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Online Searchable Database Provides Unprecedented Access to Records of Renowned Landscape Architect

Olmsted Research Guide OnlineResponding to growing demand for easy access to the records of legendary landscape arc hitect Frederick Law Olmsted, the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (NHS) have created a database that provides simultaneous search capability of Olmsted-related project records held at the Olmsted NHS and the Library of Congress. The Olmsted Research Guide Online (ORGO, www.rediscov.com/olmsted) was funded by a grant from NCPTT and more recent private donations.

According to Anthony Reed, an archivist at the Olmsted NHS in Brookline, Mass., portal access of these records is a major step forward for the wide range of individuals who research Olmsted's work and the work of his sons and successors.

"For the community of landscape historians, the opportunity to get information about so large and significant a body of work as the Olmsteds' is significant, saving on research trips by providing specific microfilm reel and frame information from the Library of Congress correspondence collections, which can then be used to request reels through interlibrary loan," Reed said. "For the library, archives, museum and Park Service communities, this project exemplifies how a bold, energetic public-private partnership can create a product that utilizes expertise, scholarship and resources that otherwise may not have operated together."

The project began when a group of interested individuals from NAOP and the Olmsted National Historic Site saw the potential to dovetail the ongoing conservation and cataloging work being done at the NHS with scholarship being produced by the Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted editorial project out of American University. With over 138,000 plans and drawings maintained at the NHS, and a significant collection of records in Washington D.C. donated by the Olmsted firm to the Library of Congress, research had always necessitated travel to the two locations.

Each organization brought complementary resources and experience to the project. NAOP offered extensive strategic, intellectual and administrative expertise, while the National Park Service provided a database structure, a management framework for the project and general oversight of the data itself. According to Reed, NCPTT was the logical partner given the project's electronic resource sharing potential.

"Using electronic means to access and preserve historic materials seemed perfectly on point for the aims of NCPTT projects," he said. "By giving more access to researchers, materials are used more heavily and advocate for the preservation of Olmstedian landscapes. By giving more detailed access about the documents, better decisions can be made earlier in the research process, requiring less handling of fragile materials."

Data collection and entry continue on handwritten inventories of plans and smaller Olmsted collections. Other text-based collections held at Olmsted NHS that are anticipated for entry include the firm's planting lists, plans inventory cards and the collection of correspondence (mostly post-dating 1950) that remained in Brookline after the firm's donation to the Library of Congress.

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Updated: Wednesday, July 18, 2007
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