plants scoured from the New York markets. He had an active interest in unusual trees and shrubs and corresponded with many of the horticulture luminaries of the time including plant explorer Ernest Henry 'Chinese' Wilson and Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, the founding director of the Arnold Arboretum. Many rare plants were added to the Willowwood Collection as a result of their friendships. In April, 1939 the New York Times reported on the brothers horticultural efforts. Robert collected; Henry was the artist who "painted" on the garden canvas with a "careful-carelessness" which made it seem as if the garden had arranged itself. Henry was a member of the Garden Club of Somerset Hills along with their neighbor Martha Brookes Hutcheson, one of the first female landscape architects in the US and graduate of MIT who with her husband William Anderson Hutcheson had purchased the adjacent property in 1912 and named it Merchiston Farm (now known as Bamboo Brook). They shared their interest and began serious discussions about plants and garden design. Elizabeth Coleman White (October 5, 1871- November 27, 1954), Around 1881, the White family settled permanently in New Lisbon at Fenwick Manor, where Elizabeth would live until 1923 when she built her home Suningive at Whitesbog. Elizabeth began to work at her family's cranberry bogs in 1893. At Elizabeth's suggestion, her family explored the possibility of growing blueberries as well, at Whitesbog. At that time no one had cultivated blueberries with significant success. In 1910, Elizabeth and her father convinced Dr. Frederick V. Coville to go to Whitesbog, where they would support his research. Which resulted in the cultivation of the modern blueberry, catapulting White into horticultural fame and earning her the nickname "Blueberry Queen." Elizabeth was one of the founders of the Blueberry Growers Cooperative Association and was the first woman member (and later, president) of the American Cranberry Growers Association. She was also the first woman to receive the New Jersey Department of Agriculture citation, as well as numerous other awards and medals from horticultural societies in several states. She was also intrigued with plants native to the Pine Barrens and the concept of using these native plants in home gardens. In fact, she styled her own garden at Suningive using native Pine Barrens plants; and, after her ideas had become more widely known through publications and on the radio, many visited Suningive to see her garden. White experimented with one more type of plant: the American holly, ilex opaca. She founded her own nursery business-Holly Haven, Inc.-and is credited with having helped to rescue the American holly from obscurity. She was one of the first members of the Holly Society of America, founded in 1947. June Vail served as personal secretary to Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, NJ. |
System of arrangement |
The collection is divided into the following 7 series. 1) Henry Tubbs 2) Ben Blackburn - personal 3) Ben Blackburn - correspondence 4) Ben Blackburn - military 5) Ben Blackburn - school/work 6) Ben Blackburn - horticulture 7) Tubbs Family |
Subjects |
Gardening Gardens New Jersey--History Holly |
Parent ObjectID |
WW2009.013.0001 |
Copyrights |
Records may be copied for use in individual scholarly or personal research; however, as with all materials in the Morris County Park Commission, researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission to use material from the collection. |
Level of description |
Item |