Engaging, deeply researched, and richly illustrated books require significant time and expense. We make this investment to ensure that LALH books and films provide foundational scholarship and insight to students, preservationists, landscape architects, civic leaders, and the general public for decades to come. LALH books and films are made affordable through grants and generous contributions of our supporters. Please consider making a charitable gift to help us develop one.
HELP US MAKE A NEW FILM ABOUT THE BIRTH OF THE NATIONAL PARK IDEA!
When asked to write a report about managing Yosemite Valley in 1865, Frederick Law Olmsted essentially laid out the intellectual framework for America’s national park system—based on the idea that government had a responsibility to provide access to nature for all its citizens. Well into the 1970s, however, the National Park Service continued to promote “campfire tales,” with figures like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt spontaneously dreaming up national parks under the stars in pristine wilderness—obliterating any reference to Union victory. The forthcoming film sheds new light on how this transformative event, and Olmsted’s role in it, led to the creation of America’s national parks. Based on the award-winning book by Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr, Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea.