ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This volume is dedicated to Charles Capen McLaughlin, the founding editor of the Frederick Law Olmsted Papers whose years of research laid the foundation for the editorial project. He served as Editor-in-Chief during the first decade of funding of the Papers and was chairman of the advisory board until his death in September 2005. Through a long career in teaching and editing he inspired many people with his knowledge of and concern for Olmsted’s legacy.

The editors wish to give special thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for their longtime support of the Olmsted Papers project and in particular the funds they provided for preparation of this volume. Editor Kenneth Hawkins began his work on the volume during his year as an NHPRC editing fellow. We also owe a special debt of gratitude to the National Trust for the Humanities for administering gifts from the Barkley Fund that provided important support for the volume. We thank the National Association for Olmsted Parks for maintaining the special fund that enables its members to contribute to our work. George A. Ranney, Jr., and Victoria Post Ranney have shown great generosity in their support of the project over the years and deserve special recognition and thanks.

We wish to recognize the help provided by the many members of the staff of American University, our sponsoring institution, who assisted in processing grant proposals and administering grants that facilitated preparation of this volume. Professor Roger Brown, chairman of the Department of History during much of the time of preparation of the volume, deserves special notice and appreciation. Several students at the university provided valuable [xxiv] assistance as researchers: they included Susan Hines, Julie Berebitsky, and Matt Clavin.

Former associate editor Jane Turner Censer made valuable suggestions concerning the volume’s introduction, and David Schuyler provided a thorough and valued review of the annotation of the volume. Faye B. Harwell provided a close and helpful reading of the volume introduction.

Other assistance has come from good friends in the world of Olmsted scholarship. Arleyn A. Levee gave us the benefit of her knowledge of the career of John C . Olmsted and of Olmsted’s work on the U.S. Capitol grounds. Francis R. Kowsky, the biographer of Calvert Vaux, answered numerous queries in his areas of expertise. Joy Kestenbaum provided significant information and located the plans by Olmsted and J. J. R. Croes for the street system of the Bronx.

Our work would not be possible without the assistance of the staff of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, maintained by the National Park Service in Brookline, Massachusetts. Former site director Rolfe Diamant and current director Myra Harrison have helped in many ways, and assistant director Lee Farrow Cook has been an invaluable aide throughout. We have benefited greatly from the good will and knowledge of the collection of plans and photographs at Fairsted of archivists Jill Trebbe, Joyce Connelly, Michele Clark, and Michael Dosch. Allan Banks and Mark Swartz have assisted us through interpretation of the site. Lauren Meier of the Olmsted Center gave us valuable information concerning the grounds of the site, which she was in charge of restoring

The Library of Congress has also provided invaluable assistance. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Research Facilities of the library for providing us with a research carrel over many years, and to the staff of the Manuscript Division for the assistance they constantly provide during our research in the papers of Olmsted and his firm. We also have made frequent use of the resources of the Prints and Photographs Division and the Map Division. Barbara Wolanin of the Curator’s Office, Architect of the Capitol, greatly assisted research on that key commission of Olmsted’s. Others who have provided important aid are Mary Daniels of the Loeb Library of the Harvard Design School, Elizabeth Diefendorf of the New York Public Library, Kenneth Cobb and Evelyn Gonzalez of the Municipal Archives of New York City, Deborah Lelansky of the Cartographic and Architectural Branch, NARA, Terry Alan Bragg, archivist at McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, and Kent Watson, FASLA. James Cerasoli and the Hon. Stanley Simon, president of the borough of the Bronx, provided valued assistance in our research on Olmsted’s plans for that borough.