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In researching the early history of Disneyland, I recently spent a day at UCLA poring through the personal papers of Ruth Patricia Shellhorn. Ms. Shellhorn was a celebrated landscape architect best known for creating a new landscaping style for commercial shopping centers through her work at the Bullock’s Department Stores and Fashion Squares. She also helped scope out the plantings for the University of California at Riverside and—of greatest interest to us—Disneyland.

Shellhorn was called in to assist Jack and Bill Evans and represent the Disney Studio, which was worried the park wouldn’t get florally furnished on time. Shellhorn’s contract ran from March 23 to July 16, 1955, and she documented every day of the action in her private diaries, which are included in the UCLA collection.

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