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At the conclusion of the Second World War, Mildred Bliss resolved to save books on garden design from possible dismemberment. During the chaos of the war and the turmoil of the years that followed, private libraries and the exceptional volumes within them found their survival threatened. Many book collections were dismantled, putting rare books in the hands of dealers who often cared more about the generation of profit than about book preservation. Books on landscape architecture and garden design containing illustrations were especially vulnerable, as dealers typically found it more profitable to dismantle the books and sell the plates individually. It was partly from this concern that the Garden Library Rare Book Collection was born. As it grew in both number and importance, Mildred Bliss hoped that this collection of books on horticulture and landscape architecture would allow for the expansion of research at Dumbarton Oaks in the field of garden design.
Mildred Bliss's bibliophilic interests had emerged already when she was a teenager. She routinely consulted experienced French booksellers, whom she petitioned for advice on acquisitions. According to Ethel Clark, longtime friend of the Blisses and keeper of rare books at Dumbarton Oaks, the early formation of Mildred Bliss's collection was "not dictated by a frivolous or limited vision." Many of her early acquisitions were impressive—many were rare first editions, featured superb bindings, or were holographic manuscripts—and they would become the nucleus of the impressive assortment of rare materials currently in the collection.
The development of the Garden Library Rare Book Collection was also motivated by the success of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, designed by Beatrix Farrand in close consultation with Mildred Bliss. Beginning in 1947, Farrand become a major adviser to Mildred Bliss in the selection of books and the formulation of her collection, which would continue to expand and diversify under her influence. Farrand expressed her hope that the library would contain a balance of "the current literature and the older source books," and she noted that the library at Dumbarton Oaks could "serve its community and visitors as no other place has" by "combin[ing] the human and artistic side" of gardening and offering "the possibility of lifting the level of outdoor art."
In order to streamline the process of acquiring books for the collection, Mildred Bliss penned an itemized list of rare books that she wanted, referred to as her "desiderata." Routinely revised and updated as volumes were acquired, this list was distributed to dealers internationally. Carefully chosen for their "insight into the field," the books sought would become the basis of the emerging library, which by the late 1940s numbered some nine hundred volumes and two thousand botanical prints.
The Garden Library Rare Book Collection was originally housed in the Dumbarton Oaks living room, renamed the Founders Room in 1948. This "Founders Room Library" was staffed by a series of assistants and carefully overseen by Mildred Bliss from her desk in the alcove of the room. Predictably, the garden library quickly outgrew the room, and by the late 1950s, the Blisses made plans to offer Dumbarton Oaks an addition to house the collection.
See also: Therese O'Malley, "Mildred Barnes Bliss's Garden Library at Dumbarton Oaks," in A Home of the Humanities: The Collecting and Patronage of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, edited by James N. Carder (Washington, D.C., 2010), 139–65.]]>
Under Edward L. Keenan, director from 1998 to 2007, Dumbarton Oaks underwent a great deal of construction and renovation. A new library, designed by Robert Venturi, was completed on October 11, 2005, and became home to the library collections and staff previously located in the Main House. Keenan had decided that it would be more efficient if, instead of having separate libraries for the three fields, they were all integrated into one main library with a single cataloging system.
Established in 1940, the Byzantine Studies program was the first area of scholarship at Dumbarton Oaks, and its library consisted of some twelve thousand volumes that the Blisses had acquired by the time Dumbarton Oaks became part of Harvard University. For the first two years of Dumbarton Oaks' existence as a research library, the books and periodicals were kept in what is now called the mezzanine, the space above the research library offices (what is today the Museum Shop).
However, the library quickly outgrew this space. In 1942, Dumbarton Oaks, with the Blisses' help, commissioned the architect Thomas T. Waterman to convert two second-floor guest bedrooms into a reading room in order to provide more shelving and better facilities for researchers. When the volumes were moved into the new library in 2006, the space was converted into offices for the director of Byzantine Studies and the museum director.
The rapid expansion of the Byzantine library collection again rendered the shelving in the reading room insufficient. The library quickly spread throughout the former residence: into the hallways on the second floor, the study and former dining room on the first floor, and even into newly built-in bookcases in the Founders Room.
Predictably, these expansions proved insufficient as well. Under Giles Constable, director from 1977 to 1984, Dumbarton Oaks installed on the third floor stationary book stacks and, in the basement, compact stacks, which operated on rollers, thus eliminating the need for space between each bookshelf. In order to support the great weight of the books on the third floor, the building was structurally reinforced with steel-reinforced concrete. To better protect the library collections, temperature and humidity controls were also introduced during this renovation. After the library vacated the Main House in 2006, the third floor stack area became the home of the publications department, and the basement compact stack area was retrofitted as storage for the museum collections.
The installation of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art in 1963 and the subsequent creation of the Pre-Columbian Studies program in 1970 brought an additional need for library space at Dumbarton Oaks. At first, Robert Bliss's twenty-four hundred volumes on Pre-Columbian art and archaeology were installed in a library room in the basement of the Pre-Columbian Pavilion that had been designed for that purpose.
However, in a manner similar to the expansion of the Byzantine library collection, the Pre-Columbian library quickly outgrew its initial allotted space. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, books were shelved in bookcases added to rooms and hallways, and, in 1997, compact stacks were again installed as a space-saving measure. With the books now relocated in the new library, the former Pre-Columbian library areas have allowed for the expansion of the Byzantine coins and seals collections and other institutional needs.
The library collection of the Garden and Landscape Studies program had as its nucleus the rare books that Mildred Bliss had collected between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. These were and continue to be elegantly shelved in the bookcases in the Rare Book Room, designed by the architect Frederic Rhinelander King and opened in 1963. Other rare materials are housed in the cabinets beneath the shelving.
The secondary resource materials in garden and landscape design were housed in the basement area under the Rare Book Reading Room, which also accommodated, in a somewhat cramped manner, the study carrels for the fellows. This was removed to the new library in 2006, and the space is today used for climate-controlled storage of the institution's rare collections.]]>
It is our hope and expectation that the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens may in time attain as high a standing in the study of, and for its publications on, Garden Design and Ornament as the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection has already attained for its scholarly work and research. Thus will the unusual potentialities of its Gardens be fully realized.
A big question was where to house this new center. Conversion of various outbuildings, including the director's house, was considered as was the possibility of a new freestanding building, a prospect that at the time seemed too expensive. On August 16, 1949, Mildred Bliss wrote to Robert Patterson, who had become a consulting landscape architect:
Mrs. Farrand writes that she feels the cool house is too small, even for a start of what the Dumbarton Oaks Garden Centre ought to become. However, as I see no other suitable place, and as building is out of the question for a few years, and as for every reason—Harvard psychology, founders' age, economic conditions, etc.—I think it would be better to start, get the centre running and able to prove its usefulness. Later a more spacious and suitable centre can be constructed.
The creation of a brick-and-mortar center, however, was not to happen until the early 1960s. Consequently, Mildred Bliss's focus momentarily shifted from a research center analogous to the Byzantine Studies program to a "dirt-gardening" approach where garden fellows would work directly out of doors. In 1952, an advisory committee was formed, and soon thereafter fellowships were awarded. However, the annual reports indicate that the program was strictly praxis oriented. Indeed, the annual reports listed the program first under the "Gardens" section and later under "Gardens and Garden Library."
In the second half of the 1950s, things began to change. In 1956, the first true landscape architecture fellow, Ralph E. Griswold, was appointed, thereby initiating a scholarly fellowship program in garden design and garden history. In early 1957, a new advisory committee was appointed, and this committee recommended establishing three categories of fellowships: a senior research fellowship in landscape architecture (for a "mature professional landscape architecture"), a junior research fellowship (for a recent graduate), and garden scholarships (for "possibly two or more undergraduate students").
In 1958, the Blisses and the institution began discussions on a new museum wing, to accommodate just about everything that at the time had not yet found permanent housing: the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art and its library, the Byzantine coins and seals collections, Antioch mosaics which were in storage, and the landscape architecture rare book collection and garden library. Through the Blisses' patronage, Dumbarton Oaks commissioned Philip Johnson to design this addition, which was slated to be built where the Rare Book Collection presently is located. His building was envisioned as twice the size of the structure he eventually built in the Copse. The Blisses admired the modern design and, as Mildred Bliss put it, were "ready to try something new;" however a domed glass pavilion essentially in the front yard of the Main House was too radical a departure for them to countenance. They therefore decided to construct two new additions, putting the Pre-Columbian Collection and coins and seals in a reduced-scale Johnson building somewhat out of sight. Thus was born the Garden Library and its eighteenth-century style Rare Book Reading Room, designed by the more conservative Frederic Rhinelander King. With this addition, the landscape architecture center was brought indoors.
After the death of Mildred Bliss in 1969, the Garden Advisory Committee realized that the existing program needed to change. In their 1969 report, they wrote:
Fellowships were awarded exclusively to professionals in Landscape Architecture. However, the number of applicants from the practical side was never very great, and in recent years the Fellowships have been awarded to persons in related fields who have a scholarly or historical interest in garden and landscape architecture. . . . Thus the profession of Landscape Architecture does not appear at this time to be a very promising source of candidates for Fellowships.
They therefore recommended that the library be headed by a scholar who "could direct the building of the collection and also find qualified candidates for the Fellowship program." In 1971, the program held its first annual landscape architectural symposium, "The Italian Garden," chaired by David Coffin. And in 1972, a studies program in Garden and Landscape Architecture was officially inaugurated, and Elisabeth Blair MacDougall was appointed the first director of the program; she remained in that position for the next sixteen years.
The Studies in Garden and Landscape Architecture program had evolved from the praxis-oriented gardening focus to a scholarly program concerned with the history of garden design. As stated in the minutes of the Garden Advisory Committee meeting of January 9, 1973: "The research program should emphasize the study of the history of landscape architecture and the history of horticulture." The Garden Advisory Committee was dissolved in 1974 and replaced by the Senior Fellows Committee in 1975. In the late 1970s, under the directorship of Giles Constable, Dumbarton Oaks standardized its fellowships for all of its studies programs—Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape. Under the new structure, fellowships, junior fellowships, and summer fellowships were to be granted, and this system continues to the present day.]]>
Between 1947, when Mildred Bliss seriously began to acquire rare garden library books, and the late 1950s, the Garden Library Rare Book Collection grew rapidly. Within a decade, it contained publications dating to over four centuries and could boast, in the words of director John S. Thacher, "virtually every major work relating to garden design which was published in Europe and America." However, by the late 1950s, the collection had outgrown its housing in the Founders Room. Space had become so limited that some acquisition opportunities had to be turned down for lack of shelving. Among the notable books under consideration that were declined was the Comte de Buffon's seminal thirty-five volume Histoire naturelle.
In order to make further growth possible, in 1959 the Blisses offered the funds for an additional wing to house the Garden Library Rare Book Collection. Designed by Frederic Rhinelander King in 1960, the Garden Library Rare Book Room was conceived in a French neoclassical style reminiscent of an eighteenth-century European library. Books were kept in elegant mesh-fronted cases in the company of paintings and antique furniture formerly owned by the Blisses.
To insure the maintenance of this collection as well as the gardens themselves, and to assure that both would help to advance scholarship in garden design, the Blisses already, in 1951, had established the Dumbarton Oaks Garden Endowment Fund Number I in the amount of $250,000,
. . . for the maintenance, operation and development of the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks; for the establishment of Visiting or Exchange Fellowships to or from this or other countries for the individual study of Garden Design and Ornament; for the publication of monographs or books on such subjects as garden design and ornament—and incidental decorative horticulture; for the maintenance and enlargement of the Garden Research Library already established at Dumbarton Oaks; for the support of the Garden Information Center; and for other related educational purposes.
In making this gift, however, the Blisses were quick to point out to the President and Fellows of Harvard College both its restrictions and its overreaching purpose:
This fund is not be limited to the actual maintenance, operation and development of the Gardens, which are now supported from the income of the original Dumbarton Oaks Endowment Fund established by one of our letters to you dated July 2, 1940. It is our hope and expectation that the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens may in time attain as high a standing in the study of, and for its publications on, Garden Design and Ornament as the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection has already attained for its scholarly work and research. Thus will the unusual potentialities of its Gardens be fully realized.
In 1957, Ralph Griswold became the first fellow appointed to the program that the Blisses had created, and he was followed in the early 1960s by further appointments, including those of David Chase, Bodfan Gruffydd, and Georgina Masson.
When Mildred Bliss died in 1969, the Garden Library Rare Book Collection consisted of some twenty-four hundred rare books, five thousand reference works, and a significant number of prints and drawings. The nascent program had also seen the appointment of nine fellows. As part of her residuary bequest to Harvard University on behalf of Dumbarton Oaks, Mildred Bliss increased the standing of the garden program by establishing the Dumbarton Oaks Garden Endowment Fund Number II, now in the amount of six million dollars,
For the maintenance, operation and development of the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks including the establishment and maintenance of visiting or exchange fellowships for the individual study of garden design, and ornament and special planting; the publication of monographs or books on such subjects as plant material, design ornament and subjects germane to city and country gardens.
With this new and sizable endowment, in the early 1970s Dumbarton Oaks could formally inaugurate a Garden and Landscape Architecture Studies program, created on the model of the existing Byzantine Studies program. To facilitate this, a significant reorganization of the Garden Advisory Committee took place and a director of studies was appointed. This director was to be responsible, among other duties, for the expansion of the garden library rare book collection in order to further develop the collection for research purposes.
In 1972, Elisabeth Blair MacDougall was appointed the first director of studies in Garden and Landscape Architecture. Both she and her immediate successor, John Dixon Hunt, who served as Director from MacDougall's retirement, in 1988, until 1991, focused largely on acquiring rare British, Italian, and French books on garden design and garden ornament. In 1991, Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn succeeded Hunt as director of studies. A fellow in the Garden and Landscape Architecture Studies program the previous year, Wolschke-Bulmahn was familiar with both the reference and rare book collections and recognized that they had noticeable strengths and weaknesses. Working with librarian Linda Lott, he sought to augment the library's holdings in areas where the collection was lacking, particularly German garden literature and American garden books of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Today, the Garden Library Rare Book Collection contains over seven thousand works, and the continually expanding reference collection boasts over twenty-one thousand items. Begun as Mildred Bliss's desire to collect and protect rare books, the collection has evolved into an in-depth collection suitable for scholarly research and publication, just as the Blisses had envisioned it.]]>
The Rare Book Reading Room, which stands at the southwest end of the main building, was designed by the architect Frederic Rhinelander King (1887–1972). King, cousin of the novelist Edith Wharton, belonged to the same social orbit as Robert Woods Bliss (1875–1962) and Mildred Barnes Bliss (1879–1969), who donated Dumbarton Oaks to Harvard University in 1940. King's design, aimed to recall the grandeur of the French eighteenth century, is well suited to the historical nature of the rare books, drawings, and manuscripts it houses. The look speaks to a strong strain within American culture that seeks out inspiration in the Old World and Enlightenment.Projecting to the north of the main building, in the opposite direction from the Reading Room, are the eight domes, with a central fountain, that constitute the Philip Johnson Pavilion. Commissioned in 1959 to showcase the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, it is remarkable for its interaction with the trees surrounding it. Thanks to their curves and glassiness, the octet of curving cells blends in with the nature around it, and the objects displayed within seem to float against the world outside. At the same time the architecture gestures to the Islamic world, particularly to Turkish structures of the Ottoman period. In sum, the Pavilion is anything but traditional European in either its design or its artworks (if the term artworks is not itself a Western imposition!).
Robert Bliss did not survive to witness the completion of the two edifices, since he died the year before, but his widow Mildred lived on through most of the decade. It is a tribute to the scope and flexibility they retained even as octogenarians that they should have envisioned a complex of buildings that could harmonize two additions as distinct in style and function as the Rare Book Reading Room and Philip Johnson Pavilion have been for the past half century.
To mark the anniversaries, we will celebrate not just the spaces themselves but also the uses for which they were established. The Blisses intended their buildings, grounds, and collections to serve both advanced scholars and the general public. Without interrupting experts who need library materials and without jeopardizing the proper protection of those materials, we are planning a series of small guided tours to the Rare Book Reading Room and the Philip Johnson Pavilion. Visits will be complemented by an ambitious calendar of talks, lectures, workshops, colloquia, and symposia. Through such activities we do our part to uphold the causes of the humanities and advanced research, while familiarizing the public with our complex missions—in historic preservation, innovative scholarship, and broad dissemination—and demonstrating their ultimate oneness.]]>
LF: Yes, that is about right.
VKM: What was your background in garden and landscape?
LF: My background in garden and landscape was practically non-existent. I had never lived anywhere that had a garden, and I loved a beautiful garden when I saw one. But I had never studied gardening. My background was as a reference librarian. I had done my undergraduate work in General Studies at the University of Chicago, taken a master's degree in library science, and I worked as a reference librarian at the University of Chicago until 1961, when we moved to Washington. And then I worked again in a very general collection at the U.S. Information Agency, which in those days – it no longer exists, it's been folded into the State Department – but it's job was essentially to do public relations for the United States worldwide. We ran the Voice of America. We had a large publishing collection – publishing operation rather – that we distributed materials very, very widely. And the library here was a backup. It was like a good small university library, or maybe more like a college library with a very up-to-date collection – we collected newspaper clippings daily that would prepare us to answer questions from abroad and publish things about the states that people wanted to know. I did that for about ten years. But in work as a librarian, you begin to understand the importance of little things that most people ignore, like punctuation and consistency in bibliographic citation. And when I – well, things changed at the U.S. Information Agency during the Vietnam War and it became less interesting to me. I had a background – I'd done some editorial work at the University of Chicago for the press there, and my husband was traveling a lot. I just decided I didn't want to go to an office five days a week. And so I stopped my library work in the '60s and started doing copyediting, and that's what brought me to Dumbarton Oaks.
VKM: So, how did you first become aware of Dumbarton Oaks?
LF: Well, I – we had a good friend named Bates Lowry. I should go back. You can't live in Washington and not be aware of Dumbarton Oaks. My husband and I had subscribed to the concerts; I had walked frequently in the gardens here. It was a gorgeous place and a place I was drawn back to. But in 1977, a friend of ours named Bates Lowry, who was an architectural historian, came here. He had a project at that time; he and his wife were doing some publishing of microfiche in American art and architecture. He subsequently became very interested in the preservation at the Pension Building downtown, which today is the Building Museum, and he ultimately became the first director and really organizer of the Building Museum. But I think in '77 he was still working at something called the Dunlap Society. Anyway, he was an old college friend of my husband's. They moved down here, and I can't remember at this point whether that was about the time that Betty MacDougall came to Dumbarton Oaks, or whether she was already here.
VKM: I think she started around '72, so –
LF: Okay, then she was here. But, Bates knew her. They were good friends. And through Bates Lowry, I met Betty MacDougall. My husband and I met her, and we became friendly. And she knew what I was doing. I had at that point just finished five years editing the rare book catalogue of the Lessing Rosenwald Rare Book Collection for the Library of Congress, which was a very demanding assignment. But I had finished it, I'd finished the indexes, I'd done the bibliography, it was at press, and I was looking for other assignments. Betty was about to reissue a symposium on Persian gardens that had been held here, I guess in the early '60s. And I think it was out of print. She wanted to have it reprinted, and she hired me to do that job.
VKM: So, you had already seen Dumbarton Oaks before you came to work here. So when you first saw Dumbarton Oaks, or visited, what were your initial impressions of it?
LF: Oh, I was awed. It was very very beautiful and it was – well, one of the joys of having this assignment was that I got into the gardens when they were not necessarily open, and I could wander at leisure. I was – as I recall – I wasn't working by the hour, so I had time to take breaks and enjoy the gardens, and I had met Mrs. Bliss once.
VKM: Really?
LF: Yes, she was an old lady, but when we first interned – '61 – she was still on the scene, and not that I had any long conversation with her, but it was kind of fun to be in her home and see what she had created. At that time – and at this point I don't know to what extent things have changed – but the garden operation, the garden library, and the exhibition space for the rare book collection were all right here, sort of on the 32nd Street side, and the library was on two levels, the rare books were on the street level and the working collections – the working gardening collections – were underground, down that circular staircase, that you may have seen. Much of my work was done at home because, as I remember it, on the first project, which was the Persian Gardens, I didn't see it until the galley stage. Now that may not be familiar to someone who has grown up with a computer. But publishing in those days was – there were many parts to it. A manuscript would come in. It would be edited. It would be sent to a printer who would then type in the printed text. It would come back in a first stage of prints, which were called galleys. It wasn't divided into pages; it was just, you know, line by line. They would be edited and proofread. The manuscript would already have been proofread, but then the galleys would be proofed. Corrections would be made. They would go back to the printer. The corrections would be made, and then the text would come back again in page proof form. You would have to correct – you would have to check that all the corrections had been made, and then at that point any indexing could be done because there would be page numbers related to the text. So you would prepare an index at that point, if there was to be one. And it would then go back to the press. If I remember correctly, I wasn't around for anything until the galleys came back because I think a copy of the first edition would have been sent to the printer for resetting in type. Oh, and I should also answer that the joy was – I did have to work at home mostly – but when I came in, I could sit at an absolutely gorgeous desk in the garden library, which looked out on the gardens and it really felt good.
VKM: So, you worked on the Persian Garden.
LF: That was the first publication.
VKM: What were your other projects?
LF: Well, following that – I don't know if it is still the case, I think it is, but the garden library, the garden – I shouldn't just say library – but the gardening section of Dumbarton Oaks. I can't remember exactly what it's called.
VKM: I think they call it Garden and Landscape studies now.
LF: Okay, the Garden and Landscape Studies section would hold an annual symposium, and the papers from that symposium would be published, which again added to the length of time. Papers would come in. The authors would be told that six months later they were supposed to have final copy. They would have delivered them orally at this symposium. Then they were supposed to submit a final typed version of their papers. Some of them would come. Some of them wouldn't come. It was always a struggle. But probably within six months or so, they would have all appeared. Betty would have decided what order they should appear in. She would, probably by then, have written a forward of some sort, organized it, asked for any major substantive changes that she might have wanted. She might have asked an author to elaborate on some subject. And then, they would come to me – the manuscripts – at that point, after, not Persian Gardens, I think the next one was the sixth colloquium, which was on John Claudius Loudon and the nineteenth century in Great Britain, and at that point I had manuscripts and I would change them for punctuation, spelling. Again, because it was a different world, there was no such thing as spell-check.
VKM: Oh, I can imagine!
LF: And even today, with spell-check, you have to check because "to" is a very different word from "too." But in those days, the authors would've type their own manuscripts because they were all academics and they didn't have secretaries. And some of them could type, and some of them couldn't. And typewriters did not make corrections, so the corrections were either made in whiteout or by hand by the authors, before the manuscript would come here – some of them legible, some of them not. And it was my job at that point as a copy editor not only to check for spelling and punctuation and correct grammar, in some cases – because often, not often but sometimes, the authors were foreign and there would be rather awkward translations. But I had to get the manuscript in shape to go for that first stage of typesetting, and I did that for the John Claudius Loudon Colloquium, which finally was published in 1980. And I'll tell you about another publication that came out in 1980 later, because I want to talk about two of them together, but also the Roman Gardens which came out in 1981. In between I did Beatrix Farrand's Plant Book for Dumbarton Oaks, but that was a very different publication from the symposium – from the colloquium. And then again I worked on the Beatrix Farrand colloquium in 1982. On the Beatrix Farrand books, what I did was more substantive.
VKM: So who did you work with the most during your time at Dumbarton Oaks?
LF: Betty MacDougall, who essentially was my boss. She was the fulltime person in charge of the garden and landscape research effort. I never quite understood it, but I think that at least at that point the staff members here had faculty appointments at Harvard – they may still. I don't know. She was something like an adjunct professor. She was a very distinguished landscape and architectural historian. I should say architectural historian – I guess in those days – with a specialty in landscape architecture. Italian gardens were her great specialty. Betty was the fulltime person here. She supervised the librarian, Laura Byers, with whom I worked a lot because I had to check references and things down in the reference library. Betty would have, I gather, made any acquisitions of rare books at that point. Although, I think, I don't know how much money was left in those days.
VKM: Not very much.
LF: Once Mrs. Bliss died – actually once the property was transferred to Harvard – the rare book library may have stopped making additions.
VKM: I think what basically happened was they had to sell the books that weren't related to the gardens in order to afford to buy new books.
LF: Could be. I don't know that. I had never heard that. So that could have been a later development.
VKM: It was. There was a lot of stuff in the records about how Harvard felt about Dumbarton Oaks selling books that maybe weren't related to their collection, but Harvard wanted.
LF: Oh that's very possible. Yes, but I would imagine that the rare books related to the gardens –
VKM: – Oh, those they kept.
LF: Those they kept. The others might have been sold, if they were duplicates from Harvard, or gone up to the Harvard libraries. Yes, I think, it's my impression that for all three of the studied collections, the books, rare books even, related to those collections remained here, because they were certainly shelved in the garden library here and exhibited in that entrance – in that long hallway leading to the garden library doors, just as you came in the 32nd street entrance, where they are exhibited today. Betty would have supervised all of that, anything having to do with the – ah, the garden – oh, but not the gardens themselves. That was a totally different operation. There was a gardener on staff and of course a large staff of gardeners, and he had charge of the gardens. He might have used the library, although I rather doubt it. But, by then those were two entirely separate departments, and that's where the Beatrix Farrand Plant Book comes in.
VKM: Can you talk about any changes that took place in 1980 when Diane McGuire took over while Betty was on sabbatical?
LF: Yes, and that's exactly where the plant book comes in, and – Diane McGuire was a landscape designer, landscape architect. She was not an academic. She was a hands-on designer and gardener. She was also an ardent feminist. Feminist – Feminism as a movement was really blossoming just about that time. There were a lot of women in the landscape architect profession interested in the history of women in the profession, and Beatrix Farrand was the first. She had been, I don't know, should I talk about her background; who she was?
VKM: Beatrix Farrand? Sure.
LF: Yes, Beatrix Farrand.
VKM: I'd be curious to know how much was, you know, common awareness, when because –
LF: No, I mean this, the original research, or most of the major research on Beatrix Farrand was done here at Dumbarton Oaks, and subsequent to the symposium – colloquium. I keep calling it symposium. Sorry about that.
VKM: I get them mixed up too.
LF: Correct the record, please – colloquium. Diane came in. I can't remember whether she came as a fellow or exactly what. I don't remember the order in which she was actually employed here. But Diane's interest was in the Dumbarton Oaks gardens and in Beatrix Farrand, who had designed the Dumbarton Oaks gardens. Beatrix Farrand was a very, very interesting person. She was the first major female landscape architect in this country. She came from a very prominent old New York family. She was Beatrix Jones Farrand and the "Jones" was always part of her signature. The Joneses in New York were the sort of family that looked down on the Astors as nouveau-riche. Beatrix's father was a Jones of that family. His name was something Cadwalader Jones. These were all New York Dutch and English names. Her mother was an interesting person in her own right. Henry James was one of her mother's closest friends. She had a kind of salon in New York. The parents separated when Beatrix was twelve, and I think that may have had something to do with Beatrix's independence of mind, growing up with a mother who didn't have a lot of money anymore. She had enough to live on properly in New York. But she grew up sort of in that salon, meeting a lot of very interesting people. In the Beatrix Jones Colloquium – there it is – there is a biographical section on Beatrix, and it talks about her background. She – now we're talking now about the 1880s, '90s – she may have been born earlier; I don't remember the birth date. But like girls of her societal rank, she was homeschooled. She never went to college. But growing up in her mother's salon, she was well-read. She must have been a good listener, I think. She was certainly brought up with all of the manners that would be required to deal with high society, wherever she went. And I think I failed to mention that her father's sister was Edith Wharton. Edith Wharton was also well-connected and was also, as you may know if you've read any of her history, a very independently-minded woman. She took a great interest in her niece, who was considerably younger, and they were always very close, and indeed Farrand was her executor, after Edith Wharton's death. At some point, long after the father had left – Beatrix must have been in her late teens – I think I remember reading somewhere that she actually had a coming-out party, which I'm not sure of. I may be wrong about that. But anyway, at some point she was sent, and I made a note here, she was introduced to Charles Sprague Sargent, who was a horticulturist and was at that point the either coming or already director of the Arnold Arboretum in – outside Boston. She was sent up to study with him, to apprentice – although they probably would not use such a low-class term. But she was sent up to work with him, and he took a great interest in her, and she apparently fell in love with plants and planting and really took a great interest in it and was a prized student of his. But at some point, probably under her aunt's influence, instead of following Sargent, who was basically a horticulturist – he was interested in how plants worked, in naming plants, in the relationships of plants and plantings in a kind of wild landscape. Meanwhile Beatrix had done some traveling, mostly in Italy, where Wharton was living, and had been introduced by her aunt, who was interested in interior decoration and garden design, to the great Italian gardens, and at that point, I think, Beatrix realized that what she wanted to be was a designer of gardens, not a horticulturist. She began her career and was the first female member of the American – I think it's called – the American Society of Landscape Architects. She was the one woman accepted by all these men, who were designing gardens in those days, like Fredrick Law Olmsted and a number of others whose names just escape me at the moment. But anyway, they invited her to join them in founding this society. So, Diane, who was very interested in gardens, as a designer was also interested in Beatrix Farrand's history. She came here, I think she may have been assigned, and I'm not sure of this, it would have to be checked. She may have been sent down by Harvard to work with the gardener because in 1970 or before, she was familiar with Beatrix Farrand's Plant Book for Dumbarton Oaks. The Plant Book had been requested, I think, and it's somewhere here in these books, but I'm not going to look for it now. It's in the introduction to the Plant Book. I believe Mrs. Bliss, at the time Dumbarton Oaks went over to Harvard –
VKM: I read the introduction. I think it was William Tyler, maybe, who asked her to write up –
LF: Maybe it was Tyler –
VKM: – all the plants she had in the garden
LF: Right. He asked her, probably employed her, to go through section by section of the gardens explaining what her vision had been for that particular garden; how it related to the house, and then list the plants that she had proposed, because even by 1940 some changes had been made, during the war I'm sure the gardens had been neglected – everything else in this country had been neglected. Those were hard times. They wanted a record which hadn't been here when she could come annually and oversee and work with Mrs. Bliss on the gardens and work with the gardener. And at that point she had prepared a plant book, which existed in manuscript and manuscript only. Diane, working with it and working with the gardeners here, realized that it was a valuable document, and she was very eager to have it published. And she – I guess she must have persuaded Betty to hire me to help her bring out that manuscript, because Diane wasn't used to writing a lot and this was a pretty – what should I say – Farrand wasn't a writer. I mean, Farrand gave directions usually orally, or notes, and this was not something that was ready for publication. So, it was much more substantial from my point of view. I really worked on the text, and then Diane taught me, bless her, to identify the – and not just identify – but correct for or research for correctness the plant names and link them up with the popular plant names, because the plant names were give in Latin usually. Sometimes in the text they would be in popular form, and to know the relationship and be sure that it was accurately depicted was a big part of the job, which I really enjoyed. I learned a lot from that particular – I learned from all the assignments – but I learned a great deal about gardening from that one. And then, I would – I can't remember exactly the dates of Diane's coming in and substituting for Betty, but Diane also took responsibility for the colloquium on Beatrix Farrand, and I worked very closely with her on that. And, indeed, I think I am given credit on the title page of that one. We had a good time. Well I met her friends and by then I was really interested in Farrand, so I really – I loved doing that book. I subsequently visited as many gardens of hers as I could, and it turned out that she had been the original landscape designer for the University of Chicago, where I had gone to school – something I had never known. But Diane was here and while she was working on the colloquium, she had – she was very very keen to see the gardens returned to the state that Farrand had left them – that they had been on Farrand's last visit. She wanted them returned to where they had been designed. Well, over the years there've been many different gardeners, many changes made, that beautiful Italian pool, reflecting pool, had been added. Diane always said that Farrand would have been very upset to have seen that happen. But, and of course that could not be removed at that point. But, Farrand had – Farrand – well first of all there was no air conditioning when Dumbarton Oaks was built. There was no such thing as an air conditioned interior. This house was designed for – to be lived in and entertained in by the Blisses in the spring and the fall. They would take residence here in those seasons and do a lot of entertaining, and the gardens, as envisioned by Farrand, were an addition to the house in which entertaining would take place. So, as you may have noticed, as they move away from the house, they get more and more wild, but near the house they are quite formal, almost like rooms. And I'm sure tables would have been set up and entertaining would have been done in many of those rooms, and Diane was very conscious of that, made me conscious of it, and, I think, tried to make the gardeners increasingly conscious of that, and tried to bring the landscape as much as possible back to where they had been. I don't know how the gardener at that point felt about Diane. I'm sure there were conflicts. I don't know if Giles Constable is still around, but if there were conflicts, he would be able to tell you about those. Diane would sometimes grumble. The gardener was never anything but nice to me, but I hadn't of course – there were – Harvard was paying for all of this and I don't know how Harvard felt about it all, but if Diane had had her way and unlimited funds, the gardens would have been returned to Farrand's plan, and were returned to a certain degree, I have no doubt. I can't tell you specifically how much. But and – again that was what 19 – she was here in '80 –
LF: The book came out in '82, with again the same process of reading it, the proofs and all of that. But what – it's thirty years – the gardens today – I would have to go through these gardens with the plant book to tell you whether they still reflect Farrand's plan or not. I imagine they do, fairly close up. I know that the number of major trees that were fundamental to her plan, that had been preserved from the eighteenth century, maybe early nineteenth century, and on which she had focused various views came down in various storms over the years, subsequent to this work. And I hope that they have been replaced at least by the same kind of tree. But, they can't possibly be at the same height and majesty that they were when Dumbarton Oaks was at its height, in the Blisses' days. But I imagine that the gardeners have worked with the plant book now that it is published and have probably followed as much as possible the plan. Anyway, the Beatrix Farrand colloquium was the last book that I edited here at Dumbarton Oaks. Yes, very shortly after that, I think – well I was told – whether I was fired for cause, whether I was fired because there wasn't any money anymore, I don't know. I was told the latter.
VKM: I think they were a little short on funds.
LF: Simply that they were short of funds, that they were no longer – that they no longer had funds to pay for editing these things. They were going to hold the authors responsible for seeing that their text was clean, and I suppose Betty must have read the proofs after those years, and I've never looked at them to see if I felt they needed editing. But my formal connection with Dumbarton Oaks ended at that point. I should say that I went on to do some work with Betty, with Diane, who edited a book called – or was instrumental in putting out a book called Beatrix Farrand's American Landscapes, which has a big section, as you can imagine, on Dumbarton Oaks, and I edited that book when it came out in 1985. So that is really my last formal connection. Anything else you want to ask me?
VKM: Did you say that there was the Beatrix Farrand Colloquium? Did you attend it?
LF: Oh yes, of course. I attended all the colloquiums that I edited except Persian Gardens, which – I was young. It was the year – actually it was just the year before I came to Washington. But I attended all three colloquiums that I edited. That was always very pleasant. It meant – people would come from all over the country. They all were delighted to see one another because there aren't that many people – professors – interested in landscape architecture. It's still – I imagine it's still a fairly small group and they know one another, and they were thrilled to come. We would have lunch in the gardens, a boxed lunch of some kind, and there were cocktail parties and the papers obviously were delivered, and then there would be question and answer sessions, and that was one reason why the authors went back following the colloquium because often points were raised that they wanted to elaborate on. So, it was a genuinely scholarly meeting and – but it was lovely. Usually your scholarly meetings are at universities in the basement of the library, and to come to Dumbarton Oaks was a very special treat.
VKM: This is maybe a strange question, but you mentioned that Diane McGuire was still very feminist, and there were – I mean, I've noticed that there're a lot of women who worked in garden and landscape studies here, but not so many of the junior fellows were women. It was very male dominated in the records. Did you ever get a feeling that –
LF: The world was male dominated until about 19 – let's face it, today women still get paid less, not at universities, I am happy to say, but I have watched a tremendous change in the way women are regarded in the world. Let's face it, Beatrix Farrand would not have been the success she was without her social background. A lot of the women who pushed in the early days – women writers. You know, George Eliot was not that woman's name. The Brontë sisters had to publish – one of them, I think, published under a man's name. Women didn't do things like that, professionally. Farrand had the advantage of a lot of very good social connections and her early work was paid for by friends of the family, who recognized her talent and who gave her the opportunities to work on their gardens, because she needed to make a living, until she married Max Farrand. But she – she could do that early pioneering work. In art history, generally, and architectural history, I'm sure most of the professors at the universities were male, if you start looking at bibliographies. I suspect that they were not awfully interested in gardening; that it was thought of as a woman's – something the woman did. The man designed the house; maybe the lady of the house designed the gardens or worked on the gardens. So, I would guess that women probably – and I am really talking off the top of my head here – but probably entered academia working on gardens, before men did. Women might take a degree in art history and then study Italian gardens, which meant you had to do your graduate work in Italy. I'm sure that that's what took Betty over there. I mean, she loved Italy. But her good friend here, Hank Millon, who ran the National Gallery's Studies program for years – Hank studied sculpture and not gardens. I'm sure that that's what attracted a lot of women to the profession, and over the years of these colloquiums, when you got distinguished professors, distinguished academics, there would have been more women in this profession than men. Now, I think younger men probably don't even think twice about it. They don't think of it as a woman's profession, which would mean that there would be more fellows today – male – more than thirty years ago.
VKM: You mentioned that you used to attend events here, even before you worked here. Was there – did you do a lot of socializing with people who had worked here at Dumbarton Oaks?
LF: Not a lot. My husband was, in those years, curator of prints and then Chief of the Prints and Photographs division at the Library of Congress. I'm trying to think how we met Mr. Tyler, whether he did research over there, whether we met here. The art world here was much smaller in those days, than it is today. Many museums didn't exist. My husband ended his career as Director of the Portrait Gallery. There was no such thing until the Johnson administration, until the late '60s. I remember meeting Tyler and being invited here to concerts by him. But I don't remember the particulars of how it happened. It probably happened through my husband. So, I didn't pay attention. We subscribed at one point to the concert series here, and that was lovely. It would be held in the music room, and would spill out at intermission onto the terrace in the gardens, and that was very special. What I honestly don't remember is whether that was before or after I worked here. So, I'd have to check in your records as to when the concert series began.
VKM: You know, I actually don't know.
LF: It was an invitational. You had to wangle an invitation to subscribe, and I imagine Mr. Tyler arranged that for us. And it may have been at one of those concerts that I met Mrs. Bliss. It's very possible because I don't remember her coming to any of these colloquia. But I honestly can't tell you.
VKM: I think the colloquia started after she died, so –
LF: Very possible, yes.
VKM: This is maybe a funny question, but someone mentioned that Dumbarton Oaks used to be a part of the diplomatic social scene.
LF: Oh, of course!
VKM: Was that still going on while –
LF: I mean, after all, it was built by a wealthy diplomat, and in those days diplomacy was very different. At the highest levels of the diplomatic posts, and still to a certain extent – but in those days the posts were filled by people not only with money, but with social connections; good family from usually the east coast. Today, because so much of the entertaining has to be paid for by the ambassador, the government has very small budgets, they'll pick wealthy people who made their own money. But in those days, it was old family, and the diplomatic community was very socially elite. I would say a lot of diplomats lived in Georgetown. Georgetown was the place to live if you had social connections, when we moved here in 1961. It still is to a certain extent, although there's – it's diversified a lot, as the whole world has diversified. But I'm sure that when the Blisses' entertained personally, a great part of their – a great many of their friends would have served in diplomatic posts, not just as ambassadors, but as chiefs of mission. Many would be ambassadors coming to this country from countries where Mr. Bliss had – where Ambassador Bliss had served. I'm sure he kept up his connections abroad. He would have welcomed new ambassadors. I can't remember now where he served. But there had to be Latin American ones because that is where he developed his interest in the pre-Columbian part. I didn't do my homework on the Blisses. But oh yes, I mean it would have been a center for entertaining in the diplomatic community. You could probably check that out just looking at the social pages of the Washington Post during the Bliss years. I'm sure those pages – those parties were covered, probably with guest lists, at least of the most important guests
VKM: Did they still have parties and stuff in the '70s when it was just a Harvard institution?
LF: Well, the parties would be in conjunction with the colloquia. I can't tell you about the Byzantine and the pre-Columbian. Have you spoken with Betty Benson?
VKM: I'm mostly doing garden and landscape. But, I believe someone has.
LF: That's good. I'm sure that they had parties. As I say, there was the whole entertaining in conjunction with the concerts. I think the director entertained. I would not be surprised if the director entertained Harvard graduates. And I'm sure it was – you know you entertain to raise money, let's face it. Dumbarton Oaks was, as I understood it – if it couldn't raise its own, enough money to run it, it was going to revert entirely to Harvard and folded into Harvard. The collections would be folded into the Harvard collections. For all I know, the building would be sold, the building and gardens. I don't know that. I have not read the documents. But it was always my understanding that Dumbarton Oaks had to stand on its own two feet in terms of budget.
VKM: Yes, I mean –
LF: And believe me, maintaining these gardens costs a lot of money. And the endowment in those days – and it's even like the Phillips today. I'm sure when Mr. Phillips left his money to the Phillips Collection, he thought that that would ground it in perpetuity. But inflation has been such that those early endowments just do not cover, and I am sure that Giles Constable had to raise money for Dumbarton Oaks, and there would have been parties entertaining people who wanted to support the house and gardens, in those years. And once Mrs. Bliss was dead and Harvard owned the collection – Harvard administered, they didn't own but they administered Dumbarton Oaks. I would guess that the guest list would change considerably.
VKM: Did you – I don't know the exact financial details of how Harvard related to Dumbarton Oaks, but did you get a sense of how people here felt about the threat of Harvard maybe taking –
LF: They were all aware of it, because that is where I heard about it – I would have no reason. You know, they paid me; I think the biggest job was $5,000, and mostly it was considerably less than that. Of course, when I was told that they were letting me go or that they couldn't employ me anymore, they didn't fire me, they just said next year we're not going to have an editor, and as far as I knew, they didn't. It was made clear to me that that was because they were strapped financially. I mean, not strapped – that's probably much too strong a word. But, they were having to watch their expenditures more than they had in previous years. Whether – I don't think that Betty MacDougall ever felt that she would lose her job. It may have affected her travel budget. That I don't know. She never spoke to me about that. She did travel. By the time – well we kept up our relationship until she died. But in the '80s, '90s she was on a number of UNESCO panels and international panels, and I'm sure that paid for much of her travel in those years. If she was still at Dumbarton Oaks when that happened, they were probably thrilled that somebody else was picking up the tab. But I don't know. She never spoke to me about feeling that she'd lose her job. But I know that there was a consciousness among the department heads, at least. And it may have happened that they may have had to have fewer and fewer fellows. There was entertaining incidentally for the fellows. Fellows all got free lunches. I don't know if they still do. The fellows – there were parties for the fellows. It was a very congenial situation, almost like a small college at Oxford, and Tyler was, I'm sure, very eager to keep it that way, which was great because they would all go from here out to colleges and universities all around the country and they'd still know each other from their fellows days. And I'm sure that it was instrumental in making the history of landscape architecture a true profession and in spreading it from east coast schools to universities all around the country. That kind of collegiality is another of the contributions of Dumbarton Oaks.
VKM: So, I have a list of the people who were on the Senior Fellows Committee. I don't know if you would have known any of them – but, Joseph Alsop, David Coffin, Howard Adams –
LF: Howard, I knew. Alsop, I knew to shake his hand. My husband knew him better because he was involved with the Portrait Gallery. Howard, Adams I knew. Howard was at that point at the National Gallery, I think. I think he was assistant director under Carter, but I – he may have just been heading the education department. I don't remember exactly. Howard Adams was an Adams of the Adams family. He was a descendant. I can't tell you exactly how, but his genealogy went way back in American history, and he was very proud of that. He was a really nice guy, and maybe he was the first director of the – no I can't think what it's called – Mr. Millon's program at the National Gallery that brings in fellows and professors, distinguished professors, and it's got an acronym –
LF: CASVA, CASVA. Howard may have been involved, if not as first director, in helping to set that up. But I'm not sure. But he would certainly have been – he was a good friend of Betty's. They were buddies. And I think he's still alive. You might talk to him about Betty.
VKM: He's still alive. That was the first interview I read.
LF: Oh, you did.
VKM: That's how I knew to get in touch with you.
LF: Oh, okay, yes. They were maybe college friends. They went back.
VKM: Did you –
LF: Who else was on the list?
VKM: Peter Hornbeck, Judith Colton, Allen Tate, Wilhelmina Jashemski.
LF: Allen Tate, I knew, but not from this connection. I sailed to Europe with Allen Tate on the Liberte. In 1961 my husband and I – and oh he was fun. He was fun when he was drunk. Don't – but that should not go in the record. But he loved his – was it a gin? – there was something. And his wife at that time was a niece of – I can't think of the name. She has a – her house is a gallery in Boston, beside the museum. It'll come to me in a minute.
VKM: The Gardner Museum?
LF: The Gardner Museum! Isabella Gardner. Thank you, thank you
VKM: It's a beautiful museum.
LF: And his wife was a niece of Isabella's.
VKM: Really?
LF: And it – oh they – wonderful stories to tell. But we – a seven day crossing, and we would sit around and drink on the crossing, and that – that was a joy. And he took us up to Forenza. He really knew Italy, and from Florence, he gave us a guided tour of Forenza, which was a day I'll never forget. And he loved gardens, so I can understand why he was on that committee. But as I say, I had nothing to do with him here at Dumbarton Oaks. It was just a lucky accident.
VKM: It's still nice to know.
LF: And, of course, I read his poetry. But, we all – in those days he was a really famous poet.
VKM: Did you ever get to meet Wilhelmina Jashemski? Because she –
LF: Yes, I mean I've heard –
VKM: – she died before we could – before the project started.
LF: She lived out in Silver Spring. And I was – when I was working on her essay, I had to go to the house once or twice to check things out with her. Very gracious lady! Lovely person. I know Betty was very fond of her. She, if I remember correctly – and now I'm trying to remember her paper, that was just about the time that the horticulturists were discovering that they could – as they were digging up seeds – that they could identify the seeds that were used in Roman gardens, and I think that appears in her paper.
VKM: She did, I think, the gardens of Pompeii.
LF: Yes, oh yes, of course. Those would have been very much buried, and she was able to, you know, tell us what was actually planted in those gardens. So, she had a certain scientific background as well. She was – she really – but, you know, I met her a few times. She was always lovely to me. I heard her deliver her paper. I'm glad you reminded me that that was in it. But, I can't tell you much about her otherwise.
VKM: Well, I think that's – do you have any memories of Dumbarton Oaks that are particularly prominent or that you think that we should know about?
LF: Two – well one being Betty – and I'll talk about her in a minute. The other being – as I mentioned, the garden library was in this west wing, and the research part of the library, as opposed to the rare books, was down in the basement, and there was no elevator. Prominent on the landscape architecture scene in Washington was a man named Charlie McLaughlin. His widow is still living in Chevy Chase. Both Charlie and his wife Ann had been victims of polio, I guess in their teens, and Charlie was paralyzed from, I guess, the hip down. He had no use of his legs at all. Charlie was a great expert on Fredrick Law Olmsted and his gardens. Indeed Charlie was one of the team that was editing the Olmsted papers, which of course are scattered all over the country. And they were editing and publishing the Olmsted papers, and they were based here in Washington, and Charlie's office was here in Washington, and from time to time he would come to use the library here at Dumbarton Oaks, which was down in the basement, and there was no elevator. And I would watch in horror as Charlie would get up and tighten the braces on his legs and then work himself backwards down the spiral staircase, hanging on to the armrest going arm by arm. It was like you'd go down a rope, if you were going down a fire escape. He would work his way down to the library, where Laura Byers by that time would have brought down his crutches and he could get around. So, that is one of my great visual recollections of Dumbarton Oaks. And the other of course is working with Betty, who was wonderful fun, and very learned, and always willing to share her knowledge, and a good-time-Charlie. She came from Texas. She was not an eastern socialite, although she had gone to Vassar, I think. I believe she's a Vassar graduate, and then I guess she did her – I think I remember that she did her graduate work at Harvard. But she was a good Texas – I don't know- she spoke her mind as you would in Texas. And then she was a lot of fun – she was good – lots of fun at parties. I always loved to – she came to dinner a lot. She had been coming to dinner before she hired me, and the Lowrys were good friends, and we used to have a good time together, and we visited her well after her retirement. Up in Vermont she had a country place. It was – we had a good time there. So, I have only fond recollections of Betty. She was a hard worker, and I think very highly respected in her profession. She must have been to get on all those UNESCO panels, and I think she did a lot of good things for Dumbarton Oaks, at least to my mind. She had one daughter down in Texas, and the daughter died before Betty did, which was rather sad. Betty had been divorced – never heard her speak about her husband. And she moved up to Cambridge, where she lived in the winter. She had an apartment. I don't think I ever saw her apartment there. I knew the building it was in. Bates pointed it out, and she and Bates Lowry were good friends too. I think she died before he did. I can't remember. That generation is pretty much gone. Not Betty Benson – she's still around. But there aren't a lot of people. I guess, if you had to come to me with my short years, there can't be a lot of people who remember.
VKM: Well, you've been really really informative, so –
LF: I hope so. Talking to people, I know, gives you a kind of view that you can't get from reading the record.
VKM: Yes.
LF: And if any other questions occur to you, feel free to call me.
VKM: Thank you so much!
LF: Are you going to transcribe this? Or does it –?
VKM: Yes.
LF: Well, if questions occur –
VKM: Okay. Thank you very much.]]>


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"They stay closely in tune with their human companions and give a sense of intimacy or special closeness to the relationship. They seem to also have a keen sense of humor and make their owners laugh. The most frequently encountered problems have to do with their tendency to be more sensitive to adverse rearing conditions, as well as any lack of stability in their first 18 months. In my personal experience, a more confident grey is allowed to wean at his own pace and is able to develop good flight skills as a fledgling, before having his wings gradually trimmed back. Once he has gone into his new home, a sense of stability is necessary. For example, it is best if the new owners do not go on vacation for the first 18 months, and even then the grey must be prepared gradually for the initial absence"
Pamela Clark, IAABC Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant
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Originally Posted by bmarlo
Due to the retirement of our site artist, the great peire, I have taken it upon myself to start a new "Free Signature Giveaway" thread.
In this post,(post #1) free signatures will be displayed without any text. If you like one of the signatures, let me know that you want it, and if you would like any text,
and I will add the text and remove the signature from post #1, so no-one else


text:
Climbing Mount Everest Photos
Mount Everest in the Morning
Photograph by Bobby Model
Historian Walt Unsworth once said, "Had Mount Everest been climbed at the first attempt, the achievement would have been hailed as notable and then quickly forgotten. It was, ironically, repeated failures which gave the mountain real stature."
Everest Base Camp
Photograph by Bobby Model
Mount Everest's base camp—at an elevation of 18,000 feet (5,500 meters)—is already higher than the highest peaks in Europe. Here, though, it is just the starting point.
Everest Crevasse
Photograph by Bobby Model
A climber uses a ladder to cross a crevasse at Everest's Khumbu Icefall, not far above base camp. Shifting ice exposes new crevasses with little warning, making the Khumbu Icefall the most dangerous section of a southern Everest ascent.
Khumbu Icefall
Photograph by Bobby Model
"Universally terrifying, it is the most dangerous part of the southern route on Everest. The constantly shifting Khumbu Icefall is like a bunch of ice cubes continually tumbling down the icy mountain wall," said photographer Bobby Model about this image.
Khumbu Ladder Ascent
Photograph by Bobby Model
Stark against blue-white ice, a mountaineer ascends a ladder on Mount Everest's upper Khumbu glacier. Occasional pops and groans remind climbers that the glacier is constantly shifting beneath them, a treacherous surface not to be trusted.
Yak Herding Near Everest
Photograph by Bobby Model
Yaks still play a vital role in the Khumbu region of Nepal near Mount Everest, too remote for many modern conveniences. When a Sherpa family builds a home here, all the materials must be carried up from the valley on the backs of people and yaks.
Everest Memorial
Photograph by Bobby Model
A cairn and stone marker memorialize climber Scott Fischer, who died on Everest in 1996. A dangerous tourist spot, the mountain has claimed many adventurers' lives—from falls, lack of oxygen, exposure, and other deadly pitfalls.
Traversing Khumbu Icefall
Photograph by Bobby Model
Every step is critical on Mount Everest. The treacherous Khumbu Icefall has taken the lives of many climbers on their first day as they head to their first camp.
Nepalese Ceremony
Photograph by Bobby Model
Every Mount Everest ascent begins with a Puja ceremony, in which Sherpa pay homage to the mountain deity. The Sherpa have played crucial roles as guides, porters, and climbing partners on nearly every Everest climb in history.
Heidi Howkins
Photograph by Bobby Model
Heidi Howkins makes a radio call from Camp Two on the south face of Mount Everest. Howkins went on to become the first woman to successfully climb K2, the second highest peak behind Everest and a much more difficult mountain to climb.
On Everest
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Follow Conrad Anker and the team as they retrace the 1963 American expedition with photos, videos, and blog posts.
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Delve into the fabled cities of Lhasa, Shigatse, and Kathmandu over 16 days.
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Bike Across America
A coast-to-coast bicycle ride is just one of our favorite 10 classic adventures.


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With temperatures in Northeast Asia breaking records, some are going to the extreme to stay cool.
15 weird ways to keep coolPublished 11:56 AM EDT Aug 13, 2013
Slideshow Central
CommentsThe views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.blog comments powered by Disqus


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on December 28, 2012 - 12:06 AM
Nick's Place Express opened about a year ago in a narrow storefront on Elmwood Avenue in Kenmore. In fact, as we were walking up to the door, I suddenly wondered whether "express" might mean takeout only, and we would be enjoying our breakfasts in the car. But a glimpse of a table in the front window reassured me. Yes, the dining room is small – just three tables for four and one table for two, along with eight low stools at the old-fashioned counter. But it's cozy, and it's like sitting at your grandma's kitchen table, because literally three seconds after the food is put on the plate, it's in front of you.
A few tables were occupied on the weekend just before noon when John and I visited, along with Pat and John. We had heard that this spot is operated by the son of the family that run's Nick's Place on Amherst Street, where we had one of our best breakfasts ever. In that Cheap Eats review from 2008, we praised the Texas hot sauce and the homemade bread, as well as the size of the country breakfast. Both the secret recipe Texas sauce and the homemade bread have been passed down from father to son, and even the country breakfast appears here, just 50 cents more than it was at Nick's four years ago. The menu offers a good selection of breakfast and lunch dishes, many with a Greek flavor. Nothing on the menu is more than $8. That's the price for the fish fry, served on Friday only, and for the open chicken souvlaki.
A small whiteboard lists a couple of unusual specials, which on the day we visited included hash and two eggs and a Polish sausage breakfast. We ordered from here and there on the menu, and although the food did not arrive all at the same minute, each plate was served within a minute or so, and the food was still sizzling from the grill.
We started with one of those specials, the corned beef hash breakfast with two eggs over easy ($7). The hash was cooked until slightly crisp, and the eggs were, as requested, done medium. The toast, made of the homemade bread, was exceptional, light, fresh and moist. The home fries were the best we've had outside of Ireland, where they know their potatoes. They were large segments of peeled potato that had been left on the grill until they were cooked through and had a truly exceptional crunchy crust.
The country breakfast ($8) was a bountiful selection, with two eggs, bacon, sausage or ham, home fries, toast and two pancakes or French toast. Needless to say, it arrived on two plates, with the nicely done eggs, bacon, home fries and toast first. When the thick, light, fluffy, vanilla-infused cakes were plunked down in the middle of the table, we each stuck a fork in and had a few bites, and tremendously enjoyed them.
A half-pound Greek burger was also very good. This hand-formed, meaty patty was nicely cooked and topped with feta, onion and Greek dressing. There were six or eight choices for a side, including Greek potato salad and a green salad, but we went with the Greek potatoes. These large segments of soft potato were served in a bowl containing a small pool of the lemon-infused olive oil in which they had been cooked. The lemon gave the potatoes a real zing.
Finally, we tried the Nick's omelet, an offbeat combination of eggs, two sliced hot dogs, grated cheddar, and chopped green peppers and onions, all cooked together, then topped with a generous portion of a truly delightful Texas red hot sauce – meaty, perfectly spiced and with a hint of cinnamon. On the side were the stellar home fries and the homemade bread. Who could ask for a better breakfast?
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Monday, April 7, 2014
More than 25 years after the unsolved murder of a 5-year-old Horseshoe community boy, a new tip could move the case forward.
Justin Turner was found strangled to death and sexually assaulted in 1989.
Berkeley County investigator Capt. Rick Ollic told the Post and Courier that someone called with a new tip in the case last month.
Ollic would not go into details except to say the tip has led authorities to research someones name.
© 2016 The Berkeley Independent an Evening Post Industries company. All Rights Reserved.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Parental Consent Form.


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For Republicans, it is clearly focus time. Every time a party loses the White House, a reassessment is in order. Of course, it is far simpler to be persuaded when a party has met with failure. Very few within the GOP saw Nov. 6 coming.
As in 1948, they wished for bottles that went uncorked. No doubt Romney's campaign coordinator felt like Herbert Brownell, who declared "1948 is definitely a Republican year," only hours before Harry Truman claimed victory.
But 1948 was no mandate, and neither is 2012. President Obama must resist the mistake George W Bush made in 2004, which was to over-read the returns. It marked an impressive comeback from 2010, but restoring some measure of credibility does not give Obama a green light to do anything that pops into his head.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate also should not interpret the modest victory for any moral triumph either. The Republicans cannot afford to be seen as grinches with declarations of "never" or "shall not pass" on their lips.
Certainly Democrats would be smart to take the measure of their Republican colleagues rather than trying expensive legislative projects. Obama's declaration in 2009 that elections have "consequences" is a nice school yard taunt, but one that should not be repeated. A slow approach playing in the potential divisions in the GOP is in order. Certainly the approach of President Dwight D. Eisenhower - currying favor with Republicans who are eager to abandon the politics of obstruction - is the right path.
Take John Boehner. Clearly, he desires more amity, but he has red-hots in his caucus that no doubt see the election as a partial vindication for the Tea Party. Even Mitch McConnell will listen to Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss if he again senses the political dangers coming from being perceived as placing the party first.
But this is a game that Obama will have to play with patience and aplomb. To snipe with the Tea Party bomb throwers would be ineffective. For Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the charge will be to urge their members to resist grandstanding. Reasonableness was a preceptor that helped Democrats make gains in tight races. In the Senate, they played the percentages and won seats where they should have lost. Tea Partiers have shown a propensity for winning low profile House races. When it goes statewide, they fail miserably. The large Democratic class of 2007 largely survived, denying Republicans an ideal opportunity. Good candidates are available. This year the Democrats did an excellent job in recruitment.
Although they held onto the House, Republicans did so largely because of the miracle of redistricting. In the Southern legislatures, they continued to block out blue dog Democrats opting for large districts that favored African-American candidates. Despite having a net loss, Republicans took false comfort in keeping their majorities the old-fashioned way: through gerrymandering.
Obama, however, has an advantage in that moderate Republicans have been chastened, as well as the fact that demographics are continuing to plague Republicans. Arizona and North Carolina could begin to look like Virginia and Colorado. The Republicans may have not suffered a catastrophic defeat, but they have been warned. Assuming the electoral dynamics are those of 2004 is taking a foolish bet. If they continue to delude themselves by listening to Dick Morris and Scott Rasmussen, more defeats are in their future. With Karl Rove, they will be like the two investors in the movie "Trading Places," demanding the machines be turned on again.
Democrats should allow the dynamics of Republican internal politics to play out, resisting the temptation to get involved. Do not interfere with an opponent trying to figure out how to remain relevant.


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How confident is Mike Morse that he can be the middle of the order bat Seattle is looking to identify itself with?
"I have more confidence than anybody," says Morse. "I know a lot of people think Safeco is tough to hit the ball out of. But if you ask me, I can hit the ball out of the Grand Canyon."
Closing in on four years since leaving the Seattle Mariners organization via trade, Morse returns to Safeco Field. He returns an older, more confident version of himself. Morse debuted in 2005 with the Seattle Mariners as the tallest shortstop in baseball, measuring 6-foot-5 and weighing 195 pounds. Eight years later, the once 'tall and lanky' infielder has become one of Major League's top slugging threats. Tipping the scales at 245 pounds, he has launched 49 home runs over the fence in his past two seasons.
Known for his workout regimen, It's not just his body that has changed, his game has changed along with it, dramatically. The converted shortstop hit three home runs in 337 plate appearances for the Seattle Mariners over the course of four partial seasons, a home run every 112.3 trips to the plate. Over 1,353 plate appearances in Washington, that number jumped to 20.2 trips to the plate.
On trading fan-favorite John Jaso to acquire Morse, Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik said, "When you are in the position to acquire an everyday guy who has a chance to hit the ball hard and hit the ball far, I think it does change your game."
Morse not only hits the ball hard, he hits the ball with the best in league. Take a look at his comparisons to other rumored Seattle off-season targets (2009-2012).
- His .338 BABIP is equal to the number posted by Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton.
- With a .514 slugging percentage, Morse bests Mike Napoli (.513) who is one of just 28 players since 2009 to record over 100 Major League home runs.
- In wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created+), Morse joins Shin-soo Choo and Josh Willingham at 132.
- Ranking 28th in OPS (.857), Morse nips Billy Butler (.854) and Nick Swisher (.850).
- Mark Trumbo, who undoubtedly relies heavily on his power, ranks behind Morse in ISO (Isolated Power), .221 to .219.
So, what is the knock on Morse offensively?
Similar to a growing number of players across the Major Leagues, Morse has seen inflated K/BB (Strikeout/Walk) numbers over recent seasons.
Despite ranking 60th in K% (22.4%) dating back to 2009, his game has been mentioned as synonymous with the home run/strike out mold. In reality, while 22.4% is not ideal, it's the numbers that surround that percentage which tell the whole story.
|Year (Min. 200 PAs)
|K% (Strikeout %)
|BB% (Walk %)
|AB/K (At Bats/K)
As seen above, Morse's AB/K numbers are nearly identical in recent seasons. In fact, dating back to 2010, there is a miniscule difference of 0.1 in his AB/K ratio compared to his career average.
That means any inflation in his K/BB ratio over this time is due in part to drawing less walks, a metric that is far more combat-able with a baseball bat than striking out. Look for yourself.
There are 81 qualified hitters that have posted BB/K ratios below 0.40 dating back to 2009. This signifies that 81 players have struck out, on average, at a ratio greater than 2.5-to-1 over this time. Of those 81 players, let's take a look at the Top-6 as derived from OPS.
|Josh Hamilton
|Carlos Gonzalez
|Giancarlo Stanton
|Matt Kemp
|Michael Morse
|Kendrys Morales
Despite 'trending' towards a declining K/BB ratio, Morse has been able to reach base with some of the top contributors in the Major Leagues. More impressive still, Morse finds himself again among the top of league when weighed against all players, ranking 23rd overall in BABIP and 30th in wOBA dating back to 2009. Both being statistics that whole heartily embrace strikeouts in weighing the value of an individual against their peers. Regardless of the criteria, Morse's name consistently surfaces among current Major League hitters who have recorded considerable success at the plate.
In terms of contractual obligations, Morse is slated to earn $6.75 million for the 2013 season. Just one season removed from finishing 19th in the National League Most Valuable Player voting, his bat certainly can earn a paycheck.
Prior to news of Morse being moved to Seattle, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported the New York Yankees to be among the teams interested in acquiring his bat for the 2013 season. Citing his guaranteed salary in comparison to the potential for production to be a driving factor in competition for the veteran slugger's services.
It's been a long road for the right handed slugger. Drafted in 2000, he became a Major League starter just three seasons ago (2010) in his 11th professional season. Sound familiar?
Fellow Seattle Mariners teammate Raul Ibanez, also returning to the club in 2013, spent 10 professional seasons in baseball before catching on with the Kansas City Royals in 2001. Down the road Morse and Ibanez would serve as teammates in Seattle of all places, from 2005-2008.
It was in this time that Morse studied the veteran journeyman, embracing the path Ibanez took to the Major Leagues. Knowing it could quickly become his own. Morse took the field in just 107 games over his first four Major League seasons, imparting few aspects of his game that have now made him successful in the Major Leagues.
"I respect him so much," Morse said. "I have a lot of older friends that spent a lot of time in the game, but no one's career has gone the long path like mine is, and Raul's has". Asked of his status as 'a late bloomer' in 2011, Morse said, "I didn't get an opportunity when I was younger. But I feel like everything happens for a reason, and what happened made me the person I am today."
The wisdom that Ibanez passed down to Morse so long ago, in part passed down to him by Stan Javier, "Take care of what you can control. That's your preparation, your focus, your attitude and your approach. Everything else is out of your hands. Take care of that, and you're going to sleep better at night".
Ibanez would cite his 'pay it forward' approach to baseball in conversing with Morse, saying, "Sometimes you try to give guys what other guys have given you. And sometimes you try to not give guys what other guys have given to you."
His words certainly had an effect on Morse.
Amid struggling to earn a steady roster spot in 2008, Morse would say, "As long as I see Raul suit up and he has a smile on his face, I know it can happen to me."
Now on his way to a successful Major League career of his own, Morse is excited to return to the organization he debuted with 13 long years ago. Addressing his most recent trade to Seattle, Morse said, "I always felt I had unfinished business in Seattle. I never got to prove myself completely or be the player I could be or who I am."
Morse will be 31-years-old when the 2013 season gets underway. Now it is his turn to 'pay it forward', alongside Ibanez, as both look to impart wisdom on this young Seattle Mariners organization.
Looking for more Mariners player interviews, news and articles? Want to keep up with which prospects are hot and cold for the M's? "Like" SeattleClubhouse on Facebook and follow SeattleClubhouse Contributing Writer Josh Dobner on Twitter at @JPDobner and site Editor Rick Randall at @randallball.


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Chemotherapy Center - Columbus, GA
- WebMD Physician Directory of Columbus Oncologist Doctors
- Related Chemotherapy Articles
- Columbus Emergency Contacts
- Nearby Columbus Hospitals
- Find a Local Pharmacy on RxList - Columbus
Columbus Oncologist Doctors for Chemotherapy
Type of Physician: Oncologist
What is a Oncologist? A subspecialty certification by the Board of Internal Medicine; the oncologist specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of all types of cancer and other benign and malignant tumors. These subspecialists decide on and administer chemotherapy as well as consult with surgeons and radiotherapists on other treatment for cancer.
Specialty: Oncology (Medical)
Common Name: Cancer Doctor
Oncologist Doctors in Columbus * results
- 2
Sajid Ahmed
John B Amos Cancer Center
1831 5th Ave
Columbus, GA 31904
(706) 571-1050
- 33 years experience
- 1 office location(s)
- 3
Edith K. Graves
Cancer Center Of East Alabama
2000 Pepperell Pkwy
Opelika, AL 36801
(334) 528-4411
- 31 years experience
- 1 office location(s)
- 4
Wilbur B. Bassett
John B Amos Cancer Center
1831 5th Ave
Columbus, GA 31904
(706) 571-1050
- 42 years experience
- 1 office location(s)
- 5
Lawrence N. Gynther
Emory Specialty Associates
303 Smith St
Lagrange, GA 30240
(706) 882-8831
- 32 years experience
- 2 office location(s)
- 6
Andrew W. Pippas
John B Amos Cancer Center
1831 5th Ave
Columbus, GA 31904
(706) 571-1050
- 29 years experience
- 1 office location(s)
Don't see your city? Use the WebMD Physician Directory to expand your search.
Chemotherapy facts*
*Chemotherapy facts medical author: Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
- Chemotherapy is one option available to treat cancer patients.
- The types of medication used and how they are administered ...
Other Related Chemotherapy Articles
Emergency Contact for Columbus
- In case of Emergency, call 911
Nearby Columbus Hospitals results
- 1Doctors Hospital
616 19th St
Columbus, Georgia 31901
(706) 494-426
- 2Medical Center
710 Center St
Columbus, Georgia 31901
(706) 571-100
- 3Bradley Center Of St Francis
2000 16th Ave
Columbus, Georgia 31901
(706) 596-400
- 4St Francis Hospital
2122 Manchester Expy
Columbus, Georgia 31904
(706) 596-400
- 5Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital
4401 River Chase Dr
Columbus, Georgia 36867
(334) 732-300
- 6Hughston Hospital
100 Frist Ct
Columbus, Georgia 31909
(706) 494-210
- 7Martin Army Community Hospital
7950 Martin Loop
Columbus, Georgia 31905
(706) 544-427
- 8West Central Georgia Regional
3000 Schatulga Rd
Columbus, Georgia 31907
(706) 568-500
- 9George H Lanier Memorial Hosp
4800 48th St
Columbus, Georgia 36854
(334) 756-918
- 10East Alabama Medical Center
2000 Pepperell Pkwy
Columbus, Georgia 36801
(334) 749-341
- 11Stewart-Webster Hospital
580 Alston St
Columbus, Georgia 31825
(229) 887-336
- 12Roosevelt Institute For Rehab
6135 Roosevelt Hwy
Columbus, Georgia 31830
(706) 655-525
- 13Warm Springs Medical Center
5995 Spring St
Columbus, Georgia 31830
(706) 655-333
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J.K. Rowling Announces New Spin-off Film Series
J.K. Rowling announced today in a new partnership with Warner Bros. that she will be working on a new film series set in the magical world. Rowling is set to make her screenwriting debut in the first of the new series which will follow Hogwarts Textbook author Newt Scamander. In the Harry Potter novels, Scamander is identified as the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood. As I considered Warners proposal, an idea took shape that I couldnt dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.
The announcement has also sparked the recently ended Harry Potter Podcast, MuggleCast, back into action only a little more than two weeks after its official final episode.
You can read the article from Entertainment Weekly here.
Posted by Brendan | September 12, 2013 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
'Frankenstein' Release Date Set
The new movie for which Daniel Radcliffe is currently signed in is a new version of the story of Dr. Frankenstein. The movie, from 20th Century Fox, has been given a release date of October 17, 2014!
Posted by Brendan | June 27, 2013 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
'Harry Potter' Available for e-lending
Amazon announced on their website today that, beginning June 19, all seven Harry Potter books will be available from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library in five languages!
Posted by Brendan | May 10, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
Pottermore Opens!
After a painfully long wait for those that were not part of the beta, Pottermore is finally open to the public!
Posted by Brendan | April 16, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
'Harry Potter' E-Books Now Available!
In the most exciting announcement since perhaps the launch of Pottermore, the Pottermore Insider announced that, beginning today, eBook editions of the Harry Potter series are available for purchase from the Pottermore Shop. Pottermore says that the eBooks are compatible with most eReaders on the market today.
Posted by Brendan | March 27, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
Pottermore Announces Second Launch
Today, the Pottermore Insider announced what the millions of fans who were not able to gain Beta Access have been waiting to hear: Pottermore will open to the public in early April!
Posted by Brendan | March 8, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
Rowling's First 'Post-Potter' Novel Coming
Jo has wrapped up the monstrous Harry Potter series with an impressive 400 million copies floating around the globe, and now, nearly five years later, is setting her sights on completion of a new novel - with a different publisher.
Posted by Brendan | February 23, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
'Harry Potter' No. 6 Great Children's Read
JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series has been named one of top children's reads by a popular Scholastic magazine. In a recently published list of the 100 Greatest Children's Books. In fact, the boy wizard series secured a spot in the top ten ranking in at No. 6. E.B. White's Charlotte's Webtops the list.
Posted by Brendan | February 15, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
Downtime and Updates Coming
MMAP sincerely apologizes for the downtime you may have witnessed over the past few days. All pages and email addresses should be working as expected again. If you discover anything not working as expected, please contact us.
Posted by Brendan | February 14, 2012 | Comments [0] | Email this Article
It All Ends Here...
Tonight's the night and, for the last time, Marauders' Map.org will be covering the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, MA. If you see us, come say hi!
Posted by Brendan | July 14, 2011 | Comments [0] | Email this Article


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A fire at 2889 42nd Ave. in Greeley late Wednesday evening caused $80,000-$100,000 worth of damage to a home.
Five people were inside when the fire started but they were able to escape without injury after being alerted by a neighbor, according to Lt. Bill Diershow, senior fire investigator for the Greeley Fire Department.
He said the blaze, reported at 10:18 p.m., took firefighters about 10-15 minutes to knock down and about an hour to mop up. Three fire engines, a ladder truck, and other emergency vehicles responded.
Barb Aunger, who lived in the home, said the residents were warned about the fire by Steve Montoya, their neighbor, after he noticed smoke coming from the back end of the house.
Aunger and the other residents are staying with family members Joe and Karen Warkentine of Greeley while they await help from the Red Cross.
"All things considered, they are doing pretty well," Joe Warkentine said.
While most of the immediate damage is in the garage, the interior walls and living quarters were blackened by the fire and smoke.
"I won't be able to return here," Aunger said.
Family members and Aunger's coworkers from Sunset Memorial Gardens in Greeley assisted with the clean-up of the house on Thursday morning.
Diershow said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.


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|Toddler Time
Event Type: Childrens Library Programs
Date: 8/27/2014
Start Time: 10:30 AM
End Time: 10:45 AM
This program gives toddlers an introduction to the delights of rhyme, rhythm, and a few special stories as a first step to reading. (For one and two-year olds and caregivers.) Approximately 20 minutes.Library: Rockrimmon Library - 832 Village Center Drive
Location: Rockrimmon Meeting Room