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.
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“BOSTON’S FRANKLIN PARK: OLMSTED, RECREATION, AND THE MODERN CITY”
Based on Ethan Carr’s award-winning book, Boston’s Franklin Park describes the landscape Frederick Law Olmsted designed in 1885 as the centerpiece of a unique municipal park system known as the Emerald Necklace. Weaving together interviews with the author, park advocates, and park users, the film traces its decline, caused by patterns of institutionalized racism on the part of the city of Boston, and the heroic efforts of local residents to save it from ruin. Now, as the city is poised to spend millions of dollars to improve the park, the film presents an important crossroads: “As we look forward to the city—finally, after decades of official neglect—investing major amounts of money in Franklin Park, the question is how should the city move forward?” Ethan Carr, FASLA.
PLEASE HELP LALH PUBLISH “OUR WHOLE COUNTRY A PARK”
The Boston-based landscape architect Warren H. Manning (1860–1938) forged an innovative approach to city, regional, and national planning that paired modern planning techniques with nineteenth-century ideals of rural life. Designing landscapes at every scale, Manning’s visionary goal was to make “our whole country a park.” Throughout his long practice, Manning orchestrated “Community Days,” gatherings that brought together hundreds of local volunteers who cleared brush, planted trees, and created trails and ballfields. In his forthcoming book, Kevan Klosterwill charts the evolution of Manning’s experimentation with these ideals at ever more complex scales, illuminating the advantages as well as the pitfalls of his expansive practices.