MS 351 - Swanton Garden Club (Swanton, Ohio)
MLA Citation
“MS 351 - Swanton Garden Club (Swanton, Ohio).” Finding Aids. BGSU University Libraries, 20 Mar. 2014, lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/items/show/1402. Accessed 15 June 2025.
Tags
| Title | MS 351 - Swanton Garden Club (Swanton, Ohio) |
|---|---|
| Introduction | The records of the Swanton Garden Club were donated to the Center for Archival Collections in March 1984, through the cooperation of Mrs. Jeska and Ann Bowers, Assistant Director. No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. Duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The register was compiled by BGSU student Sherri Quirke Bolcevic in April 2013 and revised by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in October 2013. |
| Agency History | The Swanton Garden club was founded in Swanton, Ohio on April 13, 1931. The club’s existence has continued, uninterrupted, through the present day. Club meetings are held once monthly. The club is a nonprofit, civic organization that seeks primarily to beautify Swanton while promoting an interest in and knowledge of gardening. To this end, the organization designs and plants flower arrangements in Swanton’s public spaces each spring and maintains them through their growing season, through the summer and sometimes into the fall. Additionally, they participate in various charitable activities, including raising funds for scholarships given out to Swanton High School and donating flowers to hospitals and other such worthy organizations. They also turn their skills towards competition, participating at garden shows and fairs within the region. The Swanton Garden Club is funded by the dues paid by its members, which are supplemented by periodic local funding drives, including preparing and selling wreaths and other flower arrangements for the Christmas holidays as well as hosting bake sales. |
| Scope and Content | The activities of the Swanton Garden Club are detailed through the club’s monthly minutes from January 1953 through August 1988. Minutes include the date and time of each meeting, its location and hostesses, excluding those months when the meeting was a club outing, and the activities performed. Also mentioned are presiding club officers and guests present. Dues lists from the years 1953-1986 are also included, although only the information for January and February 1986 is available. These records provide a list of the members’ names and the dues paid. If one consults the compiled scrapbooks in their entirety, they will find a yearbook detailing the club’s activities available from 1931 through 1986. However, very little else collected in the scrapbooks is continuous. Each book seems to have been assembled by individuals with vastly different access to materials and very separate interests. The scrapbooks can be an invaluable source for supplemental information on the club’s enterprises, providing event programs, photos (many of which have not been properly identified), newspaper clippings, and prize ribbons, but this is all sporadic in scope and relevance, so researchers should not expect to find the same information available for each year covered. |
| Series Description | PROCEEDINGS MINUTES 1953-1971, 1973-1988 Arranged chronologically Includes date, time, and location of meeting, its hostess, business conducted, and officers and guests present; also includes dues lists with members names BY-LAWS n.d. Contains rules by which the club was founded and governed CORRESPONDENCE CARDS AND LETTERS 1972-1973, n.d. (scattered) Various cards and notes of thanks or acknowledgement for Club activities SCRAPBOOKS AND SCRAPBOOK MATERIALS CLIPPINGS 1987-1988, n.d. Loose clippings including obituaries of club members and reports of club activities SCRAPBOOKS 1931-1979, 1980-1981, 1985-1987 Contains newspaper and magazine clippings, event programs, ribbons, and photographs concerning club members and their activities. Oversized scrapbooks wrapped or in oversize flat box |
| Inventory | Box 1 Folder
Box 2 Folder
Wrapped and Flat Box Folder
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