Category: Research & Writings

Organizer: Planting Fields FoundationLocation: Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay, New YorkDate: October 20 and 21, 2022 We are seeking contributions for a symposium to be held in October 2022 (exact dates TBA) that will examine the residential projects of the Olmsted landscape architecture firm. Organized in conjunction with Olmsted 200, an initiative […]

For more than a century, authors have grappled with how to tell the story. Frederick Law Olmsted was, in turn, a “scientific” farmer, merchant seaman, surveyor, literary thinker, roving reporter, publisher, anti-slavery advocate, conservationist, superintendent with his own “navy,” and, most famously, shaper of America’s urban landscape. We offer readers some top picks for reading […]

The Library of Congress is the home of online primary resources designed to help students, teachers, preservationists and scholars explore the Olmsteds’ many contributions to American life. The Frederick Law Olmsted Papers and the Olmsted Associates Records collections offer thousands of items including letterbooks, newspaper clippings, writings and journals.

Landscape architect and Harvard University professor Sara Zewde on Frederick Law Olmsted’s “Southern Chronicles” and the lessons his writings about slavery teach us.