Percival Gallagher Papers, 1885-1934, n.d.
| Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives
More Extent Information
Arrangement
This collection has been divided into four series and four subseries:
Series I: Research Material
Series II: Memorabilia
Subseries a: General
Subseries b: Clippings scrapbook
Subseries c: Notes
Series III: Correspondence
Series IV: Photographs
Subseries a: Photographic prints
Subseries b: Photographic negatives
Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
Biographical Note
Born August 18, 1874, Percival Gallagher was a successful landscape architect during America’s Country Place Era. Beginning around 1880 and ending 1940, this era was defined by large landscaped estates built directly outside of urban areas as an escape from industrialization. These grand estates, and their gardens in particular, resembled those of colonial America and Europe. This sense of nostalgia and romanticism for formal estates and gardens was perhaps best displayed in the works of the Olmsted Brothers firm, to which Gallagher was a top-ranking employee for the majority of his career.
Gallagher graduated from Boston English High School and studied Horticulture at Harvard’s Bussey Institute. While studying at Harvard, Gallagher met Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of the famous landscape architect who he was named after. In 1894, at the age of twenty, Gallagher went to work for Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot (which later became Olmsted Brothers when Olmsted Sr. retired and the business was taken over by Olmsted Jr.). Gallagher worked for the firm for ten years, when he left to open his own practice with a professional friend, James Sturgis Pray. The firm opened in 1904 as Pray & Gallagher, but after only two years Gallagher left the firm to return to Olmsted Brothers, writing that “this new association with the Olmsteds gives me greater opportunities to attend to the requests of personal clients heretofore” (letter to J. Franklin McFadden dated July 9, 1906).
Gallagher resided with his wife, Elizabeth and their three children (David, Richard Sears, and Isabel) in Brookline, Massachusetts, close to the headquarters of Olmsted Brothers. Gallagher’s projects included residences in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Indiana as well as parks and cemeteries. He was in charge of the 1902 renovations to the capital grounds in Washington, D.C., originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. Other prominent projects included the park system for Essex county and Union county, both located in New Jersey, the grounds of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, Vassar, and Duke University, and the planning of the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition. This collection includes photographs, maps, and plans from some of these projects. Furthermore, his interest in city planning, formal and informal garden designs, aerial photography, artwork, literature, architecture, and philosophy is highlighted within the research material located in Series I of this collection.
During his life, Gallagher embarked on two known trips abroad. His 1899 trip to the British Isles is evidenced by an accompanying travel journal as well as photographs within Series II: Memorabilia. In 1924 Gallagher took an extended tour of Europe, referred to as a Summer School tour in a letter from Phillip Homer Elwood detailing the itinerary, although it is unknown for which school or what role Gallagher occupied. This tour is represented by a large collection of print photographs and corresponding nitrate negatives within Series IV: Photographs.
In 1926 Gallagher was appointed to the committee of Harvard School of Landscape Architecture and in 1927 was made a full partner in the Olmsted Brothers firm. By 1933 Gallagher’s health began to decline, he was going blind, and was diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, a thickening and stiffness of the blood vessels. He died in 1934 and an outpouring of condolences were sent to his wife, Elizabeth, contained within Series III: Correspondence. Upon his death in 1934, his employer and friend Olmsted Jr. wrote of Gallagher, “a charming, kindly, whimsical sense of humor not only made his companionship delightful, but made his art more perfectly human.”
Oldfields Estate (Indianapolis, Ind.)
The Oldfields estate currently on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art was first built in 1912 as a home for the Landon family, later becoming the estate of Eli Lilly. In 1920 Hugh Landon remarried and while on their honeymoon the couple visited the estate of Thomas W. Lamont at North Haven, Maine. Greatly impressed by Gallagher’s landscape design of the Lamont property, the couple quickly wrote to Olmsted Brothers to request their firm add to the design of the Oldfields landscape, specifically focusing on a ravine that leads down to the canal. The Olmsted firm appointed Gallagher to the property and he visited the estate in October of the same year. Gallagher’s design of the ravine was in stark contrast to the formal designs on the grounds, with its casual style and rustic charm. Gallagher’s design can also be seen in the trees that line the vista, the circular fountain at the end of the vista, border gardens throughout the property, and the brick wall entrance alongside Michigan Road.
Sources
Material in the collection.
Brooks, Bradley C. Oldfields. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2004.
Karson, Robin. Report on the Life's Work of Percival Gallagher. Amherst, Mass.: [n.p.], 1993.
Olmsted, Frederick Law Jr. "Percival Gallagher Obituary." Landscape Architecture 24, no. 3 (1934): 167-68. Box 4, Folder 8, Percival Gallagher Papers, Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives.
Author: Rebecca Pattillo Subjects (links to similar collections) Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationGift
Olmsted Archives Collection at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Frederick Law Olmsted Papers at the Library of Congress Finding Aid
Olmsted Associates Records at the Library of Congress Finding Aid
The Percival Gallagher Papers document the personal and professional life of prominent landscape architect and partner of the Olmsted Brothers firm. The archival collection came to the Indianapolis Museum of Art as a gift of Helen Stearns Palmer. The collection has been divided into four series and five subseries which are described below.
Series 1: Research Material, 1888-1934, n.d. includes Percival Gallagher’s collection of reference material (clippings, loose publication pages, images, etc.) covering a variety of subjects such as European and American architecture, landscape architecture, European and American artworks and artist profiles, statuary, philosophy, and literature. The majority of the loose pages within the series are from the London publication The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine & Applied Art (later known as Studio International). Other known periodical sources include The American Architect, The Century Illustrated Monthly, Scribner’s Monthly, The American Mercury, Architectural Record, Scientific American, Art World, The Living Age, and L’Illustration.
Series 2: Memorabilia, 1885-1934, n.d. contains items collected throughout Gallagher's life that represent his work, travels, and personal life. This series is arranged chronologically and includes three subseries:
Subseries a: General, 1885-1934, n.d. includes work-related, travel, and personal memorabilia. Work-related memorabilia includes publications and maps detailing the Olmsted firm’s landscaping projects, papers written and presented by Gallagher, announcements of career developments, and two certificates. Travel-related memorabilia includes souvenir ephemera, loose pages from a scrapbook with photographs of Gallagher’s 1899 tour of the British Isles, and an accompanying travel journal. Personal memorabilia includes three sketchbooks and Gallagher obituaries following his death in 1934.
Subseries b: Clippings scrapbook, nd is comprised of one scrapbook (housed in OVA Box 3) and many loose clippings that have been rehoused in legal-sized and oversized folders. The scrapbook contains a variety of newspaper clippings on architecture, estates, gardens, and art. The majority of the clippings are aerial photographs, which became commercialized following WWI and increased in popularity during the 1920s.
Subseries c: Notes, 1899-1920, n.d. includes handwritten and typed notes pertaining to Gallagher’s work. The notes include topics on landscape terms and definitions, names for possible projects, gardening as an art form, and other architectural themes. Contained within this subseries is a small packet of notes and reference material including three American Civic Association publications and newspaper clippings pertaining to architecture and improvements to infrastructure such as railroads and parks. This reference material was kept within this subseries to maintain original order. This subseries is arranged chronologically by date.
Series 3: Correspondence, 1894-1934 includes a letter from Olmsted, Olmsted, & Eliot from 1894 regarding Gallagher’s appointment with the firm, correspondence from other landscape architects, clients of Gallagher’s, letters to his wife Elizabeth during his travels, and condolence letters addressed to his wife and the Olmsted firm following Gallagher’s death in 1934. Also included in the collection is a letter from Phillip Homer Elwood dated 2 June 1924 confirming a European Summer School tour, along with an itinerary. Photographs from this particular tour are located within Series 4, Subseries a: Photographic Prints. This series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s last name.
Series 4: Photographs, 1904-1924, n.d. contains photographic prints and negatives of Gallagher’s family, landscape design projects, and European travels. It is separated into two subseries: Photographic Prints and Photographic Negatives. Photographic negatives (nitrate) are housed in cold storage. Digital surrogates can be made available for researchers.
Subseries a: Photographic prints contains photographs of projects Gallagher worked on including the properties of Joseph S. Clark and George S. Schmidt, as well as other unidentified locations. The bulk of the subseries contain prints of his European Summer School tour in 1924. This series is organized chronologically.
Subseries b: Photographic negatives includes nitrate negatives of personal photographs of Gallagher’s family, European Summer School tour in 1924, Gallagher’s design projects for clients including F.S. Landstreel, William.H. Hoffman, Mrs. E.L. Fuller, Mrs. Charles W. Henry, A.B. Johnson, F.W. Taylor, Mrs. A.E. Newbold, J.Franklin McFadden, Clarence M. Clark, A.B. Jenks, C.F. Cushman, Charles F. Ayer, Stephen Bond, Charles O. Read, and F.A. Sayles. The negatives are arranged in groups based on the original packets they were received in followed by Gallagher's 1924 European Summer School tour.