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Frederick Law Olmsted Letters

Finding Aid & Inventory

Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect as well as a writer. This collection contains two letters written in 1868 and 1869 by Olmsted to Henry Villard, Secretary of the American Social Science Association, regarding civil service reform and presentation topics.

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Biographical and Historical Note

Frederick Law Olmsted, born April 26, 1822, was an American landscape architect as well as a writer. He is widely known for his designs of New York's Central and Prospect Parks, Boston's Emerald Necklace, and countless other parks and interconnected park systems across the United States. But Olmsted had a number of professions and interests - for example, he wrote about public gardens and about the American South and slavery in the years before the Civil War and during the Civil War worked for the U.S. Sanitary Commission. He died on August 28, 1903.

The American Social Science Association was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1865. It later evolved into the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Social Sciences, and other offshoot organizations.

Collection Overview

This collection contains two letters written by Frederick Law Olmsted from 110 Broadway, New York, N.Y.: one dated December 29, 1868 and the other December 27, 1869. Both are addressed to Henry Villard, Secretary of the American Social Science Association (ASSA), in Boston. The 1868 letter discusses Olmsted's support for Thomas A. Jenckes' civil service bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, which later failed. The 1869 letter discusses possible topics for an upcoming presentation to be given by Olmsted.

Summary Information

Repository: Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives
Creator: Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
Title: Frederick Law Olmsted Letters
ID: MS82
Date: 1868, 1869
Quantity: one half letter box shared with MS 79-82
Extent: 0.21 Linear Feet
Mixed Materials: 1

Administrative Information

Publication Information: Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, 2005
Revision Description: Revised by Stephanie Bennett to describe letters, bring finding aid up to DACS standard., 2024
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for use.
Copyright Notice: The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Preferred Citation: Frederick Law Olmsted Letters (MS82), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., holds the Frederick Law Olmsted papers, 1777-1952, including the text of some speeches that Olmsted made to the American Social Science Association.

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