Olmsted 200 Exhibit Image Credits and Sources of Citations
Images are grouped by their corresponding panel and are listed from left to right unless specified. Photographers and dates of images are listed where known. All plans are by Olmsted unless specified.
Panel 1—Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good
Collage of Olmsted plans
Plans are courtesy of the National Park Service (NPS), Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (FLONHS), Brookline, MA, unless specified.
Clockwise, from top:
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Greensward Plan of Central Park, New York, 1858, courtesy Municipal Archives, NYC Departments of Records and Information Services
Genesee Valley Park, Rochester, NY, 1890
Preliminary Rendering of Belle Isle Park with Ferry Docks, Detroit, 1882
Mount Royal, Montreal, 1877
General Plan of Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1895
General Plan for Shawnee Park, Louisville, Kentucky, 1893
Frederick Law Olmsted, undated photograph, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Panel 2—Parks for the Ages
Collage of people enjoying Olmsted parks and other landscapes
Clockwise from top:
Lake in the Fall, Central Park, courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
Ranger with Students as Part of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site’s Education Program “Good Neighbors: Landscape Design and Community Building,” Joel Veak, photographer, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Pink Flamingo Paddle Boats (also known as “FLOATmingos,” added to the fleet at Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park, Buffalo, NY), Zhi Ting Phua, photographer, 2021, courtesy Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo, NY
Lilac Sunday, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, MA, John Phelan, photographer, 2011, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lilac_Sunday,_Arnold_Arboretum,_Jamaica_Plain_MA.jpg
Citation for Quoted Passage—Parks for the Ages: “A Letter Introductory from Messrs. Olmsted, Harris, Trowbridge and Richardson,” December 22, 1870, page 12, published with the Staten Island Improvement Commission’s Report of a Preliminary Scheme of Improvements (New York, 1871).
Panel 3—Appreciation of Scenery
Water at Wentworth, Yorkshire, plate from Humphry Repton, Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (London: printed by T. Bensley for J. Taylor, 1805), courtesy Oak Spring Garden Foundation Library, Upperville, VA
City of Hartford, Connecticut, detail, John Bachmann, lithograph (Hartford, CT: J. Weidenmann, printed by F. Heppenheimer, New York, 1864), map reproduction courtesy Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library
Citations for Quoted Passages—Appreciation of Scenery: “genius of the place” as in Alexander Pope, “Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Earl of Burlington” (London, 1731), line 35: “Consult the Genius of the Place in all”; “Dark, picturesque, rugged ravines” from Frederick Law Olmsted, Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1852), 2:156.
Panel 4—Seeds of a Life’s Work
Bay and Harbour of New York from Staten Island, A. Rolph, engraver, ca. 1840, courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Charles Trask, Charles Loring Brace, Frederick J. Kingsbury, Frederick Law Olmsted, and John Hull Olmsted, New Haven, CT (left to right), ca. 1846, courtesy Historic New England, Boston, MA
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sketch of His Staten Island Farm Tosomock, ca. 1848, courtesy Frederick Law Olmsted Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Panel 5—Advocating for a Democratic Society
Concert in Central Park, Benjamin J. Falk, photographer, ca. 1910, courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC, LC-USZ62-66374
Skating at Wollman Rink, Central Park, detail, 2020, courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
New York Philharmonic Concert in the Park (conducted by Music Director Jaap van Zweden), detail, Chris Lee, photographer, 2019, courtesy New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives, New York City
Citations for Quoted Passages—Advocating for a Democratic Society: “make myself useful”: FLO to Frederick Kingsbury, June 12, 1846, in Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted 1:243; “There’s a great work”: FLO to Charles Loring Brace, July 26, 1847, in Papers 1:69; “Government should have in view”: FLO to Brace, December 1, 1853, in Papers 2:235.
Panel 6—Healing Power of Landscape
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, D. Appleton, from Appleton’s Journal (June 4, 1870), courtesy Prospect Park Alliance, Brooklyn, NY
Olmsted & Vaux, General Plan, Buffalo State Asylum, 1872, courtesy Library of American Landscape History, Amherst, MA
Richardson Olmsted Complex (Buffalo State Asylum), Brandon Bartoszek, photographer, 2017, Flickr.com
Panel 7—Park for the People: Birkenhead Park
Aerial View of Birkenhead Park, Şefik Akkurt, photographer, courtesy Şefik Akkurt
Plan of Birkenhead Park (designed by Joseph Paxton), 1846, courtesy Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, UK
Opening of the Park, wood engraving, from London Illustrated News (April 1847)
Citation for Quoted Passage—Parks for the People: Birkenhead Park: “admit that in democratic America”: Walks and Talks, 1:9.
Panel 8—Central Park: Planning a Democratic Landscape
Olmsted and Vaux, As-Built Plan of Central Park, 1871, foldout map from the Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Department of Public Parks for the Year Ending May 1, 1871 (New York: William C. Bryant, 1871–72), courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
Aerial View of Central Park, New York, courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
Citation for Quoted Passage—Central Park: Planning a Democratic Landscape: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Description of the Central Park, with an Explanation of the Purposes of the Work Already Done Upon the Site, and of That in Immediate Contemplation,” January 1859, in Papers 3:213.
Panel 9—Central Park’s Varied Landscapes
Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
The Ramble, Central Park, courtesy Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY
Citations for Quoted Passages—Central Park’s Varied Landscapes: “hundreds of thousands”: FLO to Central Park Board of Commissioners, May 31, 1858, in Papers 3:196; “wild garden”: FLO to W. L. Fischer, March 14, 1875, in Papers 3:44n57.
Panel 10—Landscapes of Slavery and War
Five Generations on Smith’s Plantation, Beaufort, SC, Timothy O’Sullivan, photographer, 1862, courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC, LC-B8171-152-A
Washington, DC, Field Relief Wagon and Workers of the United States Sanitary Commission, James Gardner, photographer, April 1865, courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC, LC-B817-7711
Citation for Quoted Passage—Landscapes of Slavery and War: “the most thorough exposé”: “Anti-Slavery Literature,” Independent (New York), February 21, 1856, 57, quoted in Laura Wood Roper, “Frederick Law Olmsted in the ‘Literary Republic,’” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 39 (December 1952): 71.
Panel 11—Preserving Yosemite for the American People
Albert Bierstadt, Merced River, Yosemite Valley, 1866, oil on canvas, courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, gift of the sons of William Paton, 1909
The Colfax Party in the Yosemite (showing Olmsted in front row, second from left, with fellow Yosemite commissioners and members of a visiting delegation led by US House Speaker Schuyler Colfax), Carleton Watkins, photographer, August 1865, courtesy National Park Service, Yosemite National Park, YOSE 19450
Citation for Quoted Passage—Preserving Yosemite for the American People: “distinguished strangers”: FLO to Mary Perkins Olmsted, November 20, 1863, in Papers 6:137.
Panel 12—Prospect Park, Brooklyn
View of the Long Meadow Looking South, Prospect Park, 1902, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Skating at Prospect Park, Walter H. Nelson, photographer, ca. 1886, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History, Early Brooklyn and Long Island Photograph Collection, V1972.1.817
Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Design for Prospect Park, 1871, courtesy NPS, FLONHS, Prospect Park Alliance, Brooklyn, NY
Citation for Quoted Passage—Prospect Park, Brooklyn: “confinement and bustle”: Olmsted and Vaux, Report on Prospect Park (1866), in Papers 3:183n19.
Panel 13—Parks and Parkways for Buffalo
Olmsted’s Sketch Map of Buffalo, 1881, courtesy Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY
Aerial View of Gates Circle and Chapin Parkway, Andy Olenick, photographer, 2012, specially commissioned for Francis R. Kowsky’s The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System (Amherst, MA: Library of American Landscape History), 2013; © Andy Olenick
Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park, Zhi Ting Phua, photographer, 2018, courtesy Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo, NY
Citation for Quoted Passage—Parks and Parkways for Buffalo: “would be more park-like than town-like”: FLO to William Edward Dorsheimer, October 1, 1868, in Papers, supplementary series 1:166.
Panel 14—Riverside, Illinois: A Planned Community
Olmsted, Vaux & Co., General Plan of Riverside, IL, 1869, courtesy Riverside Historical Museum, Riverside, IL
L. Y. Schermerhorn House (1869), Cathy Maloney, photographer, 2021, courtesy Frederick Law Olmsted Society, Riverside, IL
Aerial View of Town Square, Riverside, Illinois, Showing the Historic Water Tower and Train Station, and the Des Plaines River, Chris Neumer, photographer, 2014, courtesy Twenty Seven and A Half Photography, twentysevenandahalf.com
Citation for Quoted Passage—Riverside, Illinois: A Planned Community: “ruralizing of all our urban population”: FLO to Edward Everett Hale, October 21, 1869, in Papers 6:346.
Panel 15—United States Capitol Grounds
Frederick Law Olmsted, General Plan for the Improvement of the US Capitol Grounds, 1874, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Spring at the US Capitol, 2011, courtesy Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC
Citations for Quoted Passages—US Capitol Grounds: “cool and pleasant resting place”: Frederick H. Cobb (Capitol Grounds engineer) to FLO, June 11, 1877, Records Management Department, Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC, in Papers 7:432n2; “much used as a public park”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “The Present Design,” Annual Report of the Architect of the United States Capitol (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1882), 17.
Panel 16—Boston’s Emerald Necklace
Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot, Park System, Common to Franklin Park, 1894, courtesy Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library
Riverway between Boston and Brookline, MA, Alex MacLean, photographer, 1983, courtesy Marion Pressley and Associates, Newton Centre, MA
Back Bay Fens, Charles A. Birnbaum, photographer, 2010, courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Washington, DC; © Charles A. Birnbaum
Panel 17—Saving Niagara Falls
Thomas Cole, Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830, oil on panel, courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Olmsted & Vaux, General Plan for the Improvement of the State Reservation at Niagara, 1887, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
View of the Mill District, Niagara Gorge, 1891, courtesy www.niagarafrontier.com/milldistrict.html
Citations for Quoted Passages—Restoring and Preserving Niagara Falls: “mills and factories everywhere”: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/frla/learn/historyculture/places.htm; “indigenous perennials and annuals”: “Notes by Mr. Olmsted ca. 22 March 1880,” appendix to James T. Gardner, Special Report of New York State Survey on the Preservation of the Scenery of Niagara Falls…for the Year 1879, in Papers 7:478.
Panel 18—Sustainable Designs for the Semiarid West
Perspective Sketch of Stanford University, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Map of San Francisco with Olmsted’s Plan for Public Pleasure Grounds Superimposed, from Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Preliminary Report in Regard to a Plan of Public Pleasure Grounds for the City of San Francisco (New York, 1866), in Papers 7:519
Science and Engineering Quad, Stanford University, Linda A. Cicero, photographer, courtesy Stanford News Service, Stanford, CA
Citation for Quoted Passage—Conservation Designs for the Semiarid West: “The absurdity of seeking”: FLO to Henry S. Codman, July 30, 1892, in Papers 5:451n10.
Panel 19—Chicago: Jackson Park and the World’s Columbian Exposition
Bird’s Eye View of the Wooded Island, from W. B. Conkey, Picturesque World’s Fair: An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views (Chicago: W. B. Conkey, 1894), courtesy https://worldsfairchicago1893.com
Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Plan for South Park, Chicago, 1871, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Panel 20—Biltmore Estate: Private Landscape, Public Good
View of the Approach Road to Biltmore House, used with permission from The Biltmore Company, Asheville, North Carolina
The Builders of Biltmore (from left to right: purchasing agent and agricultural consultant Edward Burnett, architect Richard Morris Hunt, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, George Washington Vanderbilt, and architect Richard Howland Hunt, son of Richard Morris Hunt), used with permission from The Biltmore Company, Asheville, North Carolina
Aerial View of Biltmore House and Gardens, used with permission from The Biltmore Company, Asheville, North Carolina
Citation for Quoted Passage—Biltmore Estate: Private Landscape, Public Good: “This is to be a private work”: FLO to W. A. Thompson, November 6, 1889, Frederick Law Olmsted Papers: Correspondence, 1838–1928; 1889, October–December, Library of Congress Digital Collections
Panel 21—A New Generation of Olmsteds
Fairsted (now Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site), 2016, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Olmsted Brothers Employees Outside of Fairsted, 1898, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Drafting Room at Olmsted Office, Fairsted, courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Panel 22—Olmsted’s Enduring Legacy
Collage of volunteers and students at Olmsted parks
From upper left, clockwise:
Tree Huggers, Canopy Classroom, Emerald Necklace Outdoor Education, 2016, courtesy Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Boston MA
Volunteers Planting Trees at Tyler Park, Matt Spalding, photographer, 2019, courtesy Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Louisville, KY
Contemporary Model of the Original 1890 Children’s Pavilion in Highland Park, Rochester NY, J. R. Gaudioso, photographer, 2017, courtesy Highland Park Conservancy. All paths led to the Pavilion: it offered panoramic views, and Olmsted intended it as a place for the city’s children to play and breathe fresh air. Highland Park Conservancy is working to reconstruct Olmsted’s Pavilion.
A Grade Three Student Documents Plant Material in the Fairsted Landscape as Part of “Good Neighbors: Landscape Design and Community Building,” courtesy NPS, FLONHS
Volunteers at Cazenovia Park, Buffalo, NY, Zhi Ting Phua, photographer, 2019, courtesy Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo, NY
John Singer Sargent, Frederick Law Olmsted, 1895, oil on canvas, reproduced by permission of The Biltmore Company, Asheville, North Carolina
Panel 23—Oak Spring Garden Foundation and National Association for Olmsted Parks
Aerial View of Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA, James Thorpe, photographer, 2021, courtesy Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA
Map Showing Olmsted Firm Jobs, 2021, courtesy National Organization for Olmsted Parks: OlmstedOnline.org
Acknowledgements.
Institutions that provided images are not alphabetized but are listed according to the number of images they provided and the amount of time they spent in providing images.
Olmsted 200 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted. To learn more, visit: www.olmsted200.org.
Founding Partners
Olmsted 200 is managed by the National Association for Olmsted Parks, along with founding partners: American Society of Landscape Architects, the Garden Club of America, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, City Parks Alliance, National Recreation and Park Association, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, the Trust for Public Land, Landscape Architecture Foundation, and American Public Health Association.
Exhibit Development
Special thanks to the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP), managing partner of Olmsted 200 for spearheading the exhibit; and to Oak Spring Garden Foundation (osgf.org), Upperville, Virginia, for collaborating on and funding the project.
Curator: Caroline Mesrobian Hickman, PhD, Lecturer, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park
Graphic Designer: Max Smith, Head of Communications, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA
Exhibit Coordinator: Catherine Muckerman, Events Coordinator, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA
Editors: Peter Crane, President, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA; Francis R. Kowsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, and Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians; Francie Muraski-Stotz, freelance writer and exhibit developer; Magda Nakassis, freelance copy editor; and Anne Neal Petri, President and CEO, National Association for Olmsted Parks, Managing Partner, Olmsted 200.
Institutions and Individuals Providing Images
National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Brookline, MA: Jill Trebbe, Caitlin Burke, Michele Clark
Central Park Conservancy, New York, NY: Mary Caraccioli
The Biltmore Company, Asheville, NC: Jill Hawkins, Hannah Parks, Ellen Rickman
Library of American Landscape History, Amherst, MA: Sarah Allaback
Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo, NY: Stephanie Crockatt, Zhi Ting Phua, James Mendola
Frederick Law Olmsted Society, Riverside, IL: Cathy Maloney
Prospect Park Alliance, Brooklyn, NY: Amy Peck
Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Boston, MA: Karen Mauney-Brodek, Veronika Trufanova, Declan Battles
Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Louisville, KY: Matt Spalding, Janelle Wilhelm
Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC: Leslie Matthaei
Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, CA: Greg Cox
Municipal Archives, City of New York, New York, NY: Ken Cobb, Cynthia Brenwall
Highland Park Conservancy, Rochester, NY: Milli Piccione
Stanford University, Stanford, CA: Pamela Moreland
Historic New England, Boston, MA: Donna Russo
Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn, NY: Sarah Quick
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, UK: Philip Eastwood, Colin Simpson
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Washington, DC: Nord Wennerstrom
Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA: Tony Willis, Max Smith
WorldsFairChicago1893.com: Scott Cummings, Randall Hercey
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY
Riverside Historical Museum, Riverside, IL: Constance Guardi
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted Papers; Prints & Photographs Division
Pressley Associates Landscape Architects, Newton Centre, MA: Marion Pressley.
Photographers: Andy Olenick, Zhi Ting Phua, Brandon Bartoszek, Chris Neumer (twentysevenandahalf.com), Şefik Akkurt, John Phelan, Joel Veak, Niagarafrontier.com.
Selected Sources
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, volumes 1–9 and supplemental series 1–3, are published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Volumes 1–7 and supplemental series 1–3 are also available via HathiTrust Digital Library (hathitrust.org).
The Formative Years, 1822 to 1852. Volume 1, edited by Charles C. McLaughlin. 1977.
Slavery and the South, 1852–1857. Volume 2, edited by Charles E. Beveridge and Charles C. McLaughlin. 1981.
Creating Central Park, 1857–1861. Volume 3, edited by Charles E. Beveridge and David Schuyler. 1983.
Defending the Union: The Civil War and the U.S. Sanitary Commission, 1861–1863. Volume 4, edited by Jane Turner Censer. 1986.
The California Frontier, 1863–1865. Volume 5, edited by Virginia P. Ranney. 1990.
The Years of Olmsted, Vaux & Company, 1865–1874. Volume 6, edited by David Schuyler and Jane T. Censer. 1992.
Parks, Politics, and Patronage, 1874–1882. Volume 7, edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Carolyn F. Hoffman, and Kenneth Hawkins. 2007.
The Early Boston Years, 1882–1890. Volume 8, edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Ethan Carr, Amanda Gagel, and Michael Shapiro. 2013.
The Last Great Projects, 1890–1895. Volume 9, edited by David Schuyler and Gregory Kaliss. 2015.
Writings on Public Parks, Parkways, and Park Systems. Supplementary Series Volume 1, edited by Charles E. Beveridge and Carolyn Hoffman. 1997.
Plans and Views of Public Parks. Supplementary Series Volume 2, edited by Charles E. Beveridge. 2015.
Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates. Suppplementary Series Volume 3, edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Lauren Meier, and Irene Mills. 2020.
Other Sources
Beveridge, Charles E., and Paul Rocheleau. Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape. New York: Universe, 1998.
Kowsky, Francis R. The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System. Amherst, MA: Library of American Landscape History, 2018.
Lawliss, Lucy, Caroline Loughlin, and Lauren Meier, eds. The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857–1979. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: National Association for Olmsted Parks and National Park Service, 2008.
Library of Congress. “Frederick Law Olmsted Papers.” Digital Collections. https://www.loc.gov/collections/frederick-law-olmsted-papers/.
Martin, Justin. Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. Boston: Da Capo, 2011.
National Association for Olmsted Parks, https://www.olmsted.org.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1852. Reprinted with an introduction by Charles C. McLaughlin. Amherst, MA: Library of American Landscape History, 2003.
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO: A Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
Rybczynski, Witold. A Clearing in the Distance, Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century. New York: Scribner, 1999.