OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



71 



A. Caparn gave an illustrated talk on War 

 Memorials. 



Harold A. Caparn was President, 1920-1921. 

 The chief activities in 1920 were in the field 

 of publicity and the beginning of the cam- 

 paign for the reform of the City Parks Ad- 

 ministration. There were regular meetings on 

 these subjects in January. February and 

 March, and on April 27th, there was a dinner 

 at the City Club with a meeting at which were 

 present the editors of Country Life, the Spur, 

 House and Garden, the Architectural Review 

 and others. R. Schermerhorn gave an illus- 

 trated lecture on "Early American Countrj' 

 Estates." 



In June there was a trip to Long Island 

 Country estates in Mr. Henry Hick's automo- 

 biles. 



On November 16th, the campaign for park 

 reform was opened by a dinner at the City 

 Club at which were present eleven guests 

 prominent in New York City afifairs. The pro- 

 ject was explained and discussed, and the 

 guests were unanimous in approval and en- 

 couragement. 



On February 16, 1921, there was a dinner at 

 the City Club with eleven guests from ten 

 civic and other organizations. Their approval 

 and encouragement of our project was also 

 enthusiastic. 



Later, a committee of seven with Lowrie, 

 Vitale and Caparn and four outsiders (Col. 

 Henry W. Sackett, Frank B. Williams, and 

 Professor Joseph P. Chamberlain of Colum- 

 bia, lawyers, and Charles F. Neergaard of 

 Brooklyn) was formed to draw up a scheme 

 of reform for presentation to the forthcoming 

 Charter Revision Commission. Many sessions 

 were held, and the Official Statement contain- 

 ing an outline of the scheme proposed was 

 printed and circulated among individuals and 

 organizations likely to appreciate it. The re- 

 sponse has been very encouraging, and we 

 have the endorsement of many individuals 

 and organizations. The scheme of reform will 

 be offered to the Charter Revision Commis- 

 sion as soon as a new Chairman is appointed, 

 or before. 



There was another trip in the Hicks auto- 

 mobiles in June. 



Harold A. Caparn was re-elected for 1922- 

 1923 to carry on the park reform campaign. 

 At this meeting (December 13, 1921) W. V. 

 Van Ingen, painter, gave a talk on the Chi- 

 cago South Park System, its design and man- 

 agement, illustrated by his own drawings. 



MID-WEST CHAPTER 



The Middle West Chapter was organized in 

 December 1916, with a membership of twelve, 

 — important cities such as St. Louis, Chicago. 

 Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus 

 and Toledo being represented. Today the 

 total membership of the Chapter is twenty- 

 seven. 



The most important activities of the Chap- 

 ter are as follows: 



During the winter of 1921 a committee was 

 named to make a thorough investigation of 

 the proposed registration law for architects, 

 engineers and landscape architects, known as 

 House Bill No. 161, of the Ohio Legislature. 

 The chapter of landscape architects thoroughly 

 investigated and opposed the passage of this 

 bill and also opposed the adoption of any 

 registration law for landscape architects, 

 which would place them in a false relation to 

 architects and engineers without proper rep- 

 resentation on executive committees or coun- 

 sels. This bill was defeated because of the 

 opposition from various sources. 



During the winter of 1921 the Chapter held 

 a joint meeting with the Cleveland Chapter of 

 the A. I. A. at which meeting important ques- 

 tions such as registration laws for architects 

 and landscape architects, a proposed course of 

 architecture and landscape architecture in the 

 Cleveland School of Art, the encroachment 

 upon the national park property, and the prop- 

 er relation among architects, landscape archi- 

 tects and clients, were discussed. 



In January 1921 the Chapter sent an official 

 communication to all of the departments of 

 landscape architecture within the general juris- 

 diction of this Chapter, making suggestions 

 for the improvement of the curriculum in these 

 institutions in order that the institutions could 

 render a better service to students by more 

 adequately fitting them for their life's work as 

 landscape architects after the completion of 

 their college course. It is the feeling of the 

 Chapter that more attention could well be 

 paid to making graduates really valuable as- 

 sets to a professional office immediately fol- 

 lowing their college work. 



One of the recent activities of this Chapter 

 is the work of co-operating with the Women's 

 National Farm and Garden Association. This 

 Chapter supplied one of the problems for this 

 competition and also was represented on the 

 jury. 



