Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Historical Note

Scope & Content Note

Organization & Arrangement

Index Terms

Related Items

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Series Arrangement & Description

Series 1: Minutes

Series 2: Annual Reports

Series 3: Administrative Records

Series 4: Club Activities

Series 5: Scrapbooks

Series 6: Photographs and Slides

Container Listing

Photographs and Slides

Plainfield Garden Club Records,
[1915-2012]


Photograph of Club founder, Mrs. Frank O. Herring's garden, 1915.

Part of the Local Organizations Collection at the Plainfield Public Library

Finding aid prepared and encoded by Sarah Hull in November 2008
Collection processed in August 2008 by Anna Henderson; revised in 2010 by Debra Schiff; updated in 2023 by Sally Weiner.
Photographic materials processed in August - November 2008 by Sonja Sekely-Rowland.

Descriptive Summary

Access & Restrictions

The Records of the Plainfield Garden Club are available for research.

Access is restricted to materials prepared by the Local History department staff. All materials must be viewed in the Plainfield Room and may not be removed to another area of the library without permission of the Library Director or designee. Materials must be handled carefully and kept in order. Materials must not be leaned upon, altered, folded, ripped, or traced upon. Marks may not be added or erased from materials. Materials must be returned directly to Local History department staff and inspected before the researcher leaves the Plainfield Room.

One photocopy may be made (by Plainfield Public Library staff) of each document for the purpose of research; official Local History departmental reproduction fees may apply. Permission to publish must be obtained by the Plainfield Public Library Board of Trustees as delegated to the Library Director. Permission to publish does not constitute a copyright clearance. The researcher is responsible for further copyright restrictions. The Plainfield Public Library is not responsible for the misuse of copyrighted material.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item; Date (if noted); "Plainfield Garden Club Records,” Box and Folder Number; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated in 2006 by The Plainfield Garden Club.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Anna Henderson in 2008 and revised by Debra Schiff in 2010. Updated in 2023 by Sally Weiner. The finding aid was written and encoded by Sarah Hull in 2010 (updated in 2023). Finding aid content follows the guidelines suggested by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.

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The Plainfield Garden Club was established by Mrs. Henrietta B. Herring, who met with 19 local ladies in April 1915 at the Plainfield Public Library to gauge interest in forming such an organization.  The Club was officially and enthusiastically formed one month later, in May, with 48 charter members.  Dues at that time were $2 per year.  By 1965, the membership had grown to 84, with dues of $25 to $30 based on membership type. The PGC became an official chapter of the Garden Club of America in 1944.  Since its inception, the major interests of the Club have been conservation, horticulture, and botanical exhibitions. Originally, the PGC was governed by an Executive Committee of eight ladies of “high caliber and stamina,” which grew to nearly 20 by 1965. Three additional committees kept the PGC running smoothly: Program, Ways, and Means; Publicity; and Membership. The Collection contains administrative material from all four groups, and includes constitutions and by-laws, as well as meeting minutes, various annual reports, event records, and a large quantity of newspaper clippings documenting flower shows and Club activities.

The PGC is most notably credited with the creation and maintenance of four specific projects in the Plainfield community: The Shakespeare Garden, The Cornus Arboretum, The Iris Garden, and the Vest Pocket Garden; all but Vest Pocket Garden exist today. The most well-known is the Shakespeare Garden in Cedar Brook Park. This garden was initiated by Mrs. Howard C. Fleming of the Plainfield Shakespeare Society and planted by the PGC in 1927. Originally planned as a small project, it received strong backing by the local Park Commission. The Olmsted Brothers of Boston, the famous landscape architects, were hired to plot out two 100 foot beds with four additional flower beds. The PGC members filled them with flowers from Shakespearean works, labeled them with botanical and folk names, as well as quotes and phrases of literary interest – a practice continued to this day.

The PGC has actively participated in numerous exhibitions since the late 1940s. The Club engaged in everything from walking garden tours of notable Plainfield homes, community workshops for flower arranging, supplying flowers to veteran homes, churches, and camps, to award-winning displays at local, national and international flower shows. All of which has been documented in the PGC Collection.

Such activities required constant funding. The PGC engaged in a variety of fund-raising efforts to support its activities. This was the responsibility of the Ways and Means Committee, but always involved the entire membership. Fundraising took the form of dance recitals, lecturers, extravagant garden fairs, and much-loved open house garden tours. These tours were often themed with family-oriented celebrations such as engagement teas, bridal showers, and home weddings. An extensive effort occurred in May 1962 at Plainfield’s Historic Drake House, which featured an open house with a plant and food sale that brought the beautiful house back to its original splendor – complete with furniture, accessories, and period clothing.

Flower exhibitions and workshops continued throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. As the country at large became more concerned with the preservation of natural resources, a greater emphasis on its long-standing conservation interests appeared within the club - particularly in the form of correspondence and collegial interchange between the PGC and the New Jersey Roadside Council. This council stimulated protest against erecting advertising billboards along federal highways, as well as concern for designing highway projects that were beautifying yet still protected the historic nature of the Plainfield area. For example, preserving George Washington’s Revolutionary War Redoubts along Route 22’s Blue Star Highway area was a concern for the PGC Bicentennial project of 1976.

These decades also saw the emergence of student scholarships and an even greater interest in civic planting, as well as the beginning of the Club’s Springtime Potpourri - an annual fundraising event with plant sale, boutique and raffle. Other fundraising activities included a new cookbook and the Christmas Cupboard.  Environmentally-focused correspondence projects on behalf of the Pine Barrens, Sandy Hook, and the Great Swamp were underway, as well as lectures on the dangers of the three P’s – Pollution, Pesticides and Population. The Club worked with schools on a downtown planting and anti-litter program, as well as organizing Plainfield’s first recycling station, which was later taken over by the town.  In the 1980’s, the PGC strongly supported the Assateague Wildlife Refuge and Great Swamp Organization. During the 1990s, the Club worked with state and local groups towards better use of natural resources. Two of these initiatives included the expansion of the local Butterfly Garden, and supporting Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s proposal to secure funding for Open Spaces, Farmlands, and Historical Preservation. Also of note is the creation of the first Garden Club of America website, which appeared in the PGC January 1999 Newsletter under the heading “Space Age News.” 

The Garden Club is still active in Plainfield today, and makes use of the Plainfield Public Library's collections to learn about its history, as well as maintain Club records in perpetuity.

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The Plainfield Garden Club collection includes a variety of historical material dating back to the Club’s beginning in 1915. Record types include constitutions and by-laws, as well as meeting minutes from general club, board, executive, and other committees, appear here. The minutes are by far the most consistent chronologically within the Collection and run from 1915 to 1999.  There are general and committee annual reports since 1944. Other administrative records include PGC constitutions, financial notebooks and registers, membership records and lists, correspondence, yearbooks, and publicity records including PGC newsletters, official letterhead, postcards, press releases, and newspaper clippings since 1930. Original paper documents contain typed and handwritten information; with handwritten marginal notes appearing on both.

There is a large volume of records documenting PGC activities including the various gardens, walking tours, club fundraisers, anniversary records, event programs, awards, and flower shows or exhibitions. Of particular interest are the famous Shakespeare Garden established and maintained since 1927 and the 1990 Zone IV meeting of the National Garden Club (actually held in Plainfield that year). The notable Iris Garden, Cornus Arboretum, and Vest Pocket Park Garden are also represented in this collection. A variety of scrapbooks, created by members, help document the Club’s early history from 1934 to 1962. Some contain early organization minutes, and photographs; there are extensive newspaper clippings.  

Finally, there are four boxes of photographs with four additional slide carousels dating from 1930 to 1987.  Materials include Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides. Photographs are both in color and black & white prints, some are matted, some Polaroid. The original arrangement of the slides was maintained by the collection processors. A photocopy of matching correspondence is kept with photographs whenever possible.

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Organization and Arrangement

The Plainfield Garden Club Records are arranged into six series:

Series 1: Minutes (general, board, executive, committees)
Series 2: Annual Reports
Series 3: Administrative Records
            Subseries A: Constitutions
            Subseries B: Membership (correspondence, lists, yearbooks)
            Subseries C: Publicity (newsletters, letterhead, postcards, press releases, clippings)
Series 4: Club Activities (gardens, walks, fundraisers, anniversary, programs, flower shows)
            Subseries A: Shakespeare Garden
            Subseries B: 1990 Zone IV Meeting
Series 5: Scrapbooks
Series 6: Photographs and Slides

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Index Terms

People:

Organizations:

Places:

Subjects:

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Plainfield Public Library Vertical File "Plainfield Gardens."

Plainfield Garden Club YouTube Channel

Barbara T. Sandford Papers, 1919-2010

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This collection consists of paper documents, which do not require any additional technology for access, as well as a large number of photographs and slides. The Ektachrome and Kodachrome slides require a suitable projector and screen for viewing.

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