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Elizabeth C. Hall papers

 Collection
Identifier: PP-034

Scope and Contents

The personal papers of Elizabeth C. Hall consist of correspondence, photographs, printed memorabilia, awards, notebooks, diplomas and certificates. Included herein are copies of lectures given and articles written. Miss Hall's family are documented as well as her professional career.

Dates

  • 1891-1989

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.

Biographical / Historical

Elizabeth Cornelia Hall (1898-1989) began her career at the NYBG as Head Librarian in 1937. She was appointed Sarah Gildersleeve Fife Research Librarian from 1960 to 1962 and went on to serve as Associate Curator of Education from 1964 until her retirement in 1967. During her thirty years at the NYBG, she gave advice to tens of thousands via telephone and correspondence; was an active lecturer on many gardening and horticultural topics; taught adult education classes; led garden tours and was a frequent contributor to library and gardening journals and newspapers including the New York Times. She was extremely influential in the contemporary garden literature of the post World War II period. In 1969, the New York Botanical Garden awarded her its Distinguished Service Award. Known to all as "Miss Hall", she was beloved and respected by all those who knew her.

Born in Meriden, Connecticut in 1898, she received a BA in chemistry from Radcliffe College in 1921 and a certificate from the Ambler School of Horticulture (then called the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women) in 1934 and a masters degree in library studies from the Columbia University School of Library Service in 1936. In 1937 she came to the NYBG as Head Librarian from the Horticultural Society of New York where she was Librarian from 1930.

After she retired from the NYBG in 1967, she went back to the Horticultural Society to work as a volunteer. She had a prodigious knowledge of rare books and helped the Society to catalog its collection in order to document the HSNY's holdings of important early botanical literature for botanical institutions and museums worldwide. At the same time, she assisted T. H. Everett in the compilation of his monumental ten volume work, The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture. Together, they labored on the project for 14 years. After the encyclopedia was published, she worked from 1982 along with T. H. Everett running the New York Botanical Garden Plant Information Service until her death.

Extent

4.5 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection cotains correspondence, photographs, catalogs, awards, diplomas, yearbooks, scrapbooks, notes, and ephemera.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into 11 series:

Items

  1. Series 1: Awards. 1962-1985. arranged alpahbetically.
  2. Series 2: Photographs. 1898-1967. arranged by subject.
  3. Series 3: Personal Papers. arranged by subject.
  4. Series 4: Lectures. circa 1939.
  5. Series 5: Plant Information Office Subject Files. 1982-1989. arranged alphabetically.
  6. Series 6: 1967 Retirement albums. 1967.
  7. Series 7: 90th Birthday celebration. 1988.
  8. Series 8: Plaque. 1988.
  9. Series 9: Radcliffe College. 1918-1921.
  10. Series 10: Diplomas.
  11. Series 11: Catalog of the Printed Books of the Horticutural Society
  12. Series 12: Vertical File. circa 1980s.

Physical Location

Archives, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden.

Other Finding Aids

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated to by Elizabeth C. Hall.

Related Materials

NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN ARCHIVES:

Records, [ca.1900]-1966.

Oral history project interview transcript, 1973.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, BUTLER LIBRARY, ORAL HISTORY RESEARCH OFFICE:

Box 20, Room 801 Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cornelia Hall: oral history, 1973.

Processing Information

Processed June 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.

Status
Completed
Author
Kathleene Konkle
Date
June 2005
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Processed June 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.

Repository Details

Part of the The Archives of the New York Botanical Garden Repository

Contact:
New York Botanical Garden, Mertz Library
2900 Southern Boulevard
Bronx NY 10458 United States