Hartford City Parks Collection

The Hartford City Parks Collection at the Hartford History Center documents the growth and extent of the city's pioneering efforts to create and develop municipal parks. Series I contains albums with newspaper clippings, primarily from Hartford papers. The correspondence and essays of the Park Commission, and Superintendents Theodore Wirth and George A. Parker, comprise approximately 12.5 linear feet. Additionally, the collection contains papers concerning Parker's participation in the Hartford Committee on the City Plan, its Juvenile Commission, and other organizations (city and nationwide) related to the parks movement and recreation for urban growth. This material, found in Series II, is arranged by subject, but has not been divided into subseries. The material in Series III, added to the finding aid in 2021, overlaps and complements Series II. As much as possible, Series III is subdivided by the content's creator. Visual materials include over 500 glass negative views of parks and streetscapes, Series IV, and a large collection of half-tone printing blocks make up Series V. Many of these blocks reference the park report, or other publication, they illustrated. A collection of colored lantern slides, as well as planting and nursery order lists, document roses planted at Elizabeth Park. Responsible for the city's cemeteries, the Park Commission's records include documentation of burial ground oversight, plot sales, and the erection of grave markers. In Series VI, Bound Volumes, financial records may be found, including salary information for all parks, and accounts from the Keney Park Trustees, as well as letterpress books kept by Theodore Wirth. Especially rich is the archive's collection of maps, blueprints and drawings of cemeteries, and park structures and parkways (actual and projected), which comprise Series VII. Over 150 of these have been inventoried. Please note that the maps do not have titles, simply descriptions.