Presentation delivered by Joyce Connolly, Museum Specialists at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens, at the Smithsonian Archives Fair on October 22, 2010 in Washington, DC. A summary of the multi-faceted career of J. Horace McFarland (1859-1948), noted printer, City Beautiful advocate, author and horticulturist.

1. Archives of American Gardens

2. www.gardens.si.edu

3. Capture American garden
history before it is lost
Preserve unique and high-
quality images of historic
and contemporary gardens
Make documentation
readily accessible for a
variety of research purposes
aag.si.edu

4. Born near Harrisburg, PA
Father was a schoolmaster,
Union Army Lt. Col., supt. of
PA’s orphans’ schools,
nurseryman, publisher of
weekly newspaper
Inspired by photography &
printing exhibits at 1876
Centennial Exposition
 bought his father’s press in
1878 at age of 19
At Breeze Hill, 1909.

5. Started printing short
seed lists
Created a niche in
horticultural
advertising
Advertised his services
to nurseries throughout
U.S.
Large contracts –
thousands of catalogs

6. Moved business to
former school in
downtown Harrisburg
Conveniently located
Educated growers
about importance of
advertising year
round
Other print
commissions
Mount Pleasant Press
May 1907

7. Composition/Art/
Layout
Photography/Photo
Sales
Electrotyping
Pressroom
Bindery
Publicity
“Intelligent Printing”

8. Pioneer in plant
portraiture
Extensive
photography
services
Image library with
30,000-40,000
images
Bissell Garden, Rochester, NY. June 1916.

9. Studied under William Kurtz
Inventor of 3-color photo engraving process
Managed Kurtz’s Coloritype Co. in 1894

10. Breeze Hill
September 1928

11. Unidentified Garden. c. 1930s.

12. Lectured at Harvard
Graduate School of
Business on printing
and publishing (1912-
17)
Consulted with U.S.
Patent & Trademark
Office on 1930 Plant
Patent Act
Work for major
publishers

13. 2.5 acre property
approx. 1 mile
from Mount
Pleasant Press
“My Growing
Garden” (1915)
Opened to the
public
J. Horace McFarland at Breeze Hill. May 1942.

15. Trial gardens for commercial growers and USDA
Used for numerous Mt. Pleasant Press publicity shots

16. Member of Municipal
League of Harrisburg (1901-
46)
Comprehensive plan for
parks system, water and
sewer systems, street paving
Illustrated lecture on the
“Harrisburg Plan”
Member of Harrisburg Park
Commission (1905-13)
Harrisburg Alley, c. 1910s.
Penn. State Archives

17. First President of
American Civic
Association (1904-24)
Promoted education &
advocacy
Prolific communicator
Fight to protect Niagara
Falls (1905-13) &
Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy
(1909-13)
Niagara Falls, c. 1905

18. “the city clean, the city practical,
the city efficient”
“Campaign against Ugliness”
Appointed to U.S. Dept. of Labor’s
Comm’n on Living Conditions for
War Workers (1918-19)
Member of U.S. Dept. of
Commerce’s Commission on
Zoning (1921-37)
 Chairman of Penn. State Arts
Commission (1927-43)

19. White House
Governors’
Conference on
Conservation (1908)
Drafted 1st
version of
bill to create NPS
(1910)
NPS established
(1916) Yellowstone Nat’l Park, Colter Peak &Turret Mountain
NPS photo by J Schmidt. 1977.

20. Hundreds of magazine
articles
Outlook, Ladies’ Home
Journal, House and
Garden, Garden and
Home Building, etc.
Trade journal articles
Printing, photography
Authored a dozen
books
Self-professed ‘Garden
Crank’
J. Horace McFarland at Breeze Hill
May 27, 1947

21. Edited American Rose
Annual (1916-43)
Helped develop 5-part
standard for classifying
roses
Editor McFarland, J.
Horace McFarland, and
Breeze Hill roses
Headed American Joint
Committee on Hort’l
Nomenclature (1914-23) Dedication of Harrisburg Municipal Rose Garden by ARS
September 15, 1938

22. Archives of American
Gardens
SI Libraries
NMAH’s Horticulture Trade
Literature Collection
Botany & Horticulture
Branch
USDA, National
Agricultural Library
Pennsylvania State Archives
McFarland Exhibit
Folger Rose Garden, Summer 2010

23. Biography, A Thorn for
Beauty, documents his
achievements
ARS J. Horace
McFarland Memorial
Award (established 1951)
Mount Pleasant Press
now an apartment
building

24. Breeze Hill, 1923.
McFarland Collection images available at www.siris.si.edu