Mildred Schlumpf
1905 - 1992

Mildred Schlumpf established the AHS Photography Awards in 1969 in honor of her late husband, Robert Way Schlumpf, who was an excellent photographer and daylily enthusiast. Mildred wished to stimulate interest in good photography and build up the AHS Slide Library. The Robert Way Schlumpf Award was presented annually in each of two categories, the best slide of an individual daylily bloom and the best slide of a daylily landscape. The winning slides were made part of the AHS Slide Library. The awards were two engraved silver trays and were first presented in 1970. The awards were renamed in Mildred’s honor as the Mildred Schlumpf Award after her death.

Mildred served as the AHS Slide Librarian for many years, and was responsible for many of the daylily programs that were once rented by clubs. She always took two slides, one for herself and one for the AHS Library. She was an excellent photographer, and her huge collection of daylily slides were donated to the AHS Slide Library after her death. Many of those bloom slides are now being digitized for use by the Historic Daylily Committee, which is evaluating historic cultivar images for placement on the AHS online database.

In 1983, Mildred was honored as the recipient of the Helen Field Fischer Award for her service to AHS.

She loved daylilies so much that she had daylilies carved on her tombstone.

– Courtesy AHS Archives