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Bibliography

The following is a list of relevant books by and about Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., his first and important partner, Calvert Vaux; his nephew/stepson John Charles Olmsted; and son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and their work. It is compiled from a number of sources and is offered as a representation of the literature that accompanies the rich legacy of the built work.

This is a work in progress. Please contact NAOP with recommended additions at info@naop.org.

"The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857-1979." Edited by Lucy Lawliss, Caroline Loughlin, and Lauren Meier. NAOP and National Park Service, 2008.

Works by Frederick Law Olmsted

"A Journey through Texas, or a Saddle-Trip on the Western Frontier." Edited by Randolph B. "Mike" Campbell.
DeGolyer Library &William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University, 2004.
For more information, visit: http://www.smu.edu/swcenter/Olmsted.htm.

“The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted,” Charles E. Beveridge, Senior Series Editor

Volume I—The Formative Years 1822-1852
Volume II—Slavery and the South 1852-1857
Volume III—Creating Central Park 1857-1861
Volume IV—Defending the Union, The Civil War and the U.S. Sanitary Commission 1861-1863
Volume V—The California Frontier 1863-1865
Volume VI—The Years of Olmsted, Vaux & Company 1865-1874
Volume VII—Parks, Politics, and Patronage 1874-1882

Additional editors in the series: Charles Capen McLaughlin, Charles E. Beveridge, David Schuyler, Jane Turner Censer and Victoria Post Ranney, Ethan Carr. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977-1992

“Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England”
Reprint of 1852 edition with introduction by Charles C. McLaughlin
LALH/University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 2002

Olmsted Biographies and Books on his Career

“A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century.” Witold Rybczynski. Scribner, NY 1999

“FLO — A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted”Laura Wood Roper. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1973

“Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape” Charles Beveridge and Paul Rocheleau. Rizzoli International, 1995

“Frederick Law Olmsted, Landscape Architect, 1822-1903”
Ed. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and Theodora Kimball
New York, B Blom, 1970 (1922-28)

“Frederick Law Olmsted Partner With Nature”
Johanna Johnston. Dodd, Mead & Company, NY, 1975

“Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.: Founder of Landscape Architecture in America”. Julius Gy. Fabos, Gordon T. Milde, and V. Michael Weinmayr. The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1968

“The Man Who Made Central Park”M.M. Graff
Greensward Foundation, Inc. NY, 1982

“The Nature of Recreation: A Handbook in Honor of Frederick Law Olmsted Using Examples from His Work”. Richard Saul Wurman
MIT Press, Cambridge, 1972

“Olmsted South: Old South Critic/New South Planner”Editors Dana F. White and Victor Kramer. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1979

Works on Calvert Vaux

“Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux”. Francis R. Kowsky. Oxford University Press, 2003

Works on John Charles Olmsted

For and overview of his work and reference to park reports see the entry by Arleyn Levee in “Pioneers of American Landscape Design”
Editors Charles A. Birnbaum and Robin Karson
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002

Works on Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

For and overview of his work and reference to park reports see the entry by Susan L. Klaus in “Pioneers of American Landscape Design”. Editors Charles A. Birnbaum and Robin Karson
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002

“A Modern Arcadia: Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and the Plan for Forest Hills Garden”. Susan L. Klaus
University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst in Association with the Library of Landscape History, Amherst, 2002

Park/Place Guides

Baltimore

“Baltimore’s Public Landscapes: The Olmsted Influence A Driving Tour Through Northern Baltimore”

“Baltimore’s Public Landscapes: From Private Estates to the Public Domain—A Driving Tour of West Baltimore’s Olmsted Legacy”

"Charles Street: A Boulevard Revisited”

"From Private Estates to the Bublic Domain--A Driving Tour of West Baltimore's Olmsted Legacy"

“Report Upon the Development of Public Grounds for Greater Baltimore, 1904”Report and Recommendations on Park Extension for BALTIMORE, 1926”

"The Olmsted Influence--A Driving Tour Through Northern Baltimore"

"Waterfront and Neighborhood Parks--A Driving Tour of Southern Baltimore's Olmsted Legacy"

All of the above are available through the Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes, Inc. For more information, please write to:

Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes, Inc., P.O. Box 16244
Baltimore, MD 21210-0244

“Olmsted's Sudbrook: The Making of a Community." Melanie Anson. Foreword by Charles Beveridge. Sudbrook Park, Inc., 1997 (reprinted 2005)

Boston Parks System, Boston

“Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System”
Cynthia Zaitzevsky. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982. For online information on the Emerald Necklace, see http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/index.cgi

Buffalo Parks

For online information on the Buffalo Park System, visit http://www.buffaloolmstedparks.org/

For additional online information, see http://bfn.org/preservationworks/bam/kowsky/kowold/
Monograph on Buffalo Parks and Niagara Reservation

California

“A Vision Achieved: Fifty Years of the East Bay Regional Park District,” Mimi Stein. East Bay Regional Park District (1984) ISBN 0-914531-01-8 ((Paper). Early chapters cover Olmsted, Sr’s trip to California and discussion of the Olmsted-Hall Report.

“Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region”. Greg Hise and William Deverell.
University of California Press, 2000.

"Old Torrance: Olmsted Districts". Bonnie May Barnard, Save Historic Old Torrance. Arcadia Publishing, 2006.

“Piedmont Way and the Berkeley Property Tract,” The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (1995) — seems to have been produced in conjunction with a house tour. Introduction by Lesley Emmington Jones.
PO Box 1137, Berkeley, CA, 94701 (510) 841-2242

Central Park, NYC

“Central Park: The Birth, Decline, and Renewal of a National Treasure”. Eugene Kinkead. WW Norton & Company, Inc. NY, 1990

“The Central Park Book”. Elizabeth Barlow with Vernon Gray, Roger Pasquier, Lewis Sharp. The Central Park Task Force, 1977

“Frederick Law Olmsted’s New York”. Elizabeth Barlow
Praeger Publishers, Inc., NY, 1972

“The Park and the People: A History of Central Park”
Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1992

For online information, visit http://www.centralparknyc.org/

Chicago Park System

For online information, visit http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/

The City in the Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks. Julia S. Bachrach, with a foreword by Bill Kurtis
The Center for American Places, in association with the Chicago Park District, 2001

Delaware

"Within the Reach of All – An illustrated history of Brandywine Park"
The 119-page book details the founding of the park and Olmsted's role. It has more than 80 illustrations, many vintage images from the park's early years, and includes an 8-page color section.

The Friends of Wilmington Parks, a local non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration of parks in the city, has acted as publisher for the book. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy may contact them at fowp@dca.net or 302-656-3665.

Louisville Parks

For online information, visit http://www.olmstedparks.org/

Missouri

"Henry Shaw's Victorian Landscapes: The Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park." Carol Grove
University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of America Landscape History, 2005.

Portland and the Pacific Northwest

Hockaday, Joan. "Greenscapes: Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest." Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2009.
Johnson, Catherine Joy. "Olmsted in the Pacific Northwest: Private Estates and Residential Communities, 1873-1959: An Inventory." Seattle: Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks, 1997.
Guzowski, Kenneth James. Portland’s Olmsted Vision, 1847-1915: A Study of the Public Landscapes Designed By Emmanuel T. Mische in Portland, Oregon. Master’s Thesis, University of Oregon, 1990.
Portland Park Board and Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects. Report of the Park Board, Portland, Oregon, 1903, with the Report of Messrs. Olmsted Bros., Landscape Architects, Outlining a System of Parkways, Boulevards and Parks for the City of Portland. Portland: Portland Park Board, 1903.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

For online information, visit http://www.prospectpark.org/

NAOP Publications – Workbook Series 1-5

Volume 1—Held in Trust: Charles Eliot's Vision for the New England Landscape, by Keith Morgan
Volume 2—An Ecosystem Approach to Woodland Management, by Edward Toth
Volume 3—Landscape Composition Preservation Treatments: Defining an Ethic for Designed Landscapes, by Charles A. Birnbaum
Volume 4—Frederick Law Olmsted's First and Last Suburbs: Riverside and Druid Hills, by Darlene R. Roth
Volume 5—The Olmsteds at Biltmore, by Charles E. Beveridge and Susan L. Klaus

Miscellaneous Olmsted Literature

Non Fiction

“The Devil in the White City.” Erik Larson.
Crown Publishers, NY, 2003

Fiction

“City of Light.” Lauren Belfer
Random House Group, NY, 2003 (paperback)

As of 07/22/09

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