Dining Room

Conservatory

Side Hall

Billiard Room

Eastman's Bedroom

Living Room

Entrance Hall

Little Library

One of the things I like to stress to people about how this show goes and how it is put on is that without the help of the landscape volunteers, this show would not happen. There are two people involved in this department, and without the volunteers, we wouldn't be able to do half of the things that are done both inside and out in the gardens. One of the things I'd like everyone to take away from this show is that volunteers are needed at all times for this department because of the immense amount of work that goes on. This show alone, when the show is on for the two or three weeks that we run it, my volunteers are putting in anywhere from eight hundred to a thousand hours of help. Without their help, this doesn't happen. I always put out a big shout to them, because without them, the museum would not be the way it is. The grounds would not be as beautiful as they are, and this show would definitely not happen.

For those of you interested, we are always looking for new volunteers to help both with the show, and with the gardens. Please visit our website, eastman.org to find out all the fun details about volunteering in the gardens. If you're here for the show, stop by our sales area where you'll find some lovely plants to take home with you, a little bit of the Dutch Connection to take with you. You may also check out with my volunteers to find out what it is to volunteer. Forms are available. More information that was available in the sales area. I want to thank you for coming, and enjoy the flowers. Enjoy the sense and smells of spring.

Volunteers/Conclusion

Some of the biggest challenges that we run into, obviously, it's a plant. So trying to get plants to grow when you want them to is always a challenge. There are years that the tulips don't get enough of a cold season and won't bloom as well. There are times when there's a problem with the ball, and that whole type of daffodil I was expecting to see doesn't come up. There's also the huge challenge of hoping I can get everything to bloom at the same time. I can sing to them. I can dance to them. It really doesn't matter. They're on their own. What we do is mess with the temperatures to hopefully try to speed them along. Then if they're going too fast, to drop the temperatures back down to a cooler area to slow them down so they're ready for the show.

Challenges

Once the show is done, the show is taken down, most of the product is given away to my volunteers. They're allowed to come in as a thank you for helping us out. The rest is given to a couple of community organizations that use them around the neighborhoods to plant up in the corner gardens that you'll see around the city, and then some of it does get composted. What we do find is that the neighborhood knows when I compost, because once they're in the compost bins, it seems people come by and pick up bulbs for free. Not a problem. I'm glad people are using them. Once the show's done, we now have to clean up the mess. That's over 2,500 pots that need to be scraped and cleaned, washed and sterilized, to be ready for the following show. So the show basically goes on from June to June. During the rainy days during the summer, we're washing the pots, we're getting things ready. So it is a year end, year round endeavor for the Eastman House to put this show on for you.

End of Show

This process to put a show together starts in June. It is almost a year-round process for us to put this on. Orders go in in June, with delivery in October. All of my orders are put through to two companies that are directly connected to Holland. Their offices are here in New York, but their farms are in Holland.

The companies that I use, one of them is directly connected with Eastman. He originally was ordering bulbs from this company. It's been around since the late 1800s. It's another way for us to connect with how George Eastman did run his gardens and how he ran his flowers in the winter. All of my bulbs are brought direct from Holland, usually on skids that are sent over. How I know is we have packing lists that come in Dutch. Luckily, I do get sent ahead of time packing lists in English so that I can understand what they've sent me. That's just the beginning of this show that you're looking at today.

Come October, the bulbs start arriving into the U.S. and are brought to us here in the Eastman House, and that's where we commence the heavy work. My volunteers come forward and help us pot up to 14,000 plus bulbs for the fall to be put into a root cellar so that they can get their winter cooling. We basically trick them into thinking it's spring and get them to grow. That process goes all the way through to December, and then we begin bringing them out into the greenhouse.

And through there, all the way from December to February, the beginning of the show, we're continually bringing more product into the greenhouse, getting it ready for the show. During the months of January and the beginning of February, we're moving things around in the greenhouse, hoping to get everything to grow and be ready for the show all in one shot.

Because tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths all grow at a different rate, it's a matter of bringing them into the greenhouse to give them enough time to flower. Tulips take an average of eight weeks to flower, whereas hyacinths take as little as four. So we're bringing things in in stages to make sure everything blooms at the same time.

Comes to the show, I bring in another staff of volunteers to come in and help me set up the show. We set up the general idea of where the show will be held. I put the plants down on the floor, explain the colors to my volunteers, and then I let them have at it. They get to design the show completely themselves. We do a little tweaking, but most of the time, it comes out pretty good.

Process of Show

I began this journey of doing the gardens and the shows back in 2004. Was lucky enough to come in here out of school and be hired as an intern, and ever since then it's been just an upward challenge to keep the gardens in shape and to produce this show every year.

This year's exhibit will contain upwards to 14,000 bulbs in bloom in the house at any one point. The show in February is one of the earliest shows in North America for a forced bulb show. Some very big challenges come up to make it happen in the middle of winter.

As you walk through the museum, you will see the different displays that we have put out to show you how Eastman may have had it. We do have pictures that show he had orchids and forced bulbs around the room, just not as extensively as we show in one show. Our thought is to bring to you all of the amounts of flowers he would've seen in his winter months in the short time of the show.

This year's show will include hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, amaryllis, a lot of early spring blooming plants that you would see very early, hellebores, primroses, begonias, a lot of the fun stuff that we see in the early spring trying to shake away the wintertime.

Landscaper History/Types Of Flowers

Speaker 1:
The museum started this show back in 1995, and it has run annually since. It's inspired me trying to bring back a little bit of how George Eastman lived his life during the winter months, and to bring it back for people to see. Every year he would order 30 to 40,000 bulbs for some into the greenhouses, and put some into the yard every year. During the winter months, he would have his gardeners bring them into the house so we could have fresh growing flowers all year round, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, all those early spring forceable plants that he could bring in.

Dutch Connection History

Welcome to the George Eastman Museum. My name is Dan Bellavia, I am the landscape manager here. Today I'm here to talk to you about the Dutch Connection, the annual Forced Bulb Show that has run every February here at the George Eastman Museum. This event was inspired from a letter that was sent from George Eastman to his mother back in 1895. He was taking a tour of Holland at that point, a bicycle tour no less, and he saw the beautiful fields of tulips and daffodils that are wall to wall in Holland, decided to bring some home to the United States and foreseen putting them into his gardens in the estate he was planning on building.

Intro And Origins of Dutch Connection

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Frank Borzage Interview (1958)

Silver Voices: King Vidor Interview (1958)

Interview conducted by James McQuaid, February 1, 1977.

This interview was produced as part of an oral history project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photo: Abraham Aronow (American, b. 1940). "Brett Weston," ca. 1988. Courtesy of Department of Photography/George Eastman Museum. Gift of the photographer.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Brett Weston Interview (Feb. 1, 1977)[Part 1]

Silver Voices: Brett Weston Interview (Feb. 2, 1977)[Part 2]

Interview conducted by James McQuaid, December 8, 1976.

Photo: Nancy Newhall (American, 1908–1974). "[Beaumont Newhall]," negative, ca. 1942. Courtesy of Department of Photography/George Eastman Museum. Gift of Christi Newhall.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Beaumont Newhall Interview (1976)

Interview conducted by James McQuaid, Sept. 9, 1977.

This interview was produced as part of an oral history project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Walter Clark Interview (1977)[Part 2]

Silver Voices: Walter Clark Interview (1977)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by Steven Lewis, December 12, 1976.

This interview was produced as part of an oral history project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photo: Peter Gasser (Swiss, b. 1947). "Ansel Adams, Carmel," 1979. Courtesy of Department of Photography/George Eastman Museum. Gift of the photographer.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Ansel Adams Interview (1976)[Part 2]

Silver Voices: Ansel Adams Interview (1976)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by Steven Lewis, December 12, 1976.

This interview was produced as part of an oral history project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Donald Ross Interview (1976)[Part 2]

Silver Voices: Donald Ross Interview (1976)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by Steven Lewis, April 17-21, 1978.

Photo: Ansel Adams (American, 1902–1984). "Dody," ca. 1950. Courtesy of Department of Photography/George Eastman Museum.

This interview was produced as part of an oral history project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Dody W. Thompson Interview (1976)[Part 2]

Silver Voices: Dody W. Thompson Interview (1976)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Witzel Studios, courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections, George Eastman Museum.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences.

Silver Voices: Harold Lloyd Interview (1958)

For the exhibition, A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age, we asked artists to answer a question: Is your personal connection to digital images the same as it is to photographic prints? These were shared through our audio tour as part of the exhibition.

Lisa Hostetler, the curator of the exhibition and curator in charge of the Department of Photography introduces the audio.

Introduction by Lisa Hostetler

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Apeda Studio, courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections, George Eastman Museum.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introductions provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES. 

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices

Silver Voices: Buster Keaton Interview (1958)

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Introduction by Nancy Kauffman, Archivist for Stills, Posters and Paper Collections, George Eastman Museum. Recorded October 2020.

Photo by Apeda Studio, courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections, George Eastman Museum.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introduction provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES. 

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Buster Keaton Interview (1958), Introduction by Nancy Kauffman

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Irving Chidnoff, courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introductions provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Lillian Gish Interview (1958)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Apeda Studio. Courtesy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum.

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introductions provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Ramon Novarro Interview (1958)

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Hartsook Studio. Courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introductions provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Mary Pickford at Pickfair Interview (1958)[Part 2]

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Photo by Hartsook Photo. Courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introductions provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Mary Pickford at Pickfair Interview (1958)[Part 1]

Interview conducted by George Pratt.

Introduction by Sheryl Smith, Dryden Theatre Chief Projectionist,
George Eastman Museum. Recorded October 2020.

Photo by Hartsook Photo. Courtesy Stills, Posters, and Paper Collections/George Eastman Museum

The Silver Voices Project, which allowed for digitization and sharing of this archival audio, was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-30-19-0681-19.

Generous support for the introduction provided by Art Bridges, and made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this audio do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Library Sciences or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Silver Voices: Mary Pickford at Pickfair Interview (1958), Introduction by Sheryl Smith

World's foremost museum of photography and cinema located on the historic estate of George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography.

Popular tracks by George Eastman Museum