开办一所学校

音乐读:"花是可爱的东西,“雪莉·伯格三人组”

约翰•汤普森莫里斯 在他44岁时,他从他父亲的总统职位上提前退休 钢铁厂 追求其他兴趣. 莫里斯, 不像他的父亲和叔叔们, 喜欢做施主, one who reaches into the past and buys up rare objects, 然后捐赠给公众教化. 他才三十多岁, 莫里斯承担了这个角色,开始了三项重要任务:从世界各地收集大量的古代物品, create the most excellent pleasure gardens in Philadelphia, and serve—with tenacity and candor—on boards of civic organizations. After retiring in 1891, he was able to give unlimited time to these interests. 莫里斯 was no different from other benefactors of the 镀金时代. 他们也为自己设定了类似的任务, 这些繁荣, 有着著名姓氏的雄心勃勃的费城人 . . . 沃顿,彭尼派克,斯托茨伯里,沃纳梅克.

1909年起草遗嘱的时候, 莫里斯很清楚这一切都取决于他——他是他的直系亲属中最后一个男性. 他所有的生活, 莫里斯 had been a good steward and it was up to him to ensure the future of many things. 通过信托基金, 莫里斯 provided a gracious plenty for his household servants, 为慈善机构, 就像 费城绝症患者之家, and for cousins (he being unmarried, his siblings being without heirs). After taking care of all these, he bequeathed his family’s ancestral home, 杉木林积肥场他认为这是殖民地的瑰宝 美国殖民地女爵协会.

But 莫里斯’s will makes it clear that he had one more task in mind, 这是一项雄心勃勃的任务,需要他所有剩余的财产,并依赖于几个组织的密切合作. 他想创办一所学校.

在一篇12页的论文中,在遗嘱的中间, 莫里斯 designed his school and its two supporting auxillaries. He named it “The 莫里斯 Botanical Garden, 学校和博物馆.而且,以典型的创始人风格,莫里斯没有留下任何方面的概念,其他人. 他概述了主要目标,并定义了花园之间复杂的行政和信托关系, 学校和博物馆. 他指定了一个公司制的董事会, to be composed of representatives from three institutions, 哈弗福德学院, 费城国家科学院宾夕法尼亚大学. 然后他开始研究课程, 一个适合他设想的混合型机构的项目——一所有科学基础的职业学校.

莫里斯 set parameters for entering students (16 years of age, 精通基础课程, 男性, 可能一些雌性), for methods of instruction he deemed most appropriate, 住房, 以及礼仪规则. He went so far as to state how students should spend their weekends, 他们坚持星期天去教堂做礼拜. 至于学费——是免费的. 房间,board-free. Clothing-free. Students only needed to render service on the grounds while attending school. 此外,他们还将在四年课程结束时获得100美元的酬金,以帮助他们开启职业生涯.

这个学校/花园/博物馆不是白日梦. 事实上, 几年后, 莫里斯 plucked his dream out of his will and decided to carry it out during his lifetime. He had done this before, when he jumped ahead of his will by commissioning the 莫里斯医务室 for 哈弗福德学院, and afterwards changed his will, canceling the bequest. 他感觉到一种被压抑的需求——这个地区有那么多的乡村庄园,而实用的园丁却那么少.

All 莫里斯 needed was the perfect property for situating his school. 他发现它就在不远处 康普顿他的家乡在 栗树山 费城社区. 莫里斯购买 布卢姆菲尔德农场 就为了这个目的. Located on the Wissahickon Creek across the road from his estate, 布卢姆菲尔德带了几栋房子来, 工厂和历史可以追溯到18世纪40年代.

With property in hand, the dream could be turned into bricks and mortar. 莫里斯做了功课, 教练是一位顾问,他曾去过任何地方,那里有一个与著名花园相关的培训项目——英格兰, 苏格兰, 德国, 荷兰. A highly qualified consultant whose surname was Bartram (as in descendent of 巴特拉姆约翰(美国植物学之父. Frank Bartram’s task was to scope out what other gardening schools were doing and return to Philadelphia with a plan for something even better; something that grafted the practical onto the academic.

莫里斯 most certainly 太k to heart the words of President James A. 加菲尔德, 一切农业的推动者, whose memorial monument had been unveiled in 莫里斯’s beloved 费尔蒙特公园 12年前, "在所有科学和艺术中处于领先地位, 在文明和进步的前沿, 一相情愿无军国主义, 致命的科学, 不是商务, 积累财富的艺术——但农业, 工业之母, 也是人类生命的维护者.” But to 莫里斯, although farming may be necessary, it was not the 存在已经混乱关系 他的学校.

对莫里斯来说,园艺家精通耕作和栽培是很重要的. And that a greenhouse manager knew about plumbing and steamfitting. And that a gardener unders太d accounting procedures. 这一切对莫里斯来说都很重要,因为他的目标是培养出“有能力且有用的园丁”,这些园丁获得了大部分户外经验, 而不是在教室, 他的证件是一张文凭, 不是一个学位. He believed he was onto something very few were doing except at a handful of U.S. 在欧洲大陆的学校和植物园,如爱丁堡、格拉斯内文、腓特烈索德和 英国皇家植物园 ( 最远点 一天).

A call for practical training had grown out of the 1889 national convention of florists, 园艺工人和园艺家. 那是一个大声的叫骂:“让hg888皇冠手机版有一个伟大的园艺培训学校吧。, 哪里的教授不怕在实验室和花园里玷污自己的手指,也不怕系上蓝围裙,带领一个手指熟练的班级去做任何实际工作 . . . 一个这样的学校, 充足的资金和适当的人员配备将比hg888皇冠手机版所有的农业学校对美国园艺的贡献更大 . . . to correct much that is now erroneous and ridiculous.是时候结束教园艺而不让指甲里沾上泥土这一“大闹剧”了.

In all likelihood, 莫里斯 paid close attention to this dispute. 当他开始计划自己的学校时, he could probably name all the practical work schools on the East Coast. 但和莫里斯之前的所有项目一样, 他的目标是达到最好的水平——一所具有鲜明特色的学校,它的根基牢固,并希望成为一种实用的园艺新职业.

Now that he had a charter and a location, 莫里斯 turned to physical facilities. 他喜欢i型的功能性 宾夕法尼亚州的医院. Could something smaller be designed for the north corner of 布卢姆菲尔德农场, 将中心开放给温室和农田, 他问巴特拉姆?  无论架构, 他清楚地知道学校应该如何运作——就像他在哈弗福德学院上学时一样. 他不止一次地把这事告诉巴特拉姆.

在7月初, 1915, 莫里斯告诉Bartram开始下一个项目——设计有足够空间供植物繁殖的温室. 他们一起审查草图,当莫里斯同意这个,反对那个时巴特拉姆做了笔记. Though news of the war in Europe was taking up more and more space in 园丁的编年史 从伦敦, Bartram drew 莫里斯’s attention to reports of a new 园艺专业毕业. 这个计划是否可以为费城重新设计? How quickly could they get the course of study designed 和 first class enrolled? 几位德高望重的园艺师已经主动提出离开他们的职位到费城来. 莫里斯争论是否要继续与他们接触.

美国.S. Commissioner of Education was ready with names for the Board of Managers; an official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture was scouting potential faculty. 莫里斯告诉巴特拉姆,他愿意和一小群走读学生一起开办这个项目, 甚至在建筑建造之前. 然而,尽管该项目得到了几乎所有领先机构和机构的批准, 莫里斯改变了他的决定. 莫里斯 feels the school cannot open before 1916,” Bartram noted in February of 1915. Apparently, 莫里斯 felt a school wasn’t a school without dormitories and classrooms.

In August, John 莫里斯 and his sister Lydia vacationed at their usual place—the 华盛顿山酒店 在新罕布什尔州. And 莫里斯 continued working on a myriad of design details, sending Bartram sketches and comments on student accommodations, 食堂, 演讲厅, 实验室. 8月10日th, 莫里斯 had a better idea about fixtures for the dormitory bathrooms, 所以他又写了一封“长信”,塞满了他对政府大楼的最新想法, 礼堂, 种子采集室和宿舍卫生间. 为什么, 巴特拉姆他查询, hadn’t he received a response to his previous letter about the bath sinks. 时间在流逝. 他有很多事要做许可,合同. “I am ready to go ahead at once if data is presented to me for consideration,” he wrote. 那是莫里斯的最后一封信. 他于1915年8月15日死于急性肾衰竭.

莫里斯’s determination to start a school did not die with him. Lydia Thompson 莫里斯 picked up where her brother left off by commissioning 埃德加V. 席勒 to design the educational buildings and greenhouses at Bloomfield, and to draft a plan for converting the 康普顿 mansion into a museum. 西勒开始工作时去了波士顿见面 阿诺德植物园 工作人员, who provided positive feedback—the location was ideal, 对园丁的需求很高, 时机已到.

园艺界的许多人都急于想看看这个学校的“有趣命题”会变成什么样子:“园艺界和花卉业的所有人都将以特殊的兴趣关注它的发展,《hg888皇冠》的编辑宣布 花店的交换. 但随着收获季节的到来和过去,约翰·莫里斯的愿景没有进一步进展的消息. No press releases, no interviews, no small-scale models.

Frank Bartram finished up his journals and turned them over to Miss 莫里斯’s 工作人员. 1917年春天, as young men began leaving farms to enlist in the military, Bartram 太k on the resulting farmer shortage by joining a regional committee. 第二年春天, Edgar 席勒 submitted drawings of Bloomfield buildings and 康普顿 renovations then he, 太, 转向与战争有关的任务. His next commission was to create a new community of 500 homes in 里德利公园 to alleviate the 住房 shortage near war-related industries.

莫里斯小姐有她自己的工作要做. 一旦你.S. 进入战争, 她慷慨地奉献自己的时间和金钱给驻扎在海军基地的数千名水手和海军陆战队员的社会福利.

出于这些必要的和值得称赞的原因, 莫里斯植物园, 学校和博物馆, 就像遗嘱里写的那样, 仍然是一个梦想 . . . 直到1929年. That was the year Miss 莫里斯 updated her will and by then much had changed, 在经济上, 文化和制度. 在20世纪20年代早期,人们曾多次尝试建立合作性园丁教育项目, 包括马萨诸塞农业学院与国家园丁协会的协议. 但美国的园丁教育体系始终偏向科学和理论. And most practical work programs did not survive long.

In 1929, when Lydia 莫里斯 was faced with how best to carry out her brother’s vision, 她知道他的园丁教育方法不符合当前的趋势. 在20世纪30年代初, it was more important to conduct botanical research and disseminate that knowledge to the world than to prepare head gardeners for country estates; to offer advanced courses for students whose preliminary education was done elsewhere; to build offices and research 实验室 rather than dormitories. 因此, under these terms as specified in Lydia 莫里斯’s will, 康普顿和布卢姆菲尔德成为宾夕法尼亚大学植物学系的负责人, 以下称为 莫里斯植物园.

~

This essay was made possible by original sources at the 莫里斯 Arboretum Archives.


Joyce 芒罗’s work can be found in Broad S混乱关系et 审查, 海马体, 想着自然, 可怜的约里克, 科波菲尔审查, 为什么说容易和其他地方. 她在莫里斯植物园(莫里斯 Arboretum)的博客网站上发表了《hg888皇冠手机版》(Untold Stories of 康普顿),描述了镀金时代费城庄园的经营者.