Exhibit Opening: Vintage Gardening Books at Bartow-Pell

The International Garden Club’s “working” library – books  from 1870 to 1946

Bartow-Pell’s fall exhibit, A Gardener’s Library: Vintage Books from the Bartow-Pell Collection, presents an unusual viewof a true “working” library. These are the books collected by the International Garden Club (now the Bartow-Pell Conservancy) that the members used to understand the history of gardens, and to create and maintain the beautiful gardens at Bartow-Pell. From Frank J. Scott’s The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds (1870) to Vita Sackville-West’s The Garden (1946) the collection reflects the evolution of American gardening from the late 19th century to just after World War II. 

The International Garden Club established its headquarters in March 1914 at the Bartow-Pell Mansion, becoming caretakers of the then-dilapidated mansion and setting to the task of creating gardens relevant to the period of the mansion, but reflective of respected trends of English landscape gardening. The IGC library remains intact, a recognition of the central role books play in the history, creation, and maintenance of gardens in general and the Bartow-Pell gardens in particular. Although few of these books are rare, they are valuable for their contents and for their role as a working collection that provides reading pleasure, practical information, and aesthetic guidance.

The exhibit opening on September 6th is a multifaceted event. Singer-songwriter Maya Caballero will be performing for Bartow-Pell’s First Friday! series and the newly restored formal garden will be openfor strolling. Curator Joseph Disponzio—noted author, scholar of gardenhistory, and a preservation landscape architect with the New York CityDepartment of Parks & Recreation—will be on hand to discuss, informally, the secrets and surprises of A Gardener’s Library.

A Gardener’s Library will be on exhibit until November 17 during the Museum’s open hours: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Mansion admission is $5 adults, $3 seniors and students; free for children under six. Visiting the exhibit is free.

On opening night, enjoy the exhibit and First Friday! plus a trip on the free Bronx Seaside Trolley. The Trolley does an hourly loop from the #6 Pelham Bay Park subway station to BPMM to City Island. Registration requested. Cost $10 adults; $8 seniors and students; members free.