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Cover image of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Cover image of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
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The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted

Parks, Politics, and Patronage, 1874–1882

edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Carolyn F. Hoffman, and Kenneth Hawkins. Tina Hummel, Assistant Editor

Volume
Volume 7
Publication Date
Binding Type

For decades Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) designed parks and park systems across the United States, leaving an enduring legacy of designed public space that is enjoyed, studied, and protected today. His plans and professional correspondence offer a rich source for understanding his remarkable contribution to the quality of urban life in this country and the development of the profession of landscape architecture. Olmsted's writings also provide a unique record of society and politics in post–Civil War America. Historians, landscape architects, conservationists, city planners, and citizens'...

For decades Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) designed parks and park systems across the United States, leaving an enduring legacy of designed public space that is enjoyed, studied, and protected today. His plans and professional correspondence offer a rich source for understanding his remarkable contribution to the quality of urban life in this country and the development of the profession of landscape architecture. Olmsted's writings also provide a unique record of society and politics in post–Civil War America. Historians, landscape architects, conservationists, city planners, and citizens' groups continue to turn to Olmsted for inspiration in their planning and protection of public open space in our cities.

The seventh volume of the Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted presents the record of his last years of residence in New York City. It includes reports on the design of Riverside and Morningside parks and Tompkins Square in Manhattan, as well as his comprehensive plan for the street system and rapid transit routes of the Bronx. It records his continuing work on Central Park and presents his final retrospective statement, "The Spoils of the Park." In addition, volume seven contains an annotated version of the journal in which Olmsted recorded instances of political maneuvering and patronage politics in the years before his dismissal from the New York parks department in 1878. Later documents chronicle the early stages of his planning of the Boston park system—the Back Bay Fens, Arnold Arboretum, and Riverway. Other major commissions, each with its own political complications, were the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, the completion of the new state capitol in Albany, the designing of a park on Mount Royal in Montreal, and construction of the park system of Buffalo, New York. The volume also presents Olmsted's commentary on issues of the times including federal Reconstruction policy and civil-service reform.

The Olmsted Papers project is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Trust for the Humanities, the National Association for Olmsted Parks, as well as private foundations and individuals.

Reviews

Reviews

Olmsted the man belongs to his own time, but his work and words continue to have meaning today... The editors are preserving a life and work instructive for the future as well as the past.

As always in this series, the letters are carefully annotated.

No other landscape designer ever wrote and published so much, just as none enjoys the prestige of a complete modern edition of his works... The volume maintains the high standards of editing we have come to expect of this series.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6.25
x
9.25
Pages
784
ISBN
9780801883361
Illustration Description
70 halftones, 17 line drawings
Table of Contents

Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Editorial Policy
Short Titles Used in Citations
Chapter I: January 1874-August 1874
Chapter II: August 1874-Januaty 1875
Chapter III: February 1875-February 1876
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Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Editorial Policy
Short Titles Used in Citations
Chapter I: January 1874-August 1874
Chapter II: August 1874-Januaty 1875
Chapter III: February 1875-February 1876
Chapter IV: April 1876-December 1876
Chapter V: January 1877-October 1877
Chapter VI: october 1877-July 1878
Chapter VII: January 1879-October 1879
Chapter VIII: December 1879-May 1880
Chapter IX: May 1880-December 1880
Chapter X: February 1881-December 1881
Chapter XI: January 1882-March 1882
Appendix I Chronology of Frederick Law Olmsted, 1874-1882
Appendix II The Spoils of the Park with a Few Leaves From the Deep-Laden Note-Books of "A Wholly Unpractical Man." (1882)
Appendix III Patronage Journal (1873-1877)
Appendix IV List of Textual Alterations
Index of Plant Materials
General Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. He was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator.
Charles E. Beveridge
Featured Contributor

Charles E. Beveridge

Charles E. Beveridge (ALEXANDRIA, VA) is the leading Olmsted authority in the country and the series editor of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted.