Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Svea V. Lindquist and Helga O. Olson papers
- Dates:
- 1875-1991
- Creators:
- Lindquist, Svea V. and Olson, Helga O.
- Abstract:
- This collection contains biographical material, correspondence, photographs and information about "The Rock Garden Nursery" in San Mateo, CA.
- Extent:
- 2 boxes
- Language:
- Languages represented in the collection: English
- Preferred citation:
-
Svea V. Lindquist and Helga O. Olson papers. MS 331. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains biographical material, correspondence, photographs and information about "The Rock Garden Nursery" in San Mateo, CA.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Svea Victoria Lindquist was born in Gotenburg, Sweden in 1881. She was from an affluent family and attended private school where she met Helga Ottila Olson. Svea studied landscape gardening and apprenticed in gardens in Gotenburg, Helsinki, and England from 1894-1912. In 1916 she came to the United States for a visit and stayed to take a position as governess. By 1921 she was in Maine working as governess for the Robert Law family.
Helga's family manufactured shoes in Gotenburg. She also studied landscape gardening in Europe. In the early 1900s, Helga came to the United States, to visit a brother who raised strawberries on Bainbridge Island near Seattle and decided to stay.
By 1925 the ladies had reunited and were living in California, in the San Francisco peninsula. They had became gardening consultants for wealthy clients who owned estates in the San Mateo area. In the 1930's they established "The Rock Garden Nursery" in San Mateo. They exhibited at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in 1939-1940 where they earned a Certificate of Merit.
In 1943 Svea and Helga moved to Santa Cruz County, where their friends, the Laws, were living at Lawridge Farm and breeding polo ponies. They settled into the Landreth Errington house on the Lawridge Farm with life tenancy granted by Robert Law. In 1948, they met Roy and Francis Rydell who were in the area looking for a caretaker's job. The ladies asked the Laws if they could use another set of hands. The Laws agreed and the Rydells settled into the guest house "Cowslip" where they stayed for a year and a half until 1952-53. Svea and Helga introduced Roy to their gardening clientele on the peninsula where they were still engaged as gardening consultants. Roy, then a stuggling young artist, became a landscape architect through the efforts and training of these two ladies.
Svea and Helga lived and gardened at the "Little Farm House" until 1973 when Svea died. Helga had died in 1971.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Roy and Francis Rydell
- Physical location:
- Stored in Special Collections & Archives: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 2009
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid created by M. Carey. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: July 20, 2009.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
Svea V. Lindquist and Helga O. Olson papers. MS 331. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Location of this collection:
-
Special Collections and Archives, University Library1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064, US
- Contact:
- (831) 459-2547