Located in Groton, MA, the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, Gardening and Horticulture for Women opened in 1901 under the direction of Judith Eleanor Low. The first school of its kind for women, Lowthorpe incorporated in 1909 and changed its name to the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture in 1929. The School merged with Rhode Island School of Design in 1945, becoming a Department within the Division of Planning.
Lowthorpe offered summer programs with the Cambridge School of Domestic Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 1926-1927. Lowthorpe entered into a cooperative program with Simmons College, 1928-circa 1936, though the School did not grant degrees. A winter program was given at MIT during the 1930s.
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Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture records, SP 2.0, Rhode Island School of Design Archives.
The records document real estate transactions for the Groton, MA property (1887-1934) and incorporation (1909/1929). Publications include Endowment Campaign materials (1923-1925), course catalogs (1910-1945; incomplete), and Annual Reports (1928-1931). The bulk of the collection is comprised of the catalogs which document courses offered, the academic calendar, tuition and room/board, corporation officers, members, patrons, and advisors, administrators and instructors, School background and history, pictures and illustrations of student/alumni projects, and photographs of the School grounds and individuals. One folder contains alumni survey postcards returned by students, 1935-1937. The cards record the name, address, dates of attendance, graduate/non-graduate, and work history. Three Library accession books record the publications acquired by the School, 1926-1945. See the RISD-Providence Athenaeum Online Public Catalog for works transferred to the RISD Library.
Organized into 3 series:
Series 1 transferred to RISD 1954 July 12 by Adams Sherman Hill, former Treasurer of Lowthorpe. Held by RISD Treasurer until transferred to Campus Services then to the Archives. Series 2 and 3 transferred from RISD Library .
Deeds, leases, mortgages, and correspondence document the purchase of the Groton property by Parker Fletcher (1887) and J. Eleanor Low (1901), the transfer of the property to the Lowthorpe School (1915-1916), leases, and the sale of land in 1934. Included are the incorporation (1909) and name change (1929) documents issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the records transfer correspondence (1954). One folder contains alumni survey postcards returned by students, 1935-1937. The cards record the name, address, dates of attendance, graduate/non-graduate, and work history.
Catalogs for the School (1910-1945; incomplete) may provide information on courses offered, the academic calendar, tuition and room/board, corporation officers, members, patrons, and advisors, administrators and instructors, School background and history, pictures and illustrations of student/alumni projects, and photographs of the School grounds and individuals. The Annual Reports (1928-1931) may provide information on finances, corporation officers and committee reports, fundraising, and School activities. The Endowment Campaign begun in 1923 is documented by pamphlets and correspondence.
Three condensed accession books record publications acquired by the School, 1926-1945. The books record the accession number, author, title, publisher, year, cost, and origin (gift or purchase). Numbering is not consecutive and not all numbers are used. Book One, 1926-1932, records 1-1049; Book Two, 1933-1939, records 1-1001; and Book Three, 1940-1945, records 1002-1332. Books transferred to RISD are maintained in the Library as the Lowthorpe Collection on Landscape Architecture. See the RISD-Providence Athenaeum Online Public Catalog.