Celebrated for his landscape design and planning of New York's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace park system, and the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other beloved parks and places, Frederick Law Olmsted died in 1903 at the age of 83. In 1947, the Library of Congress began collecting papers chronicling the life of Olmsted and members of his family with a gift from Olmsted's son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., followed by another gift from the family in 1968. The Library rounded out its collection over the next 40 years with a gift of 3,000 additional items from longtime Olmsted biographer Laura Wood Roper, and two items were purchased and transferred from the Library of Congress's Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection to complete the Olmsted Papers in 1996.
Last week, the Library of Congress made available the digitized version of its Olmsted archive online, in time to serve as a resource for the bicentennial celebration of Olmsted's birth in 2022, according to the institution.
The collection is broken up into eight sections including diary entries from Olmsted and his family members, personal and professional correspondences, designs, drawings, and consultations, and speeches and lectures. Preview the papers below and see the whole collection here.
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersFrederick Law Olmsted drawing of Staten Island, N.Y., farmhouse, where Olmsted was pursuing scientific farming (c. 1849)
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersFrederick Law Olmsted, pencil sketch diagrams of U.S. Capitol grounds planting (ca. 1877)
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersLetter, Frederick Law Olmsted to Louis Leroy, Jan. 15, 1877, with a plant order for the U.S. Capitol grounds
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersFrederick Law Olmsted notebook entry (ca. 1878) about Birkenhead Park, England, which had been an inspiration to Olmsted in planning New York's Central Park
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersLetter, Frederick Law Olmsted to his father John Olmsted, Feb. 2, 1858, discussing his problems with debt and his new work as superintendent at New York's Central Park
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersLetter (transcript), Frederick Law Olmsted to Rudolph Ulrich, March 11, 1983, regarding the World's Columbian Exposition, or World's Fair, in Chicago
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersA Few Things to be Thought of Before Proceeding to Plan Buildings for the National Agricultural Colleges by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects, New York: American News Co., 1866
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersLetter (transcript), Frederick Law Olmsted to Andrew Jackson Downing, Nov. 23, 1850, regarding Olmsted's formative trip in England observing parks and farms
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersFrederick Law Olmsted drawing, revised plan for the Niagara Project, New York, Dec. 17, 1886
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Frederick Law Olmsted PapersJune 22, 1845, letter from Frederick Law Olmsted to lifelong friend Charles Loring Brace, who was attending Yale College, expressing concern for his brother John Hull Olmsted's health and his own interest in becoming a farmer
Miabelle Salzano is a former editorial intern for ARCHITECT. She graduated from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in literature and a minor in film. She received an M.A. in journalism at American University.
