Committee for a Country Common, undated

The Marie Aull Papers document the life of a significant Daytonian involved extensively in gardening, education, travel, and the Dayton community. Through these records, researchers may gain insight into gardening, on a national and local level, world travel during the late 20th century, and the history of a noteworthy local property.

Series I, Travel, is divided into eight subseries. Marie had most of her travel material sorted by individual trip. The trips were then placed in chronological order.



Subseries IA, 1920s-1940s, documents travel that Marie took with her husband, John. These trips often include itineraries, ship passenger lists, brochures, and postcards.



Subseries IB, 1950s, documents travel that Marie took after John’s death in 1955. These trips often include itineraries, receipts, correspondence, travel journals, postcards, and brochures.



Subseries IC, 1960s, Subseries ID, 1970s, and Subseries IE, 1980s-1990s, documents travel that Marie took with her sister, other friends, and alone. Some trips were through various organizations: Audubon Society, Cincinnati Nature Center, American Horticultural Society, Garden Club of America, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and more. These trips often include itineraries, receipts, correspondence, travel journals, postcards, and brochures.



Subseries IF, Postcards and Prints, contains postcards and prints from the various trips Marie took. Almost all are undated and they were found all together. There are postcards that can be found within the individual trips’ subseries. Those postcards were not separated.



Subseries IG, Undated Trips, also documents excursions Marie took. The materials in this subseries however have no decipherable creation date. This subseries includes important material like travel journals.



Subseries IH, Research, planning, and possible trips, contains mostly travel brochures and pamphlets. There are not itineraries or receipts to prove that Marie went on any of these trips. Rather than assume or force order the material was placed in this subseries.



Series II, Garden, is divided into six subseries. Marie’s garden, house, and property are often all referred to as Aullwood even though different lands are held by different organizations.



Subseries IIA, Aullwood, contains garden material from before John’s death and anything generically labelled Aullwood. Material includes plant lists and orders and garden analyses.



Subseries IIB, Audubon, contains material from the Aullwood Audubon Center and farm. This subseries is small, but it does include pamphlets, annual reports, newsletters, and Greenvalley Award applications. Subseries IIC, MetroParks, contains material from the Aullwood Garden MetroParks. This subseries is small, but it does include pamphlets, reports, and garden legacy documentation.



Subseries IID, History and Aullwood Book, documents the history of Marie and John’s garden and property. This subseries is small, but has a lot of valuable information. Some material was put together by the author of A Place called Aullwood, Allan L. Horvath (box 27 file1). Material in subseries includes deeds, legal paperwork, interviews, and correspondence.



Subseries IIE, Publicity and Conservation, contains mostly newspaper clippings and magazine articles about Marie and her garden. The conservation part of this subseries is very small. It mostly contains meeting minutes and newsletters from the Nature Conservancy and a few other organizations. Marie won awards for her work in conservation, but this collection does not have the extensive documentation of this work.



Subseries IIF, General Garden, contains mostly booklets and magazines on gardening techniques and tips.



Series III, Correspondence, contains four main types of correspondence: significant people, birthday, Christmas, and general. Birthday, Christmas, and general correspondence are organized in alphabetically order when possible.



Series IV, Photos, documents Aullwood, Marie, and John. Photos were originally in envelopes with the decade written on them. Even though it’s not clear who supplied those dates, the processor retained the same dating scheme.



Series V, Personal, is divided into seven subseries.



Subseries VA, Childhood, family, and John, contains material from Marie’s childhood and from John and his family.



Subseries VB, Hobbies, documents Marie’s various hobbies including, but not limited to: music, birds, cards, crafts, and cooking.



Subseries VC, Poems, short stories, and essays, contains material that Marie displayed on a bulletin board. The location of this bulletin board is unknown.



Subseries VD, Calendars, contains mostly engagements calendars from the 1990s. There are a few older calendars that Marie used to record birthdays and special dates.



Subseries VE, Charities, is a very small subseries. It documents some of the charities that Marie was involved with.



Subseries VF, Clubs, documents Marie’s time volunteering with and belonging to several organizations. The most significant clubs were College Women’s club, Little Garden club, Garden Club of Dayton, and Friday Afternoon Club. Meeting programs and correspondence are the most common material. Marie wrote papers for the Friday Afternoon club that she more than likely presented at a meeting.



Subseries VG, Awards, documents the various awards Marie received in her lifetime. Most of the awards are garden related, but she received awards for philanthropy, conservation, and travel writing as well.