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Southern Nursery Association Records

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS985

Scope and Contents of the Records

This collection contains minutes from the Southern Nursery Association’s annual meetings from most years between 1923 and 1988. Committee reports, financial statements, membership lists, and necrology reports (obituaries of recently deceased members) presented at the annual meetings are sometimes included. Receipt reports from 1923 to 1951 list the dues-paying members of the association with the amount paid for the year. Little material exists during the years of World War II. From 1952 to 1958, transcripts of the association’s annual meetings exist. The collection also contains programs for several annual meetings held during the 1920s through the 1940s and trade show programs from 1985 to 1987. In addition, a convention program from 1999 celebrates the association’s one hundredth anniversary. Minutes from the board of director’s meetings are included from 1959 to 1988. Limited correspondence related to the association’s annual meetings and financial affairs is included. The collection also contains a published history of the Southern Nursery Association.

Dates

  • 1923-1999, undated

Creator

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research.

Restrictions on Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Administrative/Biographical History

The Southern Nursery Association (SNA) is a non-profit, professional trade organization that was formed when nine southern members of the American Association of Nurserymen (AAN) envisioned a regional organization to negotiate with the railroads that served the southern nursery business. These charter members appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws and in August 1899, nearly fifty southern nurserymen met to discuss the problems they faced. At the time, the survival of the nursery business in the South was threatened by unfavorable freight rates to Northern and Midwestern markets as well as a lack of cooperation between various states on issues of interstate trade. The newly formed association would combat these issues into the 1940s when agreements made between various states finally made the movement of plants across state borders easier and less financially taxing. In 1937, the SNA had allowed the first commercial exhibit at its annual convention. This small display slowly evolved into an annual trade show that has become the major source of funding for the association’s programs and a main focus of its annual convention. Headquartered in Atlanta, the SNA continues to provide wholesale growers, brokers, retailers, landscape architects, and allied suppliers with educational, marketing and networking opportunities to advance the horticultural industry in the South.

Extent

1.46 linear ft.

Language

English

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged and grouped chronologically by year. However, financial reports from 1923 to 1951 and membership lists from 1947 to 1951 are grouped together in folders at the end of box one because this material was recorded by the association in a manner that precluded its strict separation by year.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Southern Nursery Association, 1999 (CGL 1999.01).

Related Materials

Southern Nursery Association Photographs, VIS 169, Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center.

General Physical Description note

(3 document cases and 1 half document case)

Processing Information

Collection processed in 2008.

Title
Southern Nursery Association Records, 1923-1999, undated
Author
Inventory prepared by Erica Danylchak
Date
September 2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040