Haldeman, Anne Bruce (1903-1993) Landscape Design Records, 1929-1986
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Anne Bruce Haldeman, 1903-1993
Title: Landscape Design Records, 1929-1986 (bulk c. 1950-1975)
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for this collection, contact the Curator of Special Collections.
Size of Collection: 3.5 cubic feet
Locator Number: Mss./AR/H159
Biographical Note
Anne Bruce Haldeman was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1903 to the Haldeman family, prominent newspaper publishers. Haldeman lived to be 90 years old and left a legacy as one of the earliest and most pre-eminent female landscape architects in Kentucky. After graduating from Bennett College in New York State, she noted that her career in landscape architecture started ‘accidentally’ while her parents were designing a country home in Glenview, KY. She eventually enrolled in the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which is now part of Harvard University. Graduating in 1931, Haldeman, along with her classmate and partner Louise Leland (1902-1956), returned to Louisville in 1934 and founded the landscape architectural firm of Haldeman & Leland. The office was located in the Francis Building at 606 S. 4th Street. Haldeman and Leland resided in Glenview, KY near the Haldeman family property. Following the early death of Leland in 1956, the firm dissolved. Haldeman continued to work in landscape design for the remainder of her life.
While Anne Bruce Haldeman designed numerous gardens and landscapes throughout the region, she is best remembered for her role in the historically-informed gardens at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, in Bardstown, KY, Farmington Historic Plantation, in Louisville, KY, and as a consultant for Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Mercer Co., KY. Haldeman was a member of the group who spearheaded the movement to rescue the historically significant home and gardens of Farmington, the plantation originally built from 1815-1816 by John and Lucy Fry Speed. She helped to found the Historic Homes Foundation Inc., a local organization created to protect the integrity of historic homes. Throughout the late 1960s and 70s, Haldeman researched the Speed family, the home, as well as the time period, to create as historically accurate gardens as possible. In 1973 Haldeman was awarded the Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne Medal for outstanding achievement in Garden Design from the Garden Club of America. She was also one of the first women to join the American Society of Landscape Architects. Anne Bruce Haldeman died in 1993.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of landscape architectural drawings created by Anne Bruce Haldeman as well as record-keeping notes related to residential projects and clients, detailed information on plants and landscaping materials, and a small amount of business correspondence and records related to Haldeman’s work at My Old Kentucky Home. Haldeman had a life-long career in landscape design working both independently as well as in partnership with Louise Leland from 1934-1956 in the firm Haldeman & Leland. Haldeman designed landscapes that were historically informed and based upon eighteenth and early-nineteenth century gardens, as well as gardens that were of a more contemporary nature. Several of Haldeman’s landscape design projects are of local and state significance, mainly: Farmington Historic Plantation, My Old Kentucky Home State Park (also known as Federal Hill), the Shakertown Bypass and the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (where Haldeman served as a consultant), and the pool and fountain next to the Margaret M. Bridwell Art Library on the campus of the University of Louisville. The landscape design drawings in the collection are for both residential and public spaces, the majority dating approximately 1950 to 1975. Multiple projects contain detailed plant lists and when applicable these lists remain with the specific project drawings (please refer to the Project Index for projects that contain plant lists). Also included in the collection are several projects designed before 1956, when Haldeman worked as a partner with Louise Leland in the firm Haldeman & Leland. From this time period, the collection includes three small boxes of index cards: the first box of index cards (1932-1958) reflect project numbers and client names related to projects undertaken by the firm Haldeman and Leland; the second box contains alphabetized cards on trees, shrubs, plants, and bulbs, with Haldeman’s notes and information on each specimen; the last box contains miscellanea such as pencil sketches of garden plans and notes on garden designs. Notes found among the collection material indicate that sometime in 1950 many of the Haldeman & Leland business records and drawings were purged from their office. This may account for the dearth of pre-1950 material.
Separation Note
The collection contained a large amount of photographs, glass slides, and negatives which have been transferred to the Filson Photograph Collection.
Folder List
Roll 1: Bahnson Jr., Mr. & Mrs. A. H., terraces, Reynolda, NC, 8 December 1952
Roll 2: Bateman, Mrs. E., garden, Washington Square, Louisville, KY, 27 June 1973
Roll 3: Bingham, Mrs. Barry, garden, Glenview, KY, 5 October 1970
Roll 4: Chatham, Mr. & Mrs. Hugh, gardens & entrance to “Klondike,” Elkin, NC, 1951-1952
Roll 5: Chatham, Mrs. Thurmond, garden, “Prospect House,” 3508 Prospect Ave., Washington, D. C., 1951-1952
Roll 6: Church of the Ascension, garden, Frankfort, KY, 14 July 1955
Roll 7: Davidson, Dr. & Mrs. L., tool house, Fox Hollow, 15 October 1949
Roll 8: Farmington Historic Plantation, gardens & tool house, Louisville, KY, 1958-1962
Roll 9: Griffith, Mr. & Mrs. Theodore, garden, 5580 Washington Blvd., Indianapolis, IN, 1 August 1952
Roll 10: H. C. Memorial Hospital & Doctor’s Building, brick walkway & gardens, Elkin, NC, 18 August 1972
Roll 11: Hanes, Mrs. Ralph, gardens for 2 residences in North Carolina, 1929-1972
Roll 12: Heritage House, gardens, Wapping Street, Frankfort, KY, 12 April 1974
Roll 13: Hickman, Mrs. B. G., garden for the ‘River Farm,’ Goshen, KY, 22 April 1968
Roll 14: Hollister, Mr. & Mrs. J., planting plan for bulbs, 1831 Keys Crescent, Cincinnati, OH, October 1963
Roll 15: Kelley III, Mrs. F. J., garden 855 E. Westminster, Lake Forrest, IL, 1 December 1966
Roll 16: Lassiter, Mrs. Frederick H., gardens, The Hagen House, Old Salem, NC, 14 December 1966
Roll 17: Long, Mrs. Irving D., entrance court, 2112 River Bluff Rd., Louisville, KY, July 1966
Roll 18: Miller, Mr. & Mrs. S. G., garden, Twinbrook Rd., city not listed, 10 February 1954
Roll 19: My Old Kentucky Home, gardens, Bardstown, KY, 2 January1967
Roll 20: Norman, Mr. & Mrs. John C., garden, Washington Square, Louisville, KY, January 1974
Roll 21: Norton Jr., Mrs. George W., terrace, Murphy Lane, Louisville, KY, 1966
Roll 22: Ormsby, Mrs. Henry, terrace, Washington Square, Louisville, KY, June 1973
Roll 23: Seiler, Mr. & Mrs. L. P., garden, 221 St. Matthews Ave., Louisville, KY, July 1975
Roll 24: Shakertown Bypass (State Highway), trees and plantings, Mercer Co., KY, May 1967
Roll 25: Springer, Mrs. F. C., garden, Second Presbyterian Church, Meridian Hills, IN, January 1961
Roll 26: Sturgill, Mr. & Mrs. Charles, tool/garden shed, John Alden Rd., Lexington, KY, 28 July 1958
Roll 27: Twin City Garden Club, orchard & garden, Timothy Vogler, Old Salem, NC, Oct. 1961
Roll 28: Unidentified garden plan, location, date & client not listed
Roll 29: University of Louisville, fountain & pool, Margaret M. Bridwell Art Library, Louisville, KY, January 1964
Roll 30: Wells, Mrs. John W., garden, 262 Market St., Lexington, KY, February 1965
Roll 31: Wright, Mrs. F. H., tool house, Bryan’s Sta. Pike, Lexington, KY, 3/21/1953
Roll 32: Ballard, Mr. & Mrs. G. B., Residence, Glenview, KY, April 1956
Roll 33: Bonnefont Cloister (map of cloister gardens), Fort Tyron Park, NY, 1941
Roll 34: Crowley Residence, Richmond Road at Chinoe, Lexington, KY, June 1986
Roll 35: Garden Club of America, cartoon map of Annapolis, MD, 5/08/1940
Roll 36: Hubbard, Dr. & Mrs., Residence, location not listed, 2/27/1985
Folder 37: My Old Kentucky Home, records & correspondence, 1967
Index Card Records, Drawer 1 (38): Index of landscape plants, trees, bulbs, etc. & Haldeman’s library index, undated
Index Card Records, Drawer 2 (39): Index of client names, addresses & contact information, 1932-1958
Index Card Records, Drawer 3 (40): Miscellaneous items including notes & sketches, undated
Subject Headings
Architecture, Domestic – Kentucky
Farmington (Ky.: Estate) – Gardens
Garden Club of America
Garden Structures
Gardens – Designs – Kentucky
Gardens – Designs – North Carolina
Gardens – Specifications
Haldeman & Leland (Louisville, Ky.)
Historic agricultural landscapes – Kentucky
Historic gardens – Kentucky
Historic Preservation – Kentucky
Historic sites – Conservation and restoration – Kentucky
Landscape architecture – Kentucky
Landscape architectural firms – Kentucky
Landscape architectural drawing – United States
Landscape plants
Landscaping industry – Kentucky
Lesbian businesswomen – Kentucky
Louise Leland (1902-1956)
My Old Kentucky Home (Bardstown, Ky.) – Gardens
Patios
Planting design
Plants, Ornamental – Kentucky
Pleasant Hill (Pleasant Hill, Ky.)
Roadside improvement – Kentucky
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (Pleasant Hill, Ky.) – Gardens
Shakertown Bypass (Mercer Co., Ky.) – landscape design
Tourism – Maps
Water in landscape architecture
Women landscape architects – Kentucky
Women-owned landscape architectural firms – Kentucky
