The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Fitch, Florence Lynette
Hopper, 1876-1941
Title: Florence Fitch and George Hopper papers and photographs
Dates: circa 1875-1995, bulk dates
1890-1928.
Call No.: Col. 393
Acc. No.: 91x106; 96x60
Quantity: 2 boxes (about 80 items)
Location: 9 H 6
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Florence Lynette Hopper Fitch was born in 1876 near
Unionville, Ohio. Her father, George H.
Hopper (1837-1898) worked for the Standard Oil Company office in New York City,
but maintained a large horse farm called "Elmwood," near Unionville. He had started out as a cooper and supplied
barrels to John D. Rockefeller for his oil.
Eventually, Hopper sold the cooper shop to Standard Oil and became head
of its shipping department. The Hoppers
were noted for hosting large functions at "Elmwood," particularly
parties at the estate's horse race track.
They also owned another property, "Driftwood," at Geneva on
Lake Erie, Ohio. Florence’s brother
Charles Henry Hopper (1862-1916) was a stage actor in Cleveland; his most
famous role was as Chemmie Fadden. Their
sister Jennie married Fred M. Nicholas
of Cleveland; Nicholas, too, worked for Standard Oil.
In 1897, Florence Hopper married Winchester Fitch, a
lawyer, who apparently went on to work for Standard Oil in New York. (Some sources give his name as Peter
Winchester Fitch, but he is always referred to as Winchester Fitch.) The couple lived in Ohio for a short time
before moving to New York City. In 1915,
the Fitches purchased a late Federal period home with sixteen acres of land in
Greenwich, Connecticut. They enlarged the home, renovated it, and named the
estate "Hillbrook." Since the
grounds were undeveloped, Mrs. Fitch designed formal gardens and a vegetable
garden. The property was sold in 1933. The family also had a home in Florida,
“Orchid Oaks,” in Riomar (later called Vero Beach).
Winchester Fitch was born in 1867, the son of Alta
D. Winchester and Edward H. Fitch. He
was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, where his father and grandfather practiced
law. Winchester Fitch attended Cornell
University and then worked several different jobs in Chicago, where he attended
law school. Eventually, he returned to
Ashtabula and practiced with his father.
There, he was also involved in musical and literary events.
A listing for Florence Fitch in Woman’s Who Who in America for 1914-1915 notes that Mrs. Fitch’s
interests were music, gardening, and motoring.
She studied singing with Oscar Seagle in Paris in 1907-1908. She supported woman’s suffrage and was a
member of the Equal Franchise Society of New York. She was also a member of the Municipal Art
Society of New York, the Woman’s Municipal League of New York, the Fortnightly
Musical Club of Cleveland, and several garden clubs. Her son George Hopper Fitch (1909-2004) was
also an art lover, being a collector of Indian miniatures, watercolors, and
photographs. He served on the board of
the Yale University Art Gallery and was a trustee of the San Francisco Fine Art
Museum, as well as a founder of the Royal Oak Society. Daughter Dorothy Fitch Peniston (1904-1992)
wrote a book, An Island in Time,
about her life in the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on life in Florida.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
This collection contains primarily historic black
and white photographs depicting various views of the George Hopper estates of
"Elmwood" and "Driftwood," and the Fitch estate of
"Hillbrook." There are some
clippings of published articles on the estates, as well as clipped obituaries
of George Hopper, and a very short history of the "Hillbrook" estate
written by Horace Hotchkiss. Designs for
the gardens at "Hillbrook" (drawn in 1995) are included in the
collection, along with Mrs. Fitch's bills for plants and a few garden catalogs
and some information on food preservation printed during World War I. Also of interest is an autochrome in a
viewing case, showing flower beds and a grassy path in the garden of
“Hillbrook.” More personal items such as
a card case and a small collection of chromolithographed trade cards, pages
from a scrapbook of chromolithographed trade cards collected by Mrs. Fitch as a
young girl with her mother, and estimates for her wedding reception luncheon
are also included in the collection. As
well, there is a bill approved by George H. Hopper for hardware purchased from
a store in Geneva, Ohio.
The pages from a scrapbook contain 74 American trade
cards, mostly from New York and Cleveland, Ohio. (The pages are now detached from the original
album, the covers of which do not survive with this collection.) Products featured include Boraxine, sewing patterns,
candies, clothing, shoes, Palmer's flavoring extracts, and The Cleveland Leader. Such
firms as Wm. Hall & Co., H. O’Neill & Co., E.R. Hull's, Reynolds
Brothers, and the Cleveland Paper Company are represented. Depictions of children (including Kate Greenaway
illustrations) and animals predominate.
There are also two illustrations from a series, "Seven Wonders of
the World," showing the Pharos Watch Tower and the Temple of Diana; nine cards
advertising Chas. L. Davis performing as Alvin Joslin; a series of six
caricatures; and a collector's card of Sarah Bernhardt. Seventy-one of the cards are
chromolithographs.
ORGANIZATION
The materials are roughly in accession number order.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Horace L. Hotchkiss. (Mrs. Fitch’s daughter Alta married a Mr.
Hotchkiss.)
RELATED
MATERIALS
Papers of Winchester Fitch are held by the Western
Reserve Historical Society and by the New York Public Library.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Davis, Charles L.,
1849-1900.
Hopper, George H., \d 1837-1898.
Fitch, Winchester, \d 1867-1963.
Topics:
Advertising - Clothing and
dress.
Advertising - Drugs.
Advertising
cards - New York (State)
Advertising cards - Ohio - Cleveland.
Barns -
Photographs.
Caricatures and
cartoons.
Chromolithography, Victorian.
Commercial catalogs.
Dwellings -
Photographs.
Gardening -
Catalogs.
Gardens -
Connecticut - Greenwich.
Gardens -
Design.
Gardens -
Photographs.
Hobbies -
History - 19th century.
Horse farms -
Ohio - Unionville - Photographs.
Landscape -
Photographs.
Landscape
design.
Mansions -
Photographs.
Photography.
Photography of gardens.
Printing - Specimens.
Wedding
etiquette.
World War,
1914-1918 - Food supply - United States.
Trade cards.
Scrapbooks.
Additional author:
Hopper,
Florence Lynette, \d 1876-1941.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location:
Box 1:
Folder 1: leather card case, with cards of
Florence Hopper and her parents; one flap of the case is embroidered with
flowers; tucked inside is a card with the greeting Merry Christmas;
Trade
card for Charles Talcott of Geneva, Ohio;
New
Year’s card;
Calling
cards of various friends
(acc.
91x106.1)
Folder 2: photo: interior of “first home of
Winchester and Florence Fitch, Ashtabula(?), Ohio, 1897-1898”: sitting room,
looking at fireplace with marble mantel, photos on wall, several rocking chairs
in various styles, book shelves; an open door looks through to the dining room
(acc. 91x106.2)
Folder 3: correspondence about wedding (acc.
91x106.3):
Letter from
Edward Weisgerber, [caterer], Cleveland, to G.H. Hopper, Unionville, June 5,
1897. Discussing menus for bridal and wedding
luncheons, arrangements for hiring help, the wedding cake, railroad
transportation. Also includes menu
headed Wed., June 30, 1 pm, with list of items and personnel needed (china,
silver, linen, chairs, waiters, dishwasher, detective, dressing room maid,
etc.)
Folder 4: photos of Driftwood, Hillbrook, and
Elmwood (acc. 96x60.1-.4, .8, .10-.11, .16, .28-.30, .39, .41-.44):
Farmland
near Elmwood, circa 1905: haystacks (acc. 96x60.1);
woman, man
holding dog, standing next to statue of a stag (acc. 96x60.2);
Driftwood: walk
to bathhouse (acc. 96x60.3);
Driftwood: man
and two women on steps to a treehouse (acc. 96x60.4);
Elmwood:
exterior of front (acc. 96x60.8);
Elmwood,
exterior of front, with stone marker bearing name of Geo. H. Hopper (acc.
96x60.10);
Elmwood,
exterior of front (acc. 96x60.11);
Entrance
gate to Elmwood, with woman in road (acc. 96x60.16);
Driftwood:
steps up front lake, obstructed view of house (acc. 96x60.28);
Driftwood:
exterior of house, with bench in front (acc. 96x60.29);
Driftwood:
exterior of house, with women in yard (acc. 96x60.30);
Hillbrook:
exterior of front, with flag above door, circa 1920 (acc. 96x60.39);
Hillbrook:
exterior of front, circa 1917 (before enlargement of 1919) (acc. 96x60.41);
Hillbrook:
exterior of back, circa 1917 (before enlargement of 1919) (acc. 96x60.42);
Hillbrook:
early stage of long garden, circa 1917 (acc. 96x60.43);
Hillbrook:
exterior of south end, circa 1917 (before enlargement of 1919) (acc. 96x60.44)
Folder 5: photo
portraits of George H. Hopper (1837-1898):
Carte-de-visite
taken in 1870’s by Copeland, Cleveland (acc. 96x60.5);
Larger photo
taken in 1890s by Rockwood, New York City (acc. 96x60.6)
Folder 6: photos of horse Bell Boy and house Elmwood:
Horse: Bell
Boy, owned by J. H. Clark of Elmira, N.Y., and Geo. H. Hopper of Unionville,
with pedigree printed on back; photo taken by Schreiber & Sons of
Philadelphia; handwritten note on back indicates Bell Boy died in a fire (acc.
96x60.7);
House: exterior back and side view of Elmwood, the Hopper
home in Unionville, Ohio; visible in photo is also a gazebo and a windmill (for
pumping water), the metal structure of which has been covered so as to make a
tower. Taken when no leaves were on trees.
(acc. 96x60.12)
Folder 7: photo:
exterior front view of Elmwood (acc. 96x60.9), with awnings on windows
(see
also acc. 91x106.24, which is similar but not the same)
Folder 8: photo: view of Elmwood estate (acc.
96x60.17): “road to the racetrack,” with barn to one side
Folder 9: photo: view of Elmwood estate (acc.
96x60.18), with barn, windmill/tower (in this photo clearly separated from
house), and house (mostly hidden by trees); two women stand beside road which
passes in front of house; railroad tracks in foreground
Folder 10: photo: view of Elmwood estate (acc.
96x60.19), with windmill/tower in foreground and obstructed views of barns; a
fountain is in foreground, with a covered well or gazebo beyond it
Folder 11: photo: bathhouse at Driftwood, with
bathing costumes and towels draped over a rail
(most of bathhouse obscured by trees) (acc. 96x60.27)
Note on
back: “belonged to Geo. Hopper, then his granddaughter Marjorie Nicholas
Davenport”
Folder 12: photocopy of booklet: “Summer Outings, 1895,”
advertising Nickel Plate Road rail excursions from New York and Boston through
Buffalo, Cleveland, and Chicago. “Driftwood”
is pictured on page 9. (acc. 96x60.32)
Folder 13: typed history of Hillbrook, Greenwich,
Conn., by Horace Hotchkiss, written 1995 (acc. 96x60.37);
Photocopies of
obituaries of George H. Hopper and Florence Hopper Fitch (acc. 96x60.33, .39)
[also: some genealogical
information found on ancestry.com; not part of gift]
Folder 14: photos of Elmwood, Driftwood, and
portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Fitch (acc. 96x60.20, .31-.32, .35-.36)
copy of photo,
panorama of Elmwood, showing barns, windmill tower, gazebo, house, with
children, dogs, and pony in garden (acc. 96x60.20; see also acc. 96x60.21, in
oversize box);
photos of
drawings of Driftwood, showing house, tree house, and lake (acc. 96x60..31-32);
photos of
portraits of Florence and Winchester Fitch (acc. 96x60.35-.36);
folder 15: photos
of Elmwood and Hillbrook (acc. 96x60.13-.15, .40, .45-.47):
copy of a
panoramic view of Elmwood, showing race track, barns, windmill tower, and house
(3 photos; acc. 90x60.13-1.5);
Hillbrook: rear
or east front, circa 1921 (after enlargement), sun porch on left (acc.
96x60.40);
Sheet with 4
photos: a garden path, Mrs. Fitch in garden (circa 1915), south end of
Hillbrook, view of vegetable garden and tennis court at Hillbrook (acc.
96x60.45);
Sheet with 4
photos: all Hillbrook, all circa 1920: vegetable garden and tennis court,
tennis court, entrance portico and west façade after addition, rear (east)
façade with new sun porch (acc. 96x60.46);
Sheet with 2
photos: Hillbrook, circa 1920: long garden: looking south and looking north
(acc. 96x60.47)
Folder 16: booklets
about gardening and garden plans (acc. 96x60.55-.61, .63):
Two copies
of landscape and garden plans for Hillbrrok, almost identical, except each
mentions some features not on the other, drawn circa 1995, but depicting
grounds during Fitch family ownership (acc. 96x60.55-.56)
“Home-Made
Fruit Products,” from Green Dormers, Barker, Niagara Co., New York, Miss O. M.
Fish, proprietress, with a note, probably circa 1918 (acc. 96x60.57);
“The
Progress of Food Thrift,” by Charles Lathrop Pack of the National Emergency Food
Garden Commission, circa 1917 (acc. 96x60.58);
Bobbink
& Atkins (Rutherford, N.J.): catalog: “World’s Choicest Nursery Products
for Rock-Gardens,” no date (acc. 96x60.59);
Mandeville
& King (Rochester, N.Y.): seed packet for Sweet Alyssum, no date, color
picture (acc. 96x60.60);
Elliott
Nursery Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.): flower catalog, circa 1915 (mentions “war prices
for gladioli”) (acc. 96x61a) ;
Elliott
Nursery Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.): partial flower catalog (missing covers), spring
1917 (acc. 96x61b) ;
“Raking the
Gardener and Canning the Canner,” published by the National Emergency Food
Garden Commission, 1917 (acc. 96x60.63);
Folder 17: bills, receipts, orders for garden
materials at Hillbrook (acc. 96x60.62,
.64-.71)
Greenwich
Nurseries, Sept. 10, 1915: for privet, hydrangea, forsythia, spirea, etc. (acc.
96x60.62);
Henry A.
Dreer, Philadelphia, April 10 and May 5, 1917 and no date: two notes that
cannot supply part of her order, and one note that order will be shipped later
(acc. 96x60.64-.66);
B.H. Fath
[?], Sept. 14, no year: list of plants
(acc. 96x60.67);
Note about
acc. 96x60.69-71 (acc. 96x60.68);
Lists of
plants written on stationery of The Kirkwood, Camden, S.C., one list is dated
March 10, 1917, another mentions the name Elliott (acc. 96x60.69-.71
Folder 18: autochrome in viewer: garden at
Hillbrook (acc. 96x60.75)
Box 2: oversize materials
Folder 1: scrapbook pages (acc. 91x106.4)
a scrapbook
of chromolithographed trade cards collected by Mrs. Fitch as a young girl with
her mother
folder 2: dioramic photo: Elmwood, showing
barns, windmill tower, house, with children and dogs in garden (acc. 91x106.21;
see also 91x106.20 in Box 1)
FRAGILE PHOTO: handle
with care
folder 3: photo: fountain in a garden, possibly
Elmwood (acc. 91x106.22)
folder 4: photo: Elmwood: view of house mostly
obscured, but good view of windmill tower, railroad tracks in foreground (acc.
91x106.23)
folder 5: photo: Elmwood: front exterior view
(acc. 91x106.24; similar to but not the same as 91x106.9)
folder 6: photo: grounds of Elmwood, house
almost entirely hidden by trees, but can see a barn, a fountain, and a corner
of windmill tower; two men in buggy in front of barn, with another buggy
sitting outside (acc. 91x106.25)
folder 7: photo: Elmwood: grounds, with barn,
windmill tower, house, all partly obscured by trees (acc. 91x106.26)
folder 8: receipted bill: George H. Hopper
bought of Barnum & Miller, dealers in hardware, stoves, tinware, doors,
windows, paints, oils, etc., Geneva, Ohio, July-October, 188-. For hammock hooks and eyes, hose nozzle,
pail, chest handles, screws, bolts, stove pipe, cedar faucets, wardrobe hooks,
Russia pipe, nickel pipe collards, oil cloth binding. Possibly items for Driftwood.
Folder 9: photos: Hillbrook (acc. 91x106.48-.51)
Long Garden,
looking south, circa 1928; taken by Publishers’ Photo Services, Stamford,
Conn., and New York (acc. 91x106.48);
South end of
house, with Myrtle walk at right, North Street at left, circa 1928; taken by
Publishers’ Photo Services, Stamford, Conn., and New York (acc. 91x106.49);
Statue of
Pan in garden at east side of Long Garden (acc. 91x106.50);
Long Garden,
looking south, 1920s (acc. 91x106.51)
Folder 10: photo: Hillbrook: small terrace at south
end of house, circa 1928 (acc. 91x106.52)
Folder 11: photo: Hillbrook: trellis arch in
garden, looking into the back garden from the side, with diagram showing where
the trellis was located, circa 1928 (acc. 91x106.53)
Folder 12: photo: HIllbrook: Long Garden, looking
north, circa 1928, circa 1928 (acc. 91x106.54)
Note: this photo was
used as illustration for article in The
House Beautiful
Folder 13: magazine: The House Beautiful, June 1927, with article about garden at
Hillbrook, page 812 (note: front cover is missing) (acc. 91x106.72)