Guide to the Bell Conservatory Company records
Sean Heyliger
Center for Sacramento History
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Phone: (916) 808-7072
Fax: (916) 264-7582
Email: csh@cityofsacramento.org
URL: http://www.centerforsacramentohistory.org/
© 2013
Center for Sacramento History. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Bell Conservatory Company records
Collection number: MS0030
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, CA
- Processed by:
- Sean Heyliger
- Date Completed:
- 2019-08-15
- Encoded by:
- Sean Heyliger
© 2013 Center for Sacramento History. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Bell Conservatory Company records
Dates: 1889-1965
Bulk Dates: 1889-1931
Collection number: MS0030
Creator:
Bell Conservatory Company
Collection Size:
4.25 linear feet
(6 boxes)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The Bell Conservatory Company Business Records is comprised o f 4.25 linear feet of business records. The majority of the
files are financial ledgers. Also included are two sample books of floral arrangements. The bulk of the collection dates
from 1889 - 1930. The collection is divided into 3 series: financial records, sample floral arrangements, and artifacts.
Physical location: 2C5-2C6, 44D1
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Publication Rights
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted
in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron.
No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Bell Conservatory Company records, MS0030, Center for
Sacramento History.
Acquisition Information
The collection was donated by Bert Geisreiter, last owner of the Bell Conservatory Company, to the Center for Sacramento History
in 1981 (accession number 1981/080)
Processing Information
The collection was partially processed in 1981 providing a listing of the contents. Processing was completed in 2019 by Ruth
Craft.
Biography / Administrative History
The Bell Conservatory was located in Sacramento California on Broadway between 9 and 10th Streets in Sacramento, California.
It was constructed in 1881 under the direction of Margaret Crocker, well known community leader and wife of E.B. Crocker.
The cost of construction at that time was $38,000 dollars. Mrs. Crocker wished to supply flowers for the graves of the nearby
Sacramento City Cemetery, where many of the city’s founders were buried. The conservatory building had a glass construction
with a large dome on top. Some of the glass came from Belgium and was ordered through the Tiffany Company. The Conservatory
was a half size replica of the San Francisco Conservatory which was built in 1878. The Conservatory was purchased by Eugene
Geisreiter in the 1880s. Geisreiter, born in New York, came to California and worked at the San Francisco Conservatory.
He moved to Sacramento and operated the Bell Conservatory for almost fifty years. After his death, his son Herbert (Bert)
operated the company from 1928 until 1956. Bert Geisreiter attend UC Berkeley and obtained a degree in landscape architecture.
Geisreiter served as mayor of the Sacramento during the years 1950 and 1951. He also served on the City Council and the Planning
Commission. Additionally, he served as the General Manager of the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau from 1957 until
1972. The Bell Conservatory was sold in 1954 and was then torn down to make way for a Safeway supermarket.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Bell Conservatory Company records consist primarily of financial records of The Bell Conservatory Company from the years
1889 – 1931. The collection is divided into three series. Series 1 : Financial Records contains financial ledgers from the
company from 1889 through 1931. Some years are missing. Two ledgers , one for the year 1900 are in very poor condition.
Series 2: Sample Floral Arrangements contains two sample books of floral arrangements. Series 3: Artifacts contains an overcoat
donated with the collection
Arrangement
Series 1. Financial ledgers
Series 2. Floral arrangements
Series 3. Overcoat
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Bell Conservatory Company
Conservatory gardening
Floriculture--California
Floriculture--History
Florists--California
Sacramento (Calif.)--history
Related Material
A photograph of the Conservatory can be found at the Center for Sacramento History 1968/110/0060. Additionally, the California
State Library has three photographs of the Bell Conservatory in the California History Room. Also, in the 1890 Bird’s Eye
View map of Sacramento by C. P. Cook, one of the side vignettes is of the Bell Conservatory.
The Sacramento Public Library owns a book published by the Bell Conservatory in the 1880s titled “The Descriptive Catalogue
of ornamental nursery stock: roses, carnations, palms, evergreens and shade trees, greenhouses, bedding and border plants,
etc.” The Sacramento Bee has many articles pertaining to the Geisreiter family and the Bell Conservatory. The Center for
Sacramento History maintains a research file on the Bell Conservatory.
Series 1. Financial records
Physical Description: 5 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
Financial records contains financial ledgers from the company from 1889 through 1931. Some years are missing. Two ledgers
, one for the year 1900 are in very poor condition.
Box 1 Folder 3
Financial ledgers
December 20, 1891 - January 18, 1892
Box 1 Folder 8
Financial ledgers
1894 - 1904
Box 2 Folder 2
Financial ledgers
April 28 - May 28, 1899
Box 2 Folder 3
Financial ledgers
October 13, - November 7, 1900
Box 2 Folder 4
Financial ledgers
March 10 - April 1, 1901
Box 2 Folder 5
Financial ledgers
April 13 - May 2, 1901
Box 2 Folder 6
Financial ledgers
June 4 - July 18, 1901
Box 2 Folder 7
Financial ledgers
July 24 - September 25, 1901
Box 2 Folder 8
Financial ledgers
September 25 - November 8, 1901
Box 2 Folder 9
Financial ledgers
January 23 - February 18, 1902
Box 2 Folder 10
Financial ledgers
February 26 - March 16, 1902
Box 2 Folder 11
Financial ledgers
March 16 - April 7, 1902
Box 2 Folder 12
Financial ledgers
March 17 - November 21, 1902
Box 2 Folder 13
Financial ledgers
April 10 - May 6, 1902
Box 2 Folder 14
Financial ledgers
May 6 - June 1, 1902
Box 2 Folder 15
Financial ledgers
June 3 - July 18, 1902
Box 2 Folder 16
Financial ledgers
July 2 -September 7, 1902
Box 2 Folder 17
Financial ledgers
September 7 - October 27, 1902
Box 2 Folder 18
Financial ledgers
October 28 - December 1902
Box 3 Folder 1
Financial ledgers
July 3 1906
Box 3 Folder 2
Financial ledgers
1906 - 1907
Box 3 Folder 3
Financial ledgers
1906 - 1909
Box 3 Folder 4
Financial ledgers
21-Mar-05
Box 3 Folder 5
Financial ledgers
May 3 - August 1907
Box 3 Folder 6
Financial ledgers
November 9 - December 16, 1907
Box 3 Folder 7
Financial ledgers
1907 - 1917
Box 3 Folder 8
Financial ledgers
1920 - 1925
Box 3 Folder 9
Financial ledgers
1926 - 1929
Box 3 Folder 10
Financial ledgers
1929 - 1931
Box 3 Folder 11
Financial ledgers
Feb 6 - ?
Box 3 Folder 12
Financial ledgers
November 25 - ?
Box 3 Folder 13
Financial ledgers
January 23 - July 27 ?
Box 3 Folder 14
Financial ledgers
Jul 29 - February
Box 3 Folder 15
Financial ledgers
March 4 - September
Box 3 Folder 16
Financial ledgers
May 28 - January 22
Box 3 Folder 17
Financial ledgers
undated
Box 5 Folder 3
Financial ledgers
undated
Box 3:19
Subseries 1.2 Receipt - Casey and Kavenaugh Wines and liquors
1909 - 1910
Box 3:20
Subseries 1.3 California nursery company price list
1901 - 1902
4:1-2
Subseries 1.4 Southern Pacific railroad shipping records
1902 - 1903
4:3
Subseries 1.5 Charles M. Goethe commeration book
1965
4:2
Subseries 1.6 Sacramento County California fifth annual financial statement
1908
Series 2. Floral arrangements
Physical Description: 2 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Sample Floral Arrangements contains two sample books of floral arrangements.
5:1
Subseries 2.1 Album of floral designs
undated
4:4
Subseries 2.2 Album designs
undated
Box 6
Series 3. Artifacts
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
Artifacts contains an overcoat donated with the collection. Carriageman's black wool overcoat that may have been worn by a
man while he worked for Albert Elkus, owner of Elkus Store in Sacramento.
