Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage manuscript collection

This collection is arranged into four series: Scrapbooks, Administrative files, Slides, and Print photographs. Series I, Scrapbooks, consists of 23 scrapbooks created by Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage members, primarily containing newspaper clippings of publicity around the tours and historic homes in Maryland.

Scrapbook 1 (1937)- Gardens, Houses, and People: a news magazine published by the Roland Park Company; Ad for Audubon's Birds of America; Newspaper clippings about the MHGP from various newspapers; Letter from Mary Spotswood Warren and a proclamation of Garden Week by Baltimore Mayor Howard W. Jackson.

Scrapbook 2 (1938)- Contains newspaper clippings for annual tour with photographs of houses to be visited in various newspapers.

Scrapbook 3 (1939-1940)- Contains newspaper clippings, programs, and excerpts from the Bulletin of the National Council of State Garden Clubs.

Scrapbook 4 (1946-1947)- Contains newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses from various newspapers.

Scrapbook 5 (1948)- Contains newspaper clippings of the annual house and garden pilgrimage with photographs of houses from various Maryland newspapers.

Scrapbook 6 (1950-1952)- Contains newspaper clippings of pilgrimages; Society wedding pictures in colonial dress; Visit of Princess Orsini; Photo of last Oyster dredgers.

Scrapbook 7 (1953-1954)- Scrapbook of newspaper clippings related to the 17th Annual Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage.

Scrapbook 8 (1955)- Contains photographs of the Pratt Library and Purnells window displays for the MHGP; Newspaper clippings of the 1955 pilgrimage from various newspapers.

Scrapbook 9 (1956)- Contains brochures for the 1955-1956 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimages; newspaper clippings of tours from various newspapers.

Scrapbook 10 (1957)- Contains a program and brochure for the 1957 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage; Newspaper clippings of the 1957 pilgrimage from various newspapers.

Scrapbook 11 (1958)- Contains newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 12 (1959)- Contains newspaper clippings from various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 13 (1958-1959)- Contains newspaper clippings, lists of members, brochures, photographs, programs, and letters.

Scrapbook 14 (1960)- Contains the 1960 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage program and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 15 (1961)- Contains the 1961 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage program and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 16 (1962)- Contains the 1962 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage program and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 17 (1963)- Contains the 1963 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage flyer and program, as well as newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 18 (1964-1965)- Contains the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage 1964 and 1965 brochures and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 19 (1966-1967)- Contains the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage 1966 and 1967 brochures and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 20 (1968-1969)- Contains the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage 1968 brochure and newspaper clippings of various garden club events and historic houses.

Scrapbook 21 (1970)- Contains newspaper clippings and brochures documenting the 33rd Annual Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage.

Scrapbook 22 (1974)- Contains newspaper clippings and brochures documenting the 37th Annual Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage.

Scrapbook 23 (1977)0 Contains newspaper clippings, brochures, and photographs documenting the 40th Annual Maryland Hosue and Garden Pilgrimage.

Series II, Administrative files, contains papers kept by members of the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage throughout the course of their business. These include the minutes of committee meetings, history of the organization, correspondence, and subject files. Some items of note include letters from various Maryland Governors including Theodore McKeldin, J. Millard Tawes, and Spiro T. Agnew.

Also notable is a file of correspondence to and from Mrs. J. Henry Hooper, Chairman of the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage from 1957 to the early 1960s. The file contains severl letters from irate members of the organization, disappointed in the MHGP's association with an alcoholic brand in a publicity leaflet. On March 11, 1959, Grace H. Turnbull writes, "Imagine my distress upon picking up the circular of the Pilgrimage...to find that you are in league with that liquor traffic which Harry Emerson Fosdick calls "sacrilege, for it seeks profit from the damnation of human souls.'" Miss Turnbull goes on to describe the dangers of alchohol, and further expands on her disapproval of the MHGP being associated with the substance, which she calls "a menace greater than Communism."

Series III, Slides, contains 256 2"x 2" slides of the interiors and exteriors of homes on the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage tours, taken between 1953-1986.

Series IV, Print Photographs, also contains images of homes on the pilgrimage tours, 1936-1995. This series contains 252 prints of various sizes, and are arranged in folders based on the county in which the houses are located.