Special Collections Department

The Conard-Pyle Company
Archives

1891 - 2000

Manuscript Collection Number: 00-09  
Extent: 138 linear ft.
Content: Periodicals, catalogs, brochures, legal materials, patents, correspondence, advertising materials, photographs, mouse pads, schedules, note cards, negatives, financial records, transparencies, 16mm films, wood and metal file boxes, books, scrapbooks, public reports, gift certificates, cassette tapes, slides, envelopes, journals, cash ledgers, day book ledgers, guest books, blueprints, posters, artwork, proofs, plaques, inventory cards, placards, and promotional materials.
Access: Limited pending completion of processing.

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Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229

Table of Contents

Historical Note

Located in West Grove, Pennsylvania, the Conard-Pyle Company was originally organized in 1897 by Alfred S. Conard and A. Morris Jones as a mail-order nursery and seed business specializing in own-root roses grown from cuttings and sold while still small. Robert Pyle joined the company in 1898 and purchased control in it after Conard's death in 1907. Pyle rapidly developed the business with the popular sale of two-year-old field-grown plants on grafted roots, which brought higher prices and yielded plants that would bloom in the first year of purchase. Pyle became an internationally known nurseryman and authority on roses, serving in leadership positions on the American Rose Society, the National Association of Plant Patent Owners, the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboretums, the American Horticultural Society, and other organizations. The most famous rose introduced by Pyle is the Peace rose, patented in 1943 from the work of the French hybridizer Francis Meilland. Nearly every new rose today is descended from the Peace rose.

Scope and Content Note

 

The Conard-Pyle Company Archives consist of 148 linear feet of records from this prominent West Grove, Pennsylvania, rose nursery that span the dates 1891-2000. The extensive collection includes nursery catalogs and brochures, publications, plant patents and records of the license department, annual reports, correspondence and memoranda, photographs, and memorabilia. In addition to documenting the product and business of Conard-Pyle, the collection provides information about the history of the rose, international horticultural research, professional organizations, flower shows, and all aspects of the nursery trade.

Contents List

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Last modified: 01/19/11

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