Selected Bibliography
This bibliography has been adapted and expanded from the bibliography prepared by Arleyn Levee for "Experiencing Olmsted: The Enduring Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted's North American Landscapes."
Writings by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes. Edited by S.B. Sutton. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Forty years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park. Edited by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1973.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted's Plans for a Greater New York City. Edited by Albert Fein. New York: Cornell University Press, 1968.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. “Notes of the Plan of Franklin Park and Related Matters.” Bulletins 3 and 4 of the Franklin Park Coalition. November 1978 and January 1979.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. Introduction by Charles C. McLaughlin. Reprint of 1852 edition. Amherst: Library of American Landscape History, 2002.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. Writings on Landscape, Culture, and Society. Edited by Charles E. Beveridge. New York: Library of America, 2015.
Olmsted Frederick Law. Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove: A Preliminary Report, 1865. Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Association, 1995.
Olmsted, Vaux & Co. Preliminary Report Upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside Near Chicago. Chicago: Wicklander Printing Corp., 1982. (reprint of 1868 ed.)
Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted (vols. 1–12). Edited by Charles Capen McLaughlin, Charles E. Beveridge, et al. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977–2020.
Supplementary Series to The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted. Beveridge, Charles E., Lauren Meier, and Irene Mills, eds. Volume II Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015.
Supplementary Series to The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted. Beveridge, Charles E., Lauren Meier, and Irene Mills, eds. Volume III Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020.
Biographies and studies of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.
Beveridge, Charles, and Paul Rocheleau. Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape. New York: Rizzoli, 1995.
Fein, Albert. Frederick Law Olmsted and the American Environmental Tradition. New York: George Braziller, 1972.
Fisher, Irving. Frederick Law Olmsted and the City Planning Movement in the United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Research Press, 1986.
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO: A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
Rybczynski, Witold. A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Scribner, 1999.
Stevenson, Elizabeth. Park Maker: A Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
Olmsted firms, general
Lawliss, Lucy, Caroline Loughlin, and Lauren Meier, eds. The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857–1979. Washington D.C.: the National Association for Olmsted Parks, the National Park Service, and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, 2008.
Note: The Olmsted firm assigned each of its projects a job number by which the company organized all documents, plans, and images for a project. This volume organizes the projects geographically and by typology, also providing the critical job number.
Unpublished materials and photographs
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. “Frederick Law Olmsted Papers.” Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/collections/frederick-law-olmsted-papers.
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. Frances Loeb Library, The John Charles Olmsted Papers.
National Association for Olmsted Parks. “Olmsted Online: Projects of the Olmsted Firm.” Accessed November 10, 2021. https://olmstedonline.org.
Note: Olmsted Online provides multifaceted information. Searchable by job number, it provides direct links to: 1) the digitized plans and photographs from the Flickr site of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site; 2) the major Olmsted project correspondence files from the Library of Congress Manuscript Division; 3) the National Register Nomination documents for appropriate projects; and 4) information in select other repositories or websites, such as The Cultural Landscape Foundation and soon to include Olmsted projects found in the Archives of American Gardens of the Smithsonian Institute. In addition, Olmsted Online enables locating the various projects by job number on a national map, revealing the clusters of projects in each locale.
National Park Service. “Olmsted Archives, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.” Accessed November 10, 2021. https://www.flickr.com/photos/olmsted_archives/albums.
Olmsted Research Guide Online. Accessed November 10, 2021. http://ww2.rediscov.com/olmsted.
Olmsted firms, individuals
Alex, William. Calvert Vaux: Architect and Planner. New York: Ink, Inc. 1994.
Birnbaum, Charles, and Robin Karson, eds. Pioneers of American Landscape Design. Volume 1. New York: McGraw Hill, 2000.
Birnbaum, Charles A, and Stephanie S. Foell. Shaping the American Landscape: New Profiles from the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.
Cushing, Elizabeth Hope. Arthur A. Shurcliff: Design, Preservation, and the Creation of the Colonial Williamsburg Landscape. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2014.
Eliot, Charles W. Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. Introduction by Keith N. Morgan. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 1999.
Jackson, Faith Reyher. Pioneer of Tropical Landscape Architecture: William Lyman Phillips in Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.
Karson, Robin, Jane Brown, and Sarah Allaback, eds. Warren Manning: Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2015.
Kowsky, Francis. Country, Park, and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Morgan, Keith N. Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect: A Research Guide. Jamaica Plain, MA: Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 1999.
Olmsted firms, projects by region
New England
Connecticut
Alexopoulus, John. The Nineteenth Century Parks of Hartford, a Legacy to the Nation. Hartford: Hartford Architecture Conservancy, 1983.
Maine
Holtwijk, Theo, and Earle G. Shuttleworth Jr. Bold Vison: The Development of the Parks of Portland, Maine. Portland: Greater Portland Landmarks, 1999.
Mattor, Theresa, and Lucie Teegarden. Designing the Maine Landscape. Camden: Down East Books and the Maine Olmsted Alliance for Parks and Landscapes, 2009.
Roberts, Anne Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller’s Roads: The Story Behind Acadia’s Carriage Roads. Camden: Down East Books, 2012.
Shuttleworth, Earle G., and Scott T. Hanson. The Architecture of Cushing Island. Portland, ME: Cushing Island Association, 2012.
Massachusetts
Anderson, Nola. Immersion: Living and Learning in an Olmsted Garden. Bologna, Italy: Damiani, 2021.
Arrison, Julie. Images of America: Franklin Park. Charleston: Arcadia, 2009.
Haglund, Karl. Inventing the Charles River. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
Morgan, Keith N., Elizabeth Hope Cushing, and Roger G. Reed. Community by Design: The Olmsted Firm and the Development of Brookline, Massachusetts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2013.
Sinclair, Jill. Fresh Pond: The History of a Cambridge Landscape. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
Zaitzevsky, Cynthia. Fairsted: A Cultural Landscape Report, Volume 1: Site History. Afterword by Mac Griswold. Boston: Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, National Park Service, and US Department of the Interior, 1997.
Zaitzevsky, Cynthia. Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Rhode Island
Levee, Arleyn A. The Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape. Lewes, UK: The Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, 2019.
Olmsted, Frederick Law (Jr.). Proposed Improvements for Newport. Cambridge, Mass: The University Press, 1913.
Vermont
Lipke, William C., ed. Shelburne Farms: The History of an Agricultural Estate. Burlington: Robert Hull Fleming Museum and the University of Vermont, 1979.
Tschirch, John R. America's Eden: Newport Landscapes Through the Ages. Newport: The Newport Tree Conservancy in association with D. Giles Limited.
Mid-Atlantic
Maryland
Olmsted Brothers. Development of Public Grounds for Greater Baltimore. Baltimore: Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, 1987. (reprint of 1904 ed.)
Waesche, James F. A History of the Roland Park-Guildford-Homeland District. Baltimore: Maclay & Associates, 1987.
New Jersey
Kelsey, Frederick W. The First County Park System: A Complete History of the Inception and Development of the Essex County Parks of New Jersey. New York: J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, 1905.
Kolva, Jeanne. Olmsted Parks in New Jersey. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2011.
New York City and environs
Brenwall, Cynthia S. The Central Park: Original Designs for New York's Greatest Treasure. New York: Abrams in association with New York City Municipal Archives, 2019.
Colley, David P. Prospect Park: Olmsted and Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013.
Cook, Clarence C. A Description of the New York Central Park. New York: New York University Press, 2017. (reprint of 1869 ed.)
Heckscher, Morrison H. Creating Central Park. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Klaus, Susan. A Modern Arcadia: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and the Plan for Forest Hills Gardens. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2004.
Miller, Sarah Cedar. Central Park: An American Masterpiece. New York: Abrams, 2003.
Miller, Sarah Cedar. Before Central Park. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022.
Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow. Saving Central Park: A History and a Memoir. New York: Knopf, 2018.
Simpson, Jeffrey, and Mary Ellen Hern, eds. Art of the Olmsted Landscape: His Works in New York City. New York: New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1981.
New York State
Buscaglia-Castellani Art Gallery. The Distinctive Charms of Niagara Scenery: Frederick Law Olmsted and the Niagara Reservation. Niagara Falls: Niagara University, 1985.
Conklin, Edgar C. Frederick Law Olmsted’s Point Chautauqua, the Story of a Historic Lakeside Community. Buffalo: Cansius College Press, 2001.
Kowsky, Francis R. The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press and the Library of American Landscape History, 2013.
MacKay Robert B. et al. Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects, 1860–1940. New York: Norton, 1997.
McKelvey, Blake. A Growing Legacy: An Illustrated History of Rochester’s Parks. Rochester: Parks Centennial Committee, 1999.
Pennsylvania
Mosher, Ann E. Capital’s Utopia: Vandergrift, PA 1855–1916. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Washington, DC
Allen, William C. History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction and Politics. Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2005.
Kohler, Sue A. The Commission of Fine Arts: A Brief History, 1910–1995. Washington DC: US Commission of Fine Arts, 1996.
Kohler, Sue A., and Pamela Scott, eds. Designing the Nation’s Capitol: The 1901 Plan for Washington D.C. Washington DC: US Commission of Fine Arts, 2006.
Luebke, Thomas E., ed. Civic Art: A Centennial History of the US Commission of Fine Arts. Washington DC: US Commission of Fine Arts, 2013.
South
White, Dana and Victor A. Kramer. Olmsted South, Old South Critic, New South Planner. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1979.
Alabama
Tipton, Katherine M. and Marjorie L. White, eds. Hand Down Unharmed: Olmsted Files on Birmingham Parks, 1920–1925. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2008.
White, Marjorie L., and Heather McArn. The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2006.
Florida
Ceo, Rocco J., and Joanna Lombard. Historic Landscapes of Florida. Miami: The Deering Foundation and the University of Miami School of Architecture, 2001.
Georgia
Hartle, Robert Jr. Atlanta’s Druid Hills: A Brief History. Charleston: The History Press, 2008.
Lawliss, Lucy. “Residential Work of the Olmsted Firm in Georgia, 1893–1937.” Magnolia Essays: Occasional Papers of the Southern Garden History Society. no. 1, Spring 1993.
Richardson, Jennifer J. et al. Druid Hills. Mt. Pleasant: Arcadia Press, 2019.
Louisiana
Desmond, J. Michael. The Architecture of LSU. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2013.
Lake, Douglas. Public Spaces, Private Gardens: A History of Designed Landscapes in New Orleans. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2011.
Logdson, Joseph, and L. Ronald Forman. Audubon Park: An Urban Eden. Baton Rouge: Friends of the Zoo, 1985.
North Carolina
Covington, Howard E. Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon. Hoboken: Wiley, 2006.
Messer, Pamela Lynn. Biltmore Estate: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Landscape Masterpiece. Asheville: World Comm, 1993.
Schenck, Carl Alwin. The Biltmore Story: Recollections of the Beginning of Forestry in the United States. St. Paul: American Forest History Foundation, 1955.
Midwest
Tishler, William. Midwestern Landscape Architecture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2000.
Illinois
Bachman, Julia Sniderman. The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks. Santa Fe: Center for American Places, 2001.
Bassman, Herbert J. Riverside Then and Now: A History of Riverside, Illinois. Riverside: Riverside Historical Commission, 1995.
Ranney, Victoria. Olmsted in Chicago. Boston: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 1972.
Michigan
Anderson, Janet. Island in the City: Detroit’s Beautiful Island: How Belle Isle Changed Detroit Forever. Detroit: Heitman-Garland, 2001.
Rodriguez, Michael, and Thomas Featherstone. Detroit’s Belle Isle: Island Park Gem. Chicago: Arcadia Press, 2003.
Missouri
Grove, Carol. Henry Shaw’s Victorian Landscapes: The Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with the Library of American Landscape History, 2005.
Loughlin, Caroline, and Catherine Anderson. Forest Park, St Louis Missouri. Columbia: Junior League of St. Louis in association with the University of Missouri Press, 1986.
Rocky Mountains
Colorado
Etter, Carolyn, and Don Etter. City of Parks: The Preservation of Denver’s Park and Parkway System. Denver: Denver Public Library, 2006.
Olmsted, Frederick Law Jr. The Improvement of Boulder, Colorado: Report to the City Improvement Association. Boulder: Boulder City Improvement Association, 2010. (reprint of 1910 ed.)
Pacific Northwest
Hockaday, Joan. Greenscapes: Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest. Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2009.
Johnson, Catherine Joy, and Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks. Olmsted in the Pacific Northwest: Private Estates and Residential Communities 1873–1959: An Inventory. Seattle: Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks, 1997.
Oregon
Hawkins, William J. III. The Legacy of Olmsted Brothers in Portland, Oregon. Seattle: William J. Hawkins III, 2014.
Washington
Olmsted Brothers. First Annual Report of the Board of Park Commissioners, Seattle, Washington 1884–1904. Seattle: Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks, 1997. (reprint of 1903 ed.)
Ott, Jennifer. Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City. Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019.
Stein, Alan J., and Paula Becker. Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition: Washington’s First World’s Fair. Seattle: History Link in association with the University of Washington Press, 2009.
West
California
Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Piedmont Way and the Berkeley Property Tract: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Berkeley Legacy. Berkeley: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, 1995.
Carr, Ethan and Rolf Diamant. Olmsted and Yosemite. Amherst: Library of American Landscape History, 2022.
Brandi, Richard. San Francisco’s St. Francis Wood. San Francisco: St. Francis Homes Association, 2012.
Engbeck, Joseph H. Jr. State Parks of California from 1864 to the Present. Portland: C.H. Belding, 1980.
Hise, Greg, and William Francis Deverell. Eden by Design: the 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Morgan, Delane. The Palos Verdes Story. Palos Verdes: Review Publications, 1982.
Olmsted Brothers and Ansel F. Hall. Report on Proposed Park Reservation for East Bay Cities. Forward by East Bay Park District Association. Berkeley: December 1930.
Canada
Beveridge, Charles E. Mount Royal in the Works of Frederick Law Olmsted. Montreal: Entente sur le Developement Cultural de Montreal, 2002
McCann, Larry. Imagining Uplands: John Olmsted’s Masterpiece of Residential Design. Victoria: Brighton Press, 2016.