Katherine D. Jones Collection, 1910-1940

Processed by the Archives Staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Archives Staff and the Electronic Text Unit Staff
Environmental Design Archives
College of Environmental Design
230 Wurster Hall #1820
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-1820
Phone: (510) 642-5124
Fax: (510) 642-2824
Email: archives@socrates.berkeley.edu
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/
© 2000
The Regents of California. All rights reserved.

Note

History--California History--Bay Area History History--California History Geographical (By Place)--California Geographical (By Place)--California--Bay Area History--University of California History--UC Berkeley History

Katherine D. Jones Collection, 1910-1940

Collection Number: 1998-10

Environmental Design Archives



University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

  • Environmental Design Archives
  • College of Environmental Design
  • 230 Wurster Hall #1820
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Berkeley, California, 94720-1820
  • Phone: (510) 642-5124
  • Fax: (510) 642-2824
  • Email: archives@socrates.berkeley.edu
  • URL: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/
Processed by:
Archives Staff
Date Completed:
March 2000
Encoded by:
Archives Staff
Funding:
Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation.
© 1999 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Collection Title: Katherine D. Jones Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1910-1940
Collection number: 1998-10
Creator: Jones, Katherine D.
Extent: 7 boxes, 2 half boxes, 2 card file boxes
Repository: Environmental Design Archives.
University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California.
Abstract: The collection consists primarily of materials Jones used for her teaching and research.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Katherine D. Jones Collection, (1998-10), Environmental Design Archives. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California.

Acquisition Information

The collection was acquired in 1998.

Access Points

Botany--Study and teaching--California--Berkeley.
Climbing plants.
Blake Garden (Berkeley Calif.)
University of California, Berkeley--Dept. of Landscape Architecture.

Biography

Katherine D. Jones (1860-1940)
Katherine D. Jones, the fourth of seven children, was born in Berlin Wisconsin in 1860. Her father became a Congregationalist minister following his arrival in the U.S. from Wales. Between 1876 and 1880 while living in Nebraska, Jones taught during the summers and attended school in the winters. She moved to Calaveras County (California) in 1880, where she taught in public schools and saved her money to attend the University of Nebraska. Unfortunately her mother took ill and she returned to California moving with her family to Vallejo. She conducted a school of her own, then taught in public schools for six years.
Jones assisted her younger brother Guernsey with his tuition at the University of California, Berkeley, occasionally visiting him and attending Joseph LeConte's lectures on zoology. This renewed her desire to return to college and she entered UC Berkeley to study biology and botany graduating in 1896. After graduating, she taught biology and music in Hayward but illness caused her to give up her position. She returned to UC Berkeley, assisting in botany and zoology classes, becoming an administrative aid, and keeping records for the Botany Department. This work under J. Burtt Davy and H.M. Hall influenced her career and aroused her interest in exotic plants.
Mr. A.V. Stubenrauch, who managed seven experimental Stations of the Bureau of Plant Industry for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, enlisted her aid in his work on Acacias leading to her to develop an expertise in this area. In 1910 Professor E.B. Babcock called upon Jones as the best qualified person to assist with gathering seeds for distribution to schools under the Agricultural Education program, which led an academic appointment in this program. When John Gregg arrived in Berkeley to establish the Department of Landscape Gardening in 1913, he found Jones' wide knowledge of exotic flora of great value. She taught a course on plant materials with Mr. R.T. Stevens until his departure in 1917, and continued to teach the classes herself. She taught field work and took students outdoors to learn the names of trees and shrubs. At Harvard, students were told that if they had passed her work satisfactorily, no further examination would be required for entrance to the Plant Material classes there.
Jones became an authority on Acacias, and wrote the entry in Baily's Encyclopedia in 1914. She continued her writing into the 1930s with contributions to National Horticultural Magazine. The California Horticultural Society and California Garden Clubs honored her and she is considered one of the notable women of California for her advancement of the botanical and landscape side of horticulture.
Sources:

Laurie, Michael, "75 Years of Landscape Architecture at Berkeley," 1988.
Symmes, Mabel. "Madrono." April, 1946 Vol 8, #6.

Scope and Contents Note

The Katherine D. Jones collection consists of primarily of materials Jones used for her teaching and research. It includes correspondence, field notes, course materials, lists of plants, papers on botanical subjects by Jones and others (including Harry Shepherd), pamphlets on flowers and vines, and articles on plant ecology. The bulk of the collection consists of notebooks centered on garden subjects, field trips, site visits, and plant research. It is difficult to distinguish her teaching notes from her research notes as it appears that in many cases they were thoroughly integrated. The integrity of the notebooks was maintained during refoldering and the the folder titles were taken from the notebooks. The distinction between trips and visits was hers. It may be that trips were taken with students and visits to locations throughout California were taken for her research. Arranged by subject and location, they contain detailed notes on the horticulture of particular sites, sometimes including course material, clippings, plant lists, interviews, and photographs.
Her notes for visits to Santa Barbara include discussions she had with Lockwood de Forest. Subjects include files on English gardens and U.S. colonial gardens, Golden Gate Park, the Panama Pacific International Exposition (1915), the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939), and the Blake/Symmes Garden in Kensington CA. The collection also includes photographs, plant cards, and extensive research files on vines.

Related Collections

Title: Harry Shepherd Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 1998-11
Contributing Institution: Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley

 

Katherine D. Jones Collection

Box/Folder 1 : 1-3

Correspondence

Box/Folder 1 : 4

Writings, lectures

Box/Folder 1 : 5-7

Course lessons

Box/Folder 1 : 8-9

Colonial gardens

Box/Folder 1 : 10-12

English Gardens

Box/Folder 2 : 13

Research Notes 1920s-1930s

Box/Folder 2 : 14-17

Golden Gate Park

Box/Folder 2 : 18-19

Panama Pacific International Exposition 1915

Box/Folder 2 : 20

Golden Gate International Exposition 1939

Box/Folder 3 : 21-24

Blake/Symmes Garden

Box/Folder 4 : 25-26

Field Trip Notes

Box/Folder 4 : 27

Trips 1919-1923

Box/Folder 4 : 28

Student Field Trip to So. California - photos 1920

Box/Folder 4 : 29

Southern California Homes - photos

Box/Folder 4 : 30-35

Trips 1928-1940

Box/Folder 5 : 36

Visits

Box/Folder 5 : 37

Bakersfield

Box/Folder 5 : 38

Bay Area 1920s

Box/Folder 5 : 39

Lake Merced 1911

Box/Folder 5 : 40-41

Marin County 1938

Box/Folder 5 : 42

Los Altos, Modesto, Millbrae

Box/Folder 5 : 43

P's

Box/Folder 5 : 44

San Francisco Peninsula 1920s

Box/Folder 6 : 45

San Francisco Peninsula 1938

Box/Folder 6 : 46

Sacramento/ Santa Barbara 1920s

Box/Folder 6 : 47

Santa Barbara

Box/Folder 6 : 48

Santa Cruz

Box/Folder 6 : 49

Stockton

Box/Folder 6 : 50

Acacia

Box/Folder 6 : 51

Trees

Box/Folder 6 : 52

Clematis

Box/Folder 6 : 53

Printed material

Box/Folder 7-9 : 54-70

Vines

Boxes 10-11

Plant note cards