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Barbara Bertha Vorse Fealy (1903-2000) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Albert Justin and Bettie Vorse. Albert Vorse owned one of Utah's largest wholesale nurseries, and Barbara grew up assisting with his operation. In 1921, Fealy attended the University of Illinois to study landscape architecture. Surveying and drawing were two essential components of the curriculum, and classical elements of drawing were emphasized. Fealy's artistic style became influenced by John Constable, Gertrude Jekyll, and Thomas Church.
From 1926-1929, Fealy worked for McCrary, Culley and Carhart in Denver, Colorado. Fealy ultimately started her own firm in 1929 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She moved her firm to Beaverton, Oregon in 1947 and spent the remainder of her life in the Pacific Northwest. Fealy received several honors and awards during the late 1980s and early 1990s including an American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Honor Award for her work on the Salishan Lodge in 1988 and an ASLA Merit Award for her work on the Lewis Residence in 1989. Fealy was also the first woman to be elected as fellow to the ASLA in 1985.
Most of Fealy's work was for private residences in the Pacific Northwest, however, she completed several commercial projects. Commercial projects in Portland, Oregon included landscape designs for the Catlin-Gabel School, First Unitarian Church, Graphic Arts Center, Leach Botanical Garden, Marquam Plaza Office Building, Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Saint Pius X Parish, and Western Forestry Center. Other projects of note included Eagle Crest (Redmond, Oregon), Evergreen Aviation (Hillsboro, Oregon), Longview Medical Center (Longview, Washington), Salishan Lodge (Gleneden Beach, Oregon), Skamania County Courthouse (Skamania, Washington), Sokol Blosser Winery (Newberg, Oregon), Timberline Lodge (Government Camp, Oregon), Waverly Country Club (Lake Oswego, Oregon), Willamette View Manor (Milwaukie, Oregon), and Yurigawa Park (Sapporo, Japan).
Fealy continued to practice landscape architecture through 1995, at the age of 92. She then lived with her daughter, Susan "Valencia" Fealy in Seattle, Washington, and then in an apartment in Beaverton, Oregon, where she lived until her death in December 2000. She loved landscape architecture and said she could not think of another career that would have given her greater satisfaction.
For further information, see Katherine Ann Supplee's master's thesis for the University of Washington entitled
The client files series contains correspondence, notes, estimates, and billings related to Fealy's landscape architectural jobs and projects. The original files included photographs, which were separated during initial processing and transferred to the photographs series. Likewise, oversize plans and drawings, once folded and included in the original files, were flattened and incorporated into the architectural drawings series.
The photographs series contains 35mm color snapshots, black and white prints, slides, and negatives. The majority of photographs depict Fealy's work sites prior to and after landscaping however, some family photos are also present.
The architectural drawings series contains landscape architectural designs that were originally folded within client files. Drawings include general landscaping plans and designs, sections, perspectives, detailed construction drawings, irrigation plans, and planting plans for public areas, businesses, and private residences. Designs co-created by Fealy's mentor Marlene Salon, as well as some that were outsourced to other designers, are also included. A variety of locations are present among the drawings including 65 unique areas in Oregon, 15 areas in Washington, two areas in California, and one area each in North Carolina, British Columbia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.