A New York Story
By anner m. whitehead
In the words of Dr. N. L. Britton, Director of the New York Botanical Garden at Bronx Park, who welcomed those attending the founding meeting of the American Iris Society at eleven o’clock in the morning on January 29, 1920, the weather that day was “arctic.” This must have caused the organizers great trepidation as they in planning had only dared hope for enough attendance, perhaps two dozen enthusiastic folks, to bring the proposed group to life, and foul weather might endanger their dream. Various illnesses inevitably make the rounds in January, and did so in 1920 as well; indeed, Dr. Henry Allen Gleason, the Assistant Director of the Garden, who was supposed to do the welcoming that day, was sick at home. This was surely a great disappointment to him, and to others, for his support had been generous, and he had been instrumental in planning the new group, in conferring upon it sterling legitimacy, and in pointing it in the right direction.
But neither illness, nor inclement weather, nor lingering hangovers, for Prohibition also became effective January 29, 1920, could quell the momentum toward founding the AIS. This momentum had been growing for the past year, or five years, or ten, or even twenty years, as one might count it, and upwards of sixty intrepid souls from several parts of the country and diverse segments of the horticultural world answered the private entreaties and public announcements which had gone out over previous weeks, and trudged through those arctic conditions to the meeting. They came to enjoy the company of like minded folks, and to organize a national iris society, and when they left the Garden later that day, they had one.
John C. Wister, a young landscape architect who played an important role in planning the AIS and became its first president, often said that America’s rebirth of interest in garden irises was attributable to Bertrand Farr’s work, specifically his importing a large collection of irises from England and issuing elegant illustrated commercial catalogs beginning in 1908, but most especially his sending an exhibition of irises, including some new ones he had raised from bee pods, to the Pan Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, where the display received a Gold Medal and was seen by many visitors. Undoubtedly this is part of the story, although many other people were also working with irises in Europe and America well before 1915. These included J. N. Gerard of New Jersey, who wrote a series of important articles for the distinguished magazine Garden and Forest and encouraged hybridizer E. B. Williamson’s early work; Sidney Mitchell of Canada and, later, California; George Peterson, nurseryman, of Chicago; Jennett Dean of Southern California, pioneer iris hybridizer and commercial importer of new French originations; and, in the Midwest, the Rev. C. S. Harrison, nurseryman and author, and the Sass brothers of Nebraska. Grace Sturtevant, who won highly publicized prizes from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1917 for her introductions, had also been very active. Many of these people knew each other, or knew of each other, and much of their activity reflected a renewed international interest in irises in the wake of the work of Sir Michael Foster and his circle in England, work which culminated in the 1913 publication of William Rickatson Dykes’ botanical study, The Genus Iris. In other words, if the seeds sown at the organizational meeting for the AIS grew like Jack’s beanstalk, and they did, it is because those seeds fell on well prepared ground.
The months preceding the meeting saw some public literary activity concerning irises, possibly well coordinated public literary activity. B. Y. Morrison of the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, who was enormously knowledgeable, published several informative articles, including one in the upscale magazine Country Life for June 1919, called “Irises for all Gardens.” This ran to sixteen oversized pages and featured scrumptious watercolor illustrations, some reproduced from Mr. Dykes’ tome. Along with Robert Sturtevant, Grace Sturtevant’s younger brother, a landscape architect who had worked in the Olmsted firm before the War, Mr. Morrison also sent several intriguing shorter pieces to The Garden Magazine, an influential horticultural journal published by Doubleday, Page and Company, of Garden City, New York. These pieces fostered a growing dialogue on irises in the press, and, in September 1919, Leonard Barron, editor of The Garden Magazine, who would later attend the organizational meeting, published a collection of letters, including one from Arthur Bliss of England, originator of the famous new iris “Dominion”, under the intriguing and energizing heading, “World-Wide is the Interest in Iris.”
The Flower Grower, published in Calcium, New York, by Madison Cooper, less glossy and sophisticated, perhaps, than the aforementioned magazines but certainly no less earnest in its approach to gardening, also carried articles on irises. In early January 1920, it published the formal announcement of the upcoming meeting in Bronx Park, “The Proposed American Iris Society,” written by Grace Sturtevant, who spoke of the recent increase in varieties of garden Irises, and the accompanying need to make good information about them available to the public. She said: “It is high time that some central body should gather together information on Iris matters whether it is the history of our garden favorites, the records of our present varieties or the opportunities for the future.” Additionally, she shared the very exciting news that Dr. Gleason and the New York Botanical Garden had suggested a cooperative scheme of Trial Grounds with the proposed new society. Now the gestating AIS had a distinguished sponsor, a highly respected public face, and a clearly articulated mission of service.
In his article on the founding of the AIS published in the January 1970, “Golden Anniversary” issue of the Bulletin, Mr. Wister tells us that the invitation to the meeting which was mailed directly to selected members of the horticultural community was written by Dr. Gleason himself, and signed by several prominent parties, including James Boyd, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, who would chair the upcoming meeting. Others were Lee R. Bonnewitz of Ohio, nurseryman and president of the American Peony Society, founded in Brooklyn in 1903; W. F. Christman, secretary of the Northwestern Peony and Iris Society, founded in Minneapolis in 1917; Mrs. Francis King of the Garden Club of America, social activist and writer; Miss Sturtevant; Mr. Morrison; and Mr. Wister himself. This letter proposed several goals for the new society, among them compiling lists of varieties; undertaking research on pests and diseases; collecting cultural information for different climates; and promoting popular interest in irises through shows, articles, and lectures. In preparation for the gathering, Mr. Wister also conferred with Frank Presby, a prominent New Jersey businessman and horticulturist, about the legal and business aspects of the undertaking and a preliminary “constitution” was drafted for discussion at the organizational meeting, where, article by article, and amendment by amendment, it was pondered and polished.
Many people instrumental in founding the AIS came from the world of Peonies. In addition to those mentioned were Bertrand Farr; Mrs. Edward Harding, author of a recently published book on the subject; and Professor A. P. Saunders, a chemistry teacher at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, who edited the Peony society’s Bulletin and who was to take the minutes at the meeting on January 29. All were personally interested in irises as well as Peonies, of course, but there was also a perception that they might do for the iris what had been done for the Peony earlier in the century when Mr. Farr and others, working closely with Cornell University, had planted trial gardens at Ithaca and, over a course of several years, sorted out the egregiously muddled names so that the genus could be vigorously promoted to the horticultural public. A lot had been learned through that process, and it was thought that much the same sort of thing could, and should, be accomplished for the iris. Indeed, as A. P. Saunders recorded that day, Dr. A. C. Beal, head of the Department of Horticulture, brought to the meeting “a plea to establish at Cornell a trial garden of the Society, and after long discussion on this matter it was turned over to the Board of Directors with directions to cooperate in every way possible with Cornell, but to establish the complete collection at Bronx Park.” Professors Saunders and Beal, along with Robert Sturtevant, who was elected the AIS’ first Secretary, were also responsible for drafting the final version of the “constitution”, which provided for six Regions with vice presidents. The first RVP of the Eastern states, including their host New York, was B. Y. Morrison.
The AIS was fortunate that the founding was effected not only by enthusiastic people, but also by thoughtful, industrious types, many of whom were, or would become, influential in the world of horticulture. We have mentioned some, but also there were Louise Beebe Wilder, the author of many popular garden books and a columnist for The Garden Magazine; Mary Helen Wingate Lloyd, of the Garden Club of America, who would develop her famous “Iris Bowl”, a remarkable garden in Pennsylvania visited by thousands during the 1920s; and Ethel Anson S. Peckham of New York, who managed the Bronx Park Iris Trial Gardens, and edited the Society’s 1929 and 1939 Alphabetical Iris Check Lists. Each in her time became a Director of the AIS.
The March 1920, issues of The Garden Magazine and The Flower Grower featured long articles in Robert Sturtevant’s elegant prose about the newly formed American Iris Society. The piece in The Flower Grower, which had been selected as house organ for the AIS, a role it would fulfill for several years, carrying news to the members while the first Bulletins addressed important cultural and historical issues, announced the birth of the Society and declared that it had already attracted well over two hundred and fifty charter members. It also identified the group’s officers and directors; described an ambitious range of proposed projects and the progress that had already been achieved; encouraged members and prospective members to communicate their needs and ideas to the Secretary; and conveyed tentative details for the first annual meeting of the AIS, planned for that June in Philadelphia.
All these remarkable developments, and, indeed, the eighty five years of the American Iris Society and its work which have followed, were largely made possible because on January 29, 1920, people with vision and gumption, encouraged by the leaders of the New York Botanical Garden, gathered in Bronx Park to meet each other and talk, to have a nice lunch and to organize a national iris society. They came in the dead of winter. Putting aside other business, they came on comparatively short notice. Some traveled considerable distances from Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, or Quebec. They gathered to bring their combined experience and clout to an exciting and important task, and with enthusiasm, and cooperation, they accomplished it.
As published in the AIS Bulletin Number 338 July 2005