Rudy J. Favretti collection

Object Details

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6709fc29d-b7b4-425d-83ee-5cf8e4c46c35

Creator

Favretti, Rudy J., 1932-1923

Topic

Monuments

Museums

Agriculture

Historic sites

Horticulture

Memorials

Landscape architecture

Gardens -- United States

Provenance

The records and files were generated and/or compiled by Rudy J. Favretti in the course of his landscape design, landscape restoration, and academic work.

Creator

Favretti, Rudy J., 1932-1923

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Rudy J. Favretti collection

Sponsor

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Summary

The collection contains the project design records of Rudy J. Favretti. , a landscape architect and professor noted for his extensive work in historical restoration of gardens, parks, and landscapes. He donated his collection of garden design files, plans, and images to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens in March 2011.

Biographical Note

Rudy J. Favretti was born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1932. He obtained degrees from the University of Connecticut, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts. Favretti holds Bachelor's degrees in horticulture, landscape design, and landscape architecture, as well as Master's degrees in ornamental horticulture, landscape architecture, and regional planning. Professor Favretti taught landscape architecture at the University of Connecticut from 1955 to 1988. Since 1988 he has been Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut specializing in landscape history and preservation. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Virginia, Columbia University, and a Visiting Faculty Fellow at Yale University. In his professional career, Rudy Favretti worked on over 700 commissioned individual and collaborative design, master planning, and preservation projects. These works include notable sites such as Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia, Monticello and Mount Vernon in Virginia, the Emily Dickinson House in Massachusetts, and the Vanderbilt Estate in New York. Favretti has authored more than 20 books and monographs and over 60 journal and magazine articles on a vast range of topics though most notably on historic landscape restoration and colonial gardens He co-authored For Every House a Garden (1977) and Landscapes and Garden for Historic Buildings (1978) with his wife Joy P. Favretti. His most recent work, Jacob Wiedenmann: Pioneer Landscape Architect (2007), is a biography of the nineteenth century landscape architect. Professor Favretti is a member of several professional and academic societies including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Association for Olmsted Parks, and Phi Kappa Phi. He has been awarded honors in landscape preservation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Garden Club of America. He is currently a member of the National Register Review Board for Connecticut and the Director of the Connecticut Olmsted Alliance. He served as the consulting landscape architect for the Garden Club of Virginia from 1978 to 1998. The Garden Club of Virginia established the Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship in his honor to support the research and documentation of historic Virginia gardens.

Extent

31.5 Cubic feet

Date

circa 1950-2010

Archival Repository

Archives of American Gardens

Identifier

AAG.FAV

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Invoices

Research

Contracts

Reports

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Citation

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Rudy J. Favretti CollectionPapers.

Arrangement note

The collection is arranged into 4 series: Series 1: Project Files; Series 2: Administrative Files; Series 3: Jacob Weidenmann Research and Biography Filesand Biography Files; Series 4: Visited Gardens

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Smithsonian interns Kayla Burns, Joseph Cialdella, Andrew Harris, Savannah Gignac and Smithsonian volunteer Marca Woodhams in 2011-2012.

Rights

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Publication

Some files in the Rudy J. Favretti Collection were generated for Favretti's biography, Jacob Weidenmann: Pioneer Landscape Architect (Hartford, CT: Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation, Inc., in cooperation with Wesleyan University Press, 2007).

Genre/Form

Invoices

Research

Contracts

Reports

Pamphlets

Slides (photographs)

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains the records of landscape architect Rudy J. Favretti and includes correspondence, research notes, reports, drawings, plans (some from other engineering or design firms), photographic images, contracts, invoices, newspaper clippings, copies of historic records and other items relating to Professor Favretti's professional design work. His projects range from small private gardens to extensive garden restorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century gardens, parks, and historic sites. Professor Favretti also worked on a number of civic improvement and land use projects like parks and roadways. The majority of projects are located in New England (particularly Connecticut), the mid-Atlantic states and the southeastern United States. The collection also includes Professor Favretti's research files for his biography on landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann as well as numerous brochures and pamphlets he gathered during trips he took to gardens across the United States, and 35mm slides he took of some of these sites.

Restrictions

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Related Materials

The Rudy Favretti Papers are available at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center of the University of Connecticut. These include landscape plans dated 1962-1979 for numerous public spaces throughout Connecticut.

Record ID

ebl-1521747611750-1521747611782-0