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Landscape designers based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Planting and landscape plans, elevation drawings, and various other sketches for projects designed as students at the University of Michigan and subsequently for clients in Ann Arbor, Michigan and other residences in southeastern Michigan; files relating to Jessie Bourquin's work with the Michigan Department of Economic Expansion and Alice Bourquin's work with the Michigan Department of Transportation; also papers relating to joint projects and activities, including their association with Jens Jensen and their Hillwood subdivision in Ann Arbor; and photographs.

The Bourquin collection consists of landscape architectural drawings, professional papers, and visual materials documenting the careers of Alice and Jessie Bourquin. The collection has been divided into the following series: Landscape Architectural Drawings; Jessie Bourquin Papers; Alice Bourquin Papers; Joint Projects and Activities; Hillwood Subdivision; and Photographs and other Visual Materials.

One of America's most visionary prairie school landscape architects, Jensen's design work incorporated horizontal lines in landforms and stonework, the natural branching habits of plants, and the restoration and conservation of native plant materials. The collection is comprised mainly of landscape architectural drawings for more than four hundred and sixty projects, along with a small amount of manuscript material and photographs.

Jensen's landscape work encompassed a broad range of projects -- residential, subdivisions, parks and preserves, schools and educational facilities, hospitals, office complexes and government centers, all of which are represented in the collection. Jensen's view of landscape architecture as a social force for integrating art, home, and commerce is a significant and unique characteristic of his work. While the native landscape itself, both as he experienced it in Denmark and in America, was his primary inspiration, Jensen was also influenced by the social and economic reform movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His theories related to urban planning, his recognition of the restorative value of nature and wilderness, his genuine concern for the environment, and his love of people are reflected in the material and will interest researchers from a range of disciplines and subject areas -- although the documentation is almost wholly visual.

When looked upon as a whole, the collection richly illustrates Jensen's consistent philosophy of design. While each project had its own character reflecting the nature of the site and client requirements, certain recurring design features in the drawings are evidence of Jensen's particular style. His plans almost always show plants in masses -- creating unity through repetition of similar species, textures, and forms and suggesting groupings found in native habitats. The hawthorn, with its low, horizontal branching habit, a symbol of the prairie for Jensen, is found often in his designs, along with other small native trees, sometimes scattered individually, but more often in repetition to reinforce prairie views and provide a transition to larger trees along woodland borders. Also evident is the adept handling of open spaces found at the core of most of his designs -- great meadows, linear "long views," prairie views and prairie vistas, sun openings, garden rooms, clearings. Smaller clearings and sun openings emphasize the importance Jensen placed on light and shadow as integral to the art of landscaping; a series of broad curving drives, footpaths, and trails invite movement and ensure that visitors experience sequences of sun and shade, sometimes leading "to the setting sun" or "to the rising sun." Water is another distinctive feature -- quiet pools, prairie rivers, lagoons, ponds, streams enhanced with rock work skillfully executed to suggest ravines and bluffs. The drawings also provide many examples of Jensen's council rings tucked into edges of woodland borders, surrounded by trees or placed to view a meadow or lake; player's greens created for outdoor drama; and small areas set aside and screened with walls, trellises, or shrubbery for vegetable and "picking" gardens.

Peter Pollack was a landscape architect who primarily worked in the Ann Arbor area. He also served as a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, and working files that document Pollack’s involvement with various urban design and landscape projects in the state of Michigan in addition to his teaching career. The collection also includes drawings and plans for Pollack’s major projects.

The Peter Pollack collection (29.5 linear feet, 51 tubes, 13 oversized folders) documents Pollack's professional involvement in the field of landscape architecture. While the collection includes material relating to his teaching career and his involvement in landscape architecture organizations, the bulk of the collection relates to specific projects Pollack worked on. The collection documents his entire career, but includes a greater depth of information related to projects Pollack was involved with in the Ann Arbor area. In addition to the working files for these projects, the collection includes copious sketches drawn by Pollack and official project plans. The material relating to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and the Pfizer campus is particularly strong.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Administrative Files and Promotional Materials; Project Summaries; Project Files; Teaching Files and Other Activities; Digital Materials; and Videotapes.