Bliss, Mildred Barnes, 1879-1969

Scope and Contents: Seven black and white photographs of exterior and interior views of the Director's House and Terrace. Before 1941, the building that anchored the southern side of the Service Court was the Garage. The second-floor residential rooms housed some of the Blisses’ male staff.After the Robert and Mildred Bliss gifted Dumbarton Oaks to Harvard University, architect Thomas T. Waterman converted the upstairs living areas into a single residence for John Thacher and his family. The...

Scope and Contents: Thirty-seven black and white photographs, 2 color photographs, and a collection of photographs with drawings and notes of the Dumbarton Oaks Park which refers to the 27-acre parcel of land that Robert and Mildred Bliss donated to the National Park Service in 1940. The acreage is now considered a part of Rock Creek Park.When it was part of the Bliss estate, the park belonged to Beatrix Farrand’s garden design. It served as a rustic counterpoint to the complex and formal garden...

Scope and Contents: Twenty black and white photographs and 5 color photographs of the Dumbarton Oaks Garden, East Lawn is an unbroken expanse of grass stretching from the entrance of the house southeast to the R Street wall.In her Plant Book for Dumbarton Oaks, Beatrix Farrand, landscape gardener called the East Lawn “one of the loveliest of the features of Dumbarton Oaks in its freedom from detail” (p. 20). To frame the open lawn, Farrand planned perimeter plantings chosen for their size and...

Scope and Contents: Photographs of the Dumbarton Oaks property taken between 1920 when Mildred and Robert Bliss bought the estate property and 1979 including and beyond when it was donated to Harvard University in 1940. The early photographs from approximately 1920-1949 are in black and white. Later photographs from approximately 1950-1979 are in color.Those that photographed the Dumbarton Oaks Garden included Stewart Bros. Photographer (Washington, D.C.); Ursula Pariser, Dumbarton Oaks staff...

Scope and Contents: Seven black and white photographs of The Superintendent’s Cottage, sometimes called the Gardener’s Cottage at Dumbarton Oaks. It fronts S Street, Washington, D.C. located just west of the Service Court gates.In 1923, Mildred Bliss suggested to her architects that they build a duplex to house the butler and the head gardener, William Gray and his family. Following her suggestion, they planned the small gabled house to be a part of the Service Court Quadrangle. However, when the...

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Signed handwritten letter from Bessie J. Kibbey to Mildred Bliss thanks her for allowing her the pleasure of spending time in the Dumbarton Oaks Garden with her friend Mrs. Bishop and her husband.

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Signed handwritten letter by Josephine Poe January probably sent to Mildred Bliss following time spent at Dumbarton Oaks.

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Signed handwritten letter from Katharine McKiever, Acting Secretary of the Washington Unit of the Women's Overseas League writing on behalf of the organization, to Mildred Bliss thanks her for the garden party and the privilege of the garden experience, and for being such as gracious hostess.

Scope and Contents: Signed handwritten letter from Loulie Hooper Thoron to Mildred Bliss telling her she wandered the Dumbarton Oaks Garden going from "one beautiful terrace to another drinking in the taste and knowledge of the artist planner and artist owners who had put together such gardens for the delight of birds and men. She reports it was a divine hour of the day and one of Spring's loveliest moments. Loulie wishes that Uncle Henry [Adams] were here to see what Mildred Bliss and Beatrix Farrand have...

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Signed handwritten letter from Lucretia del Valle Grady to Mildred Bliss thanking her for a gracious Spring evening and delightful memory.

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Signed handwritten letter from Marcelle CaSargi or CaSargie to Mildred Bliss thanking her for letting hime see the Dumbarton Oaks Garden. He says the garden is a spot of beauty and poetry, such a carpet of beautiful beautiful flowers ... [and] a work of art.

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Signed handwritten letter from Mary Callaway Jones (Mrs. Frank F.) to Mildred Bliss tells her expresses her appreciation for sharing the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, Washington, D.C. with her as a member of the Council of Colonial Dames.

Scope and Contents: Signed handwritten letter from [first name illegible] Clark Jackson (Mrs. Richard Fay Jackson) expressing appreciation for the beauty of the Dumbarton Oaks Garden, and she was hoping to be able to tell her in person. She mentions "So many of the luncheon guests at the Horticultural luncheon have said it [the garden] was all a 'bit of heaven' and they wished they might have told you in person." Quite possibly a group of persons as a member of a horticultural organization toured the garden or...

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Signed handwritten letter to Mildred Bliss thanking her for the hospitality, kindness, house, and garden tour. Unable to decipher the signature of the writer. The correspondent wants to send Mildred Lawrence of Arabia's translaton of "Forest Giant" for its philsophy and book on trees and hopes Mildred Bliss admires Lawrence (Shaw) as much as he/she does.

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Picture postcard with signed handwritten note from Francis Dvornik to Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Bliss thanking them for a recent enjoyable conversation with them. He informs them he is in Canada at a French retreat house (photo on postcard is of Villa Saint-Martin, Maison de Retraites Fermees per hommes, 9451 boulevard Gouin ouest, Pierrafonds, Quebec) and said mass for them and the success for Dumbarton Oaks.