- Morgan, Keith N. Boston University Directory Standard Search Page 1 of 1 BOSTON UNIVERSITY FAQs Contact . + WEB SEARCH DIRECTORY INDEX There was one match: University data from Personnel The main Boston University phone numbers are: 617-353-2000 (Charles River Campus) Name Morgan, Keith N 617-638-8000 (Medical Campus) Academic rank Professor Department CAS Art History Most campus phone numbers are in the form: Office address 725 Commonwealth Ave 617-35x-xxxx (Charles River Campus) 617-638-xxxx (Medical Campus) Office phone 617-353-1441 Deptid 20208 Most on-campus mailing addresses are located Account info in: Boston, MA 02215 USA (Charles River Alias knmorgan Campus) Email knmorgan@bu.edu Boston, MA 02118 USA (Medical Campus) Index id X46817 Search for: SEARCH CLEAR BOSTON UNIVERSITY NIS | OIT | February 24, 2005 http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/webph/index.php 2/19/2009 Sitel Lines 2014 Book Reviews freedom and enjoyment." cally independent, governed construction. Increasingly, was an introvert. And yet Charles A. Platt: The Artist Birthplace of a martyred by a board of selectmen and from this time onwards, he had unusual powers of as Architect (1985) and, with president, workplace of the a representative town meet- the firm's other projects - persuasion, both with mem- Richard M. Candee, Naomi country's first ndscape ing rather than a "strong" including numerous private bers of his firm and clients, Miller, and Roger G. Reed, Community by Design: architect, and home to a mayor and relatively commissions and work although his manner was Buildings of Massachusetts: The Olmsted Firm and the clutch of distinguished powerless city council, as is for the Boston Park Com- low-key, never flamboyant. Metropolitan Boston (2009). Development of Brookline, Boston architects, the town Boston. Day-to-day affairs in mission - were located in I believe that Olmsted was Elizabeth Hope Cushing, an Massachusetts has always attracted high- Brookline are supervised by Brookline and neighboring able to convince his clients independent scholar, is the Keith N. Morgan, achieving individuals from a a full-time town manager. Boston. In 1883, Olmsted that his ideas were theirs, author of several cultural Elizabeth Hope Cushing, and wide variety of vocations. The Olmsteds' impact on decided to move both his which may have been the landscape reports and the Roger G. Reed Naturally, Brookline is no Brookline was considerable. home and his office from secret of his striking suc- book Arthur A. Shurcliff: Amherst: University of longer as Arcadian and rural Between 1879, when Fred- New York, buying an exist- cess, in spite of periodic, Design, Preservation, and Massachusetts Press in as it was in Downing's day, erick Law Olmsted laid out ing farmhouse in Brookline, painful setbacks, as the the Creation of the Colonial Association with Library of yet the place is remarkably the grounds of the Barthold which he named Fairsted. leader of an infant profes- Williamsburg Landscape American Landscape well preserved. A glance at a Schlesinger property at 278 He laid out the grounds - sion. Secondly, in order to (2014). Roger G. Reed is a History, 2013. map of Boston and its sur- Warren Street and 1936, slightly under two acres maintain the same office historian for the National roundings shows why. Bos- when Frederick Law Olm- with the help of his stepson, address over an extended Register of Historic Places Residents of ton consists of sted Jr. relocated to Califor- John Charles Olmsted, and period of time - a decided and the National Landmarks Brookline, COMMUNITY a central busi- nia, the firm designed about added a rambling office advantage - the firm should Program, who previously Massachusetts, BY DESIGN ness district 170 properties in Brookline. wing that expanded over own its own real estate: the served first as the chief take pride in and several This was perhaps a record- time as the firm acquired building itself and, in the architectural historian for their historic, outlying resi- not only for Olmsted- more work and more case of a suburban or rural the Maine Historic Pres- progressive, dential neigh- designed landscapes in employees. location like Olmsted's, the ervation Commission and and beautiful borhoods. Brookline, but also for their Multigenerational land around it. Thirdly, the then in the same capacity for community. Brookline work in any other town of firms are rather rare in any successor firm must include the Brookline Preservation This is as is squeezed comparable size. Indeed, it profession, with the pos- a member of the founder's Commission. Few people true today as between two of is difficult to imagine the sible exception of the law. family, in this period nearly know Brookline's history it was in 1841, the most west- development of either the For a firm of architects always a son but, very occa- and architecture in as much when Andrew erly of these, place or the practice with- or landscape architects to sionally, a son-in-law. The depth as Reed. His books Downing Brighton and out the other. Community launch a successor firm that Olmsted firm fills the bill include A Delight to All Who wrote, "The Jamaica Plain. by Design is the story of the survives for more than a on all three counts, contrib- Know It: The Maine Summer whole of this It sticks into first two generations of the generation, several things uting two sons to the enter- Architecture of William R. neighborhood of Brook- the city proper almost like Olmsted firm and its proj- need to happen. First of all, prise, although both John Emerson (1990). line is a kind of landscape a splinter, the result of the ects in the remarkable town the firm must be led by a Charles and his halfbrother Of the eight chapters garden, and there is noth- town's vote in 1873 to reject that became its home base. strong artistic personality, Rick had initially planned in Community by Design, ing in America, of the sort, annexation, chosen by all In 1881, Brookline joined often an extrovert with a other careers. Cushing wrote two, both so inexpressibly charming its close neighb with with Boston to commission dynamic manner who can The backgrounds of the biographical in nature: one as the lanes which lead the temporary exception of Frederick Law Olmsted to both inspire and dominate authors of Community by an overview of Olmsted's from one cottage, or villa, Hyde Park, which voted for design the Muddy River his employees, as well as Design are complementary. life and career before he to another and the open annexation in 1904. In 2014, Improvement, a linear park. "sell" his ideas to his clients. Keith N. Morgan is professor came to Brookline and the gates, with tempting vistas Brookline remains politi- Its central feature was a nar- Frank Lloyd Wright, for of art history and director other a summary of the life and glimpses under the pen- row, slow-moving stream, instance, is a prime exam- of architectural studies at of Charles Sprague Sargent, dent boughs, give it quite which straddled the two ple. By contrast, Olmsted Boston University, and the an Arcadian air of rural 1 A.) Downing, A Treatise on the communities, forming the author, coauthor, or editor Theory and Practice of Land- second link in the Boston of several books, including scape Gardening, Adapted park system after Boston's to North America (New York: Back Bay Fens, then under 2 John Charles Olmsted had A. O. Moore, 1859), 40. The two daughters and Frederick first edition was published Law Olmsted Jr. had one. 22 in 1841. Neither had a son. chairman of Brookline's not happen. My one quibble Contributors park commission and direc- with this fine book concerns tor of Harvard's Arnold the cut-off date. Although Arboretum. Reed contrib- 1936 seems a reasonable uted a valuable chapter on point to break off, it is not Kenneth I. Helphand, Ph.D., through Forests, Woods and Financial Times, Antioch Thomas Jefferson. She is a the town's planning context. quite the end of the story. is Philip H. Knight Profes- Gardens (2010). From 1975 to Review, Bryant Literary contributing author of Din- His detailed discussion of Yes, Frederick Law Olmsted sor of Landscape Architec- 2001, he was editorial direc- Review, American Gardener, ing at Monticello. Her recent the numerous subdivisions, Jr. relocated to California, ture Emeritus at the Uni- tor of the Royal Horticul- San Jose Mercury News, published essays include, large and small, designed by but it was not to go into full versity of Oregon, where he tural Society's journal The Reader's Digest, Business among others, "Thomas the firm in Brookline under retirement. Rather, he was teaches courses in landscape Garden. During that time Journal, Progressive Media, Jefferson and Creating an the direction of both the still working with the firm history, theory, and design. period, he began writing a and numerous other pub- Image for a New Nation," elder Olmsted and Fred- on the layout of the Palos His books include Dreaming column under the nom de lications. In 2009, her first "Dressing Down for the erick Law Olmsted Jr., is Verdes Estates, located on a Gardens: Landscape Architec- plume "Tradescant." Now in novel, Divine Music, received Presidency," and "Record- particularly useful. Because spectacularly scenic pen- ture & the Making of Modern its thirty-ninth year, "Trad's enthusiastic reviews from ing History: Thomas they are highly vulnerable insula that thrusts into the Israel (2002) and Defiant Diary" appears online and Publishers Weekly and Book- Sully's Portrait of Thomas to economic cycles, subdivi- Pacific south of Los Angeles. Gardens: Making Gardens in in the journal Hortus. list. Jefferson." Currently she sions are rarely completed Here Olmsted had his West Wartime (2006). Currently he is writing a monograph on as part of a single build- Coast home, although he is completing a book on the Barbara Marinacci, writer Laurie Olin, professor of Jefferson's public image. ing campaign. They are frequently returned to the landscape architect Law- and editor, has authored or landscape architecture at the generally planned and the Brookline office to monitor rence Halprin. Helphand is coauthored ten books, edited University of Pennsylvania Cynthia Zaitzevsky, Ph.D., a first stages of construction ongoing projects. There, he the former editor of Land- many more, and written and founding partner of historian of architecture begun in a boom period met and sometimes worked scape Journal and former numerous articles. Dur- OLIN, a landscape architec- and landscape architecture, but are often either still- with a new landscape archi- chair of the Senior Fellows ing 2010-13, she produced ture firm in Philadelphia, is formerly taught the history born or truncated during tect, Artemas P. Richardson, in Garden and Landscape Eden, the quarterly journal the author of Across the Open of American and English a bust period. Yet previous who had joined the firm Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, of the California Garden & Field: Essays Drawn from landscape architecture in discussions of the Olmsted shortly after World War II Washington, D.C. Landscape History Society. English Landscapes (1999) the Radcliffe Seminars firm's work in subdivision in part because Olmsted Jr., California's wine-growing and a coauthor of La Foce: Landscape Design Program planning have focused on who was colorblind, could Hugh Johnson, OBE, and history became an interest A Garden and Landscape in (now part of the Boston those few examples where an not design planting plans.3 an officer in the French when she lived for almost Tuscany (2001) and Vizcaya: Architectural College). Her entire, discrete community After Olmsted's death in Ordre nationale du Mérite, is twenty years at a historic An American Villa and its books include The Archi- of considerable size was the 1950, Richardson changed widely considered to be the vineyard in the Santa Makers (2006). The designer tecture of William Ralph result, including Riverside the name of the firm to world's best-selling writer Cruz Mountains. With her for the transformation of Emerson, 1833-1917 (1969), near Chicago by the senior Olmsted Associates. In a sec- on wine. His books include mother, Eleanor Ray, she Bryant Park and Columbus Frederick Law Olmsted and Olmsted and Forest Hills ond edition of Community by The World Atlas of Wine published Vineyards in the Circle in New York City, the the Boston Park System (1982), Gardens in Queens, New Design, a brief discussion of (1971), Hugh Johnson's Wine Sky: The Life of Legendary grounds of the Washington and Long Island Landscapes York, by Olmsted Brothers. the third and last generation Companion (1983), Vintage: Vintner Martin Ray. She later Monument in Washington, and the Women Who Designed The lion's share of this book of the Olmsted firm would The Story of Wine (1989), and wrote "Vinaceous Corre- D.C., and the new Getty Them (2009). She is also the is the work of Morgan, who be desirable, perhaps as a an autobiography, A Life spondents," a series avail- Center in Los Angeles, he author of the site-history wrote the remaining five tenth appendix. Uncorked (2006). His Pocket able on Wayward Tendrils received the American Soci- sections of several cultural- chapters, an introduction, Cynthia Zaitzevsky Wine Book, first published Quarterly's website. She lives ety of Landscape Architects landscape reports for the and a conclusion. The nine in 1977, appears annually in Pacific Palisades, Los Medal for Lifetime Achieve- National Park Service, appendices are unattributed. in fourteen languages. A Angeles. ment in 2011. including one for the Fred- With so much emphasis noted botanical and garden erick Law Olmsted National on context, the main thread 3 Cynthia Zaitzevsky, conversa- writer as well, Johnson is Suruchi Mohan is an award- Gaye Wilson, Shannon Historic Site in Brookline, of the narrative could have tion with Artemas P. Rich- the author of The Interna- winning journalist whose Senior Historian at Monti- Massachusetts. been obscured, but that did ardson at Olmsted Associates tional Book of Trees (1973), The work has appeared in the cello's International Cen- (Fairsted), ca. 1972. Joseph M. Principles of Gardening (1979), ter for Jefferson Studies, Hudak joined the firm some- and Trees: A Lifetime's Journey writes on topics relating to what later but left a few years before Richardson. 23 Curriculum Vitae KEITH N. MORGAN History of Art and Architecture Department Boston University 725 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 (617) 353-1441 knmorgan@bu.edu 505 Tremont Street, Unit 411 Boston, MA 02116 EDUCATION Ph.D., Art History, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 1973-1978 M.A. the H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum Program in Early American Culture, University of Delaware, 1971-1973 B.A., History, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 1967-1971 CURRENT AND PAST POSITIONS Teaching Responsibilities Professor of Art History, Boston University, Boston, MA, 1989-present. Undergraduate and Graduate courses in nineteenth and twentieth century European and American architectural history, in landscape history and in Preservation Studies. Associate Professor of Art History, 1989-1994. Assistant Professor of Art History, 1980-1989. Andrew Mellon Faculty Fellow in the Humanities, Harvard University, 1983-84, and Visiting Assistant Professor, Harvard University, 1983-84, and Summer 1984 and 1985. Academic Administrative Responsibilities Chairman, Art History Department, Boston University, 1989-1994, 1997-99. Director of Graduate Studies, Art History Department, Boston University, 1987-1989. 1996-97. 2005-2008. Director of Architectural Studies, Art History Department, 2009- Keith N. Morgan Member, University Promotion and Tenure Committee, 1992-93; declined 1993-94. Member, College Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee, 1995-96. Senior Resident Academic Advisor, Boston University programs in England: London Internship Program in the Arts, in Politics, in Business, and in Journalism/Communications Modern British Studies Program, St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, 1986-87. Director, American and New England Studies Program, Boston University, 1984-1986. Director, Preservation Studies Program, Boston University 1980-1983. Preservation and Museum positions Co-Editor, Forum, newsletter of the Preservation Committee of the Society for Architectural Historians, 1985-87. Preservation Planner, Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, NC 1978-1980. Chief, Curatorial Services, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, Providence, R.I. 1974-76. Field Editor, the Magazine Antiques, Summer, 1973. Assistant to the Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Spring, 1970. AWARDS AND HONORS Honor Award for Service to the Profession, The Boston Society of Architects, 2011. Grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Hubbard Trust, and the Friends of Fairsted to support the publication of Community by Design, 2011. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa; speaker for the December 2008 induction ceremony Invited to apply for the post of Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education, 2007, declined Frank and Leslie Wisnecki Award for Teaching Excellence in the College of Art and Science, May, 2006 Class Day Speaker, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, May, 2006 Faculty Award, Graduate Student Art History Association, May, 2006 and May 2009 Research grant from the Organization of American Historians and the National Park Service for Community by Design: The Impact of the Frederick Law Olmsted Office on the Development of Brookline, Massachusetts, 2006-2013. Research grant, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 2003-04, - 2 - Keith N. Morgan To support research on Berkshire Green: Shaping and Sustaining a Regional Landscape, 2003-2004 Listing in The Directory of American Scholars (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2001). 1988, 1995 and 1999 nominee for the Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Teaching Award, Honors Program, Boston University, 1999. Grants, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Architecture Editor, The Encyclopedia of New England Culture, 1996-2002 President, The Society of Architectural Historians, 1994-6. Senior Fellow, Boston University Humanities Foundation Society of Fellows, 1991-92; 1993-94; 1998-99. Research grant, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1996. Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, for the exhibition, "Shaping a new American Landscape: The Art and Architecture of Charles A. Platt." Research Grant, the Florence J. Gould Foundation, 1991. Staff Expansion Grant, the Japan Foundation, 1990. Junior Fellow, Boston University Humanities Foundation Society of Fellows, 1988-89. Seed Grant, Graduate School, Boston University, Summer, 1988. Grant, the Olmsted Historical Landscape Preservation Program, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Resources, 1985-1986. Grant, Design Arts Program, National Endowment for the Arts, 1984. Andrew Mellon Faculty Fellowship in the Humanities, Harvard University, 1983-1984. Grant, Basic Research Tools, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1980-1983. Junior Fellow, Center for Studies in Landscape Architecture, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, 1976-1978. University Fellow, Brown University, 1973-1974. National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, University of Delaware, 1971-73. Paul Mellon Fellow in Museum Studies, 1971 (declined). PUBLICATIONS Books - 3 - Keith N. Morgan Community by Design: The Olmsted Office and the Development of Brookline, Massachusetts. With Elizabeth Hope Cushing and Roger Reed. Amherst: The Library of American Landscape History and the University of Massachusetts Press, 2013. The Government Printing Office is publishing a slightly-different version of this manuscript in 2014 for use by the National Park Service. Buildings of Massachusetts; Metropolitan Boston. Editor and one of principal authors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press for the Society of Architectural Historians, 2010. Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect, a republication of the 1902 edition with an introduction by Keith N. Morgan. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Shaping an American Landscape: the Art and Architecture of Charles A. Platt, editor and author of two essays, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995. Italian Gardens, a republication of Charles A. Platt's 1894 book, edited, expanded and with an introduction by Keith N. Morgan. Portland, OR: Sagapress and Timber Press 1993. Boston Architecture, 1975-1990 with Naomi Miller. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1990. Charles A. Platt. The Artist as Architect. New York and Cambridge: The Architectural History Foundation, Inc., and MIT Press 1985; second printing with minor changes, 1986. Olmsted in Massachusetts. The Public Legacy. A report of the inventory committee of the Massachusetts Association for Olmsted Parks. ed. with Eleanor McPeck and Cynthia Zaitzevsky. Brookline: Massachusetts Association for Olmsted Parks, 1983. American Victorian Architecture with D. Arnold Lewis. New York: Dover Press, 1975. Notes, 139-152. Articles and contributions to books "Brookline's Inlfuence on the Boston Metropolitan Landscape," forthcoming in the Proceedings of the Portrait of the City Conference, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012. Entries on "Charles A. Platt," "Charles Eliot," and "Cornish" for the Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, expected 2010. Entry on "the Harriet C. Coolidge House" for James F. O'Gorman and Christopher Monkhouse, eds., Drawing Toward Home. Boston: Historic New England, Inc., forthcoming, an exhibition and catalogue from the architectural drawings collection of Historic New England. Exhibition will originate at the Boston University Art Gallery. "Muskau and America: Prince Pückler's Influence on Charles Eliot and Regional Landscape Planning in the United States," German Historical Institute. Bulletin Supplement 4 (2007), 68-87. "Coming Full Circle:: Charles Eliot's ideals resonate more deeply than ever," Special Places 15: 3 (Fall, 2007), 7-9. - 4 - Keith N. Morgan Introductory essay, "Framing New England Architecture" (pp. 61-111) and entries on "Landscape Architecture in New England" (PP. 102-103) and on "the Olmsted Firm" (pp. 104-105) and editing of all architecture entries for The Encyclopedia of New England Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. "From the Parish to the World: The Architectural Context for Trinity Church, Boston," in James F. O'Gorman, ed., The Makers of Trinity Church in the City of Boston (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2004), 3-10. Entry on "Charles A. Platt" for Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, forthcoming. Entires on "the Cornish Art Colony," "Charles Eliot," and "Charles A. Platt," in The Encyclopedia of American Art Before 1914. London: Macmillan Reference Ltd., forthcoming. "Charles A. Platt," in American National Biography New York: Oxford University Press for the American Council of Learned Societies, forthcoming "Charles Eliot: The Man Behind the M onograph," introduction to the new edition of Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press for the Library of American Landscape Architecture, 1999, vii-1. "The Charles Eliot Research Guide," Boston: The Center for Cultural Landscape Studies, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, 1999. Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect: An Introduction to his Life and Work," Arnoldia (1999) 59:2, 2-22. "Charles Eliot," in Encyclopedia of Urban America: The Cities and Suburbs. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1998, 282. "Charles A. Platt's Long Island Country Houses" in Robert B. Mackay, ed., The Architecture of the Long Island Country House;. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. "The Charnley-Persky House, Architectural History and the Society," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 54: 3 (September, 1995), 276-77. "Charles A. Platt," and "Charles Eliot," in Pioneer Landscape Architects in the United States. Washington, DC: Department of the Interior, 1995. Biographies of Charles A. Platt and of Charles Eliot and an essay on the Cornish art colony for the Macmillan Dictionary of Art. London: Macmillan, 1996. 'Garden and Forest; Nineteenth Century Developments in American Landscape Architecture," in Keeping Eden. A History of American Landscape Architecture Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1992. "Held in Trust: Charles Eliot's Vision for the New England Landscape," NAOP Workbook, I: 1 (1991), pp. 1-12 "Why Boston in 1990?" Urban Update, Newsletter of the Society of Architectural Historians, February, 1990. - 5 - Keith N. Morgan "History in the Service of Design: American architect-historians from the 1870s to the 1930s" with Richard Cheek, in Studies in Art History. Washington: National Gallery of Art, April, 1990, pp 60-75. "Charles A. Platt," in William H. Tishler, ed., American Landscape Architecture. People and Places. Washington: The Preservation Press, 1989. "The Emergence of the American Landscape Professional: John Notman and the design of rural cemeteries," trans. by Akiro Sato, in The History of Western Cemeteries, I, Tokyo: 1989. "Charles A. Platt," in Earle Shettleworth, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Maine (Augusta: Maine Historical Commission, 1989). "Platt's Ideal Andover," Addison Journal (Spring, 1986), 2-11. "The Emergence of the American Landscape Professional: John Notman and the design of rural cemeteries," Journal of Garden History 4 (July-September, 1984), 267-290. Adaptation of Urban Landscape Parks: A Bibliography. With Eleanor McPeck and Elizabeth Hope Cushing, research assistant. Dickerson, Maryland: Sugarloaf Regional Trails, 1984. "The Patronage Matrix. Charles A. Platt, Architect, Charles L. Freer, Client," Winterthur Portfolio 17, no. 2/3 (Summer/Autumn, 1982), 121-134. "Charles A. Platt's houses and gardens for the Cornish Colony," the Magazine Antiques, XCCII, no. 1 (July, 1982), 117-129. Catalogue entry, biography and bibliography for Buildings on Paper, Rhode Island Architectural Drawings, 1825-1945. Ed. by William Jordy and Christopher Monkhouse. Providence: Brown University, 1982. 139-140, 229-230. "Reaffirmation of Local Initiative: North Carolina's 1979 Historic Preservation Legislation," North Carolina Central Law Journal, Vol. II, No. 2, (Spring, 1980), 243- 255. "Conservation: Sometimes, old buildings are the ones that do not fit in," North Carolina Architect, XXVI No. 1 (January/February, 1979), 30-31 "Charles A. Platt's Designs for the Corcoran Gallery Additions," in the William A. Clark Collection. Washington, DC: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1978, 15-23. Biographies of eighteen American architects for the International Encyclopedia of Architecture, Engineering and Urban Planning, accepted; encyclopedia never published. "The Slater Collection: Early Nineteenth Century New York Architectural Drawings," Columbia Library Columns (May, 1976), 26-35. "Josiah Reconsidered: A Green County School of Inlay Cabinet-making," The Magazine Antiques (April, 1974, 883-893). Book Reviews - 6 - Keith N. Morgan Review of Judith Major, Mariana Schuyler Van Rensselaer: A Landscape Critic in the Gilded Age. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013 to posted on the website of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, fall 2013, and to be published in their journal Site/Lines in the spring issue, 2014. Review of David Rawson, Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 71:2 (June, 2012), 231-232. Review of Melanie Simo, Forest and Garden: Traces of Wildness in a Modernizing World, 1897-1949 in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 63:2 (June, 2004), 242-243. Review of Alex Krieger and David Cobb, eds., Mapping Boston in Journal of the Society of Architecutral Historians, 61:4 (December, 2002) Review of Annmarie Adams and Sally McMurry, eds., Exploring Everyday Landdscapes, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (June, 1999) 58:2, 252-253. Review of Elizabeth Meredith Dowling, American Classicist. The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, (June, 1990) XLIX: 2, 226-227. Review of Donald W. Curl, Mizener's Florida. American Resort Architecture in Landscape Journal (March, 1986), 347-48. Review of Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, H. H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works in The Magazine Antiques, CXXIV, no. 5 (November, 1983), 1043-1044. Review of Constance Greiff, John Notman, Architect. in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XLI, no. 2 (May 1982). Review of Nathan Weinburg, Preservation in American Cities and Towns in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XXXIX, no. 4 (December, 1980, 341). Review of Rock County Historic Sites and Buildings for the Decorative Arts Newsletter (Winter, 1977/78, 14-15). Review of four reprints (Cleaveland, Village and Farm Cottages; Hussey, Victorian Building; Bicknell, Victorian Village Builder; and Devoe, Exterior Decoration for the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (March, 1978), 52-53. Publications from Graduate Student projects Editing, introduction and project supervision for Historic Landscape Report. Lynn Woods and Historic Landscape Report. High Rock Reservation. Both reports were prepared by a team of Boston University graduate students under a grant from the Olmsted Historic Landscape Preservation Program of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management. Editing and project supervision, Nancy Lurie Salzman, Buildings and Builders. An Architectural History of Boston University. Boston: Boston University, 1985 - 7 - Keith N. Morgan Foreword and project inception for Belmont. The Architecture and Development of the Town of Homes. Belmont, MA: Belmont Historic District Commission, 198 Papers Presented "Frederick law Olmsted's Public Landscape," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, July 11, 2013. "The History of American Landscape Architecture, 1830-1940," the Massachusetts Chapter of the Garden Club of America, Elm Bank, The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Natick, MA. November 5,2012. "The Brookline Troika: Olmsted, Sargent, Richardson and the Making of Suburban Brookline," The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University." October 25.2012. "The Contact Zone: Architecture Outside of the West in the Long Nineteenth Century," Victorian Society in America, Boston Chapter, Cambridge, MA. October 11 2012. "Managing the Model Suburb: Professionalism, Class, and Ethnicity in the Suburbanization of Brookline, Massachusetts, 1880-1936," Visiting Scholar Series, Graduate Student in the History of Art and Architecture Association, Boston University, September 9, 2011. "The Portrait of the City from the Suburb," The Portrait of the City Conference, University College, Dublin, Ireland, December 10, 2010. "The Pre-Modern New England Collegiate Landscape," Shaking Their Yankee Foundations: Evolving Modernist Ambitions, Cultural landscape Foundation Conference at the Lyman Estate in Waltham, October 8th, 2010. "Before the Grand Allee: The Olmsted Brothers' Gardens at Castle Hill," Trustees of Reservations, Ipswich, MA. October 21st, 2010. "The Transnational Landscape: Prince Pueckler's Muskau Estate and Charles Eliot's Vision of Regional Planning and Land Preservation." Landscape Design Study Program, Regis College, October 28th, 2010. "Neighbors and Networks: The Olmsted Firm and the Development of Brookline, 1880- 1936." Friends of Fairsted, Wheelock College, Brookline. October 28, 2009. "Late Submissions and Collaborations: Reflections on the Scholarly Life," December induction of Phi Beta Kappa, Boston University, December 3, 2008 "The History of American Landscape Architecture, 1840-1940," Landscape Training Program, the Garden Club of America, Massachusetts Chapter, October 23, 2008, Regis College "Community by Design: The Role of the Frederick Law Olmsted Office in the Development of Brookline, Massachusetts, as a Model Suburb, 1880-1937," Ventfort Hall Museum of the Gilded Age, Lenox, Massachusetts, August 6, 2008 Panelist, Summer Institute in Art Museum Studies, Smith College, Northampton, MA, July 9, 2007. Invited lecture, "Revolutionizing Boston's Landscape: Charles Eliot, Prince Pueckler, - 8 - Keith N. Morgan and the estate at Muskau," annual meeting, Cambridge Plant and Garden Club, March 19, 2007. Interview, "Where are the Waverley Oaks? Charles Eliot and Environmental Advocacy in New England," WFCR Public Radio, Amherst, Massachusetts, November 10th, 2006 Interview, "Damrell's Fire." A documentary film broadcast on PBS, April-May, 2006. Lecture, "Muskau on the Charles: The influence of Prince Puckler on Charles Eliot and metropolitan landscape planning in Boston," Pucker and America symposium, Bad Muskau, Germany, June 23, 2006. Covener, The Preservation Legacy, Symposium in Memory of William H. Jordy, Brown University, Providence, RI, March 3, 2006. Lecture, "Collaboration in the Packaging of Boston and New England: The Encyclopedia of New England and The Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, New England Vernacular Archtiecture Forum, February 25, 2006. Lecture, "Charles Platt and the Italian Garden in America," landscape symposium, Bedford, New York, February 17, 2006. Panelist, "Restoring the Artist's Vision: Complexities and Controversies," The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 22, 2005. Interview, WNED television, Buffalo/Toronto. "America's Houses of Worship," May 8, 2005. Lecture, "Framing the Old Lyme Art Association Gallery: Charles A. Platt, summer colonies and museum architecture," Old Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT, April 21, 2005. "Building by the Book: The Architectural Library of Charles A. Platt," The Century Association, New York, New York, November 11, 2004. "All instruments of Culture:" Museums, Academies and Charles A. Platt," Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT, October 21, 2004. The Development of Beacon Hill, panel discussion in honor of the bi-centennial of the Rose Standish Nichols House, Mount Vernon Street, Boston, October 20, 2004. "Culture Under Glass: Reflections on the Context of the Gardner Museum Court," Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, April 24, 2003 "The Inalienable Pleasure Ground: Charles Eliot and the Origins of Regional Landscape Planning in New England, the Preservation Forum, Newport, RI, November 1, 2002. "The Flowering of a New England Tradition: The Italian Garden in America," the Rose Standish Nichols House, Boston, October 17, 2002 "Edith Wharton, Charles A. Platt and the American formal garden revival," lecture series at the Mount, Edith Wharton's home, Lenox, Massachusetts, July 27, 2002. - 9 - Keith N. Morgan "The Inalienable Pleasure Ground: Charles Eliot and the Early Development of the Metropolitan Park System," Metropolitan Park Counsel, Massachusetts State House, April 24, 2001. "Up at the Villa: The Influence of Italy on American Domestic Architecture" Hudson River Heritage, September 22, 2000. "Boxing Boston: Typological Analysis of the Metropolitan Region," Society of Architectural Historians meeting, Miami, Florida, June, 2000 "Building Nineteenth Century Boston," architectural tour for the Friends of American Art at Yale, November 13, 1999. "Writing American Landscape History," at a conference on Newport and the Art of Gardens and Landscapes, Salve Regina University, September 23, 1999. "Charles Eliot-Historian, Grand Tourist and Preservationist," Trustuees of Reservations, Ipwich, MA, September 21, 1999. "Looking Backward to understand the Future: Centennial Lessons," Centennial anniversary annual meeting of the National Recreations and Public Park Association, Boston, March, 1998. "The Museums of the Back Bay and the Back Bay as a Nineteenth-Century Museum," invited lecture, Ayer Mansion, Boston, March, 1998 "Charles Eliot: The Man Behind the Monograph," Center for Cultural Landscape Studies, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, November, 1997; and the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, March, 1998. "Looking into the Platt Landscape," invited lecture, the Hood Museum of Art, May, 1995; the Saginaw Art museum, October, 1995; the Benton Museum of Art, November, 1995; the Century Association, March, 1996; the Lyman Allyn Museum, June, 1996. "The Landscape Visions of Charles Eliot and Charles A. Platt," invited lecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, April, 1996. "The Visual Culture of Summer Art Colonies," National Park Service Conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May, 1996 "Looking Backward: The Architecture of Boston and Beyond," invited paper, Annual Meeting, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston, October, 1994. "The Rise and Fall of the Italian Garden in America," invited paper in a symposium, "Masters of American Garden Design IV. Influences on American Garden Design, 1895-1940," New York, New York, March 11, 1994. "Roman Memories and American Realities, Through the Lens of Landscape, 1925-1940," in a symposium, "Rome as a Generating Force in American Architecture," organized to celebrate the centennial of the American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, January 1-7, 1994. " 'The inalienable pleasure ground': Charles Eliot and the Metropolitan Park System. A Centennial Assessment," the Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture, the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, February 10, 1993. - 10 - Keith N. Morgan "Vitruvius Americanus: American Architects and the Italian Muse." The Lure of Italy Symposium, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 24, 1992. Six lectures on nineteenth century American architecture for the Dallas Symposium, Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, September 25-26, 1992. "From Middlesex to Metropolis: the Centennial View from the Fells," annual meeting of the Friends of Middlesex Fells, Winchester, MA, May 20, 1992. "Emerald Metropolis: Charles Eliot and the Boston Metropolitan Park System," Middays at the Meetinghouse, Old South Meetinghouse and the Victorian Society, New England Chapter, January 9, 1992. "Muskau in America: German ideology for American landscape planning," guest lecture in course on the modern landscape, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, March 19, 1992. "Charles A. Platt and the Cornish Summer Colony," Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, October 1, 1991 Testimony, HR 1209, Revere Beach Study Bill, Sub-Committee on National Parks and Public Lands, July, 1991. "Cherry Hill: Its Architecture and Landscape," the 1891 Society, The Trustees of Reservations, July 1991. "The Essential Eliot," keynote speech, "Held in Trust. 1890s Legacies-1990s Challenges, The Landscape Vision," Massachusetts Preservation Conference, Boston, May, 1991. "Rediscovering Boston," (with Naomi Miller), American Studies Brown Bag Lecture Program, American Studies Department, Boston University, November 28, 1990. "The Published American Landscape of the 1890s: Four voices," invited lecture in course on the modern landscape, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, October, 1989. "Revolutionary Architecture vs. Architecture of the Revolution," Evergreen College, Boston University, July 27, 1989. "The Art of Modern Life. Paris and Vienna, 1889," June 15, 1989; "Boulevards and Ringstrassen: The New Urban Visions of Paris and Vienna," and "A Fair Comparison? The Exposition Universelle, 1889, and the Secession Exhibition, 1898," June 16, 1989, Alumni College Symposium on Paris and Vienna in 1889, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio. "The Landscape of Reform: Villa Gardens and Civic Art," the Summer School of the Victorian Society in America, Newport, RI, June 10, 1989. "The Landscape of the Colonial Revival. From Old Fashioned Gardens to Regional Planning," Symposium on the Colonial Revival, The Friends of American Art at Yale, Yale University, New Haven, CT, May 6, 1989. "The Designed Massachusetts Landscape," Annual memorial lecture, Andover Historical Society, Andover, MA, March 16, 1989. - 11 - Keith N. Morgan "History in the Service of Design: American architect-historians from the 1870s to the 1930s," symposium in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Society of Architectural Historians, Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 9 and 10, 1988. "The Landscape of the American Country House," invited paper at a symposium to mark the opening of an exhibition on the Long Island Country House, the Parrish Museum, Southampton, New York. May, 1988. "Charles Eliot as a landscape historian and critic," invited paper for the initial meeting of the Friends of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library, Boston, May, 1988. "Charles Eliot and Landscape Conservation: Lessons from England," Co-sponsored by the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted site, and the Department of Landscape Architecture Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Piper Auditorium, GSD Harvard University, February, 1988. "The Literature of American Architectural History and Criticism, 1895-1941," invited paper at the conference. The Building and the Book, the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for Studies in American Architecture, Columbia University, January, 1986. "A Cultural Landscape: Charles Eliot's Vision for New England," paper presented at the American Studies Association Meeting, San Diego, California, October, 1985. "From Artist to Architect. Transition and Continuity in the Work of Charles A. Platt," invited paper, Art History Department Lecture Series, Boston University, September, 1985. "Charles A. Platt and the Cornish Colony," paper presented at the opening of the exhibition, "A Circle of Friends. The Art Colonies of Cornish and Dublin," Cornish, NH, June, 1985. "Held in Trust. Charles Eliot's Vision for the New England Landscape," paper presented at the fourth annual Wave Hill Conference on American Landscape History, New York City, May, 1985. "Beyond the Olmsted Legacy: Expanding Our Understanding of the Massachusetts Historic Landscape," paper presented at the conference, "The Massachusetts Historic Landscape; Preserving the Legacy," Boston University, April, 1985. "Summering by the Shore: The Resort Architecture of the New England Coast," keynote lecture in series on New England summer houses, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, June, 1984. "Accepting Capitalism: A Reconsideration of American Architecture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century," American and New England Studies Program lecture series, October, 1983. "The Emergence of the American Formal Garden Revival," paper presented at the Second annual Wave Hill Conference on American Garden History, New York City, October, 1982. "Charles Eliot as Landscape Architecture Critic," paper presented at the conference celebrating the tenth anniversary of the fellowship program of the Center for Studies in Landscape Architecture, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, May, 1981. - 12 - Page 1 of 3 Re: Charles Eliot Scrapbook From To Date Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:28:29 -0500 Dear Keith, Now that we've exchanged introductory emails, I hope you will address me as "Ron." I am delighted that we share enthusiasm for the Eliot Scrapbook discovery. To arrange a visit at the ARC, contact Mark Wilson at 781-784-8200 (mwilson@ttor.org). Shortly after my retirement from academic library administration, I was called to the ARC to give a pro bono appraisal of their archival plans. Recently, Mark invited me to come back and see what progress they have made. Perhaps we could arrange to visit on the same date. You might also wish to contact Lawrence Eliot in Ipswich 978-356-3742 (Iceliot@comcast.net) for additional details about transfer of the C.W. Eliot II papers to the TTOR. He lives within eyeshot of the Crane Estate. The cautioning remarks of Charles W. Eliot II about the need for the TTOR to get their archives in order was well founded. I was not surprised to hear that when you made this suggestion it was "not well received." I must inform you that my repeated offers to write an article about the scrapbook discovery were resisted. I was informed that the organization was not prepared to deal with the scholarly interest that public awareness might arouse. Now that the ARC is a reality, they might be more receptive. Confidentially, it is my impression as a member of the TTOR Historic Resources Committee that there appears to be an unstated belief held by some staff that paid staff should do the work of the organization, not volunteers--regardless of their credentials. I hope I am wrong on this matter. I think that the Eliot Scrapbook is worthy of publishing as a facsimile. Should you agree with that appraisal after examining the scrapbook, perhaps we could do something collaboratively. Especially since the Eliot family figures so prominently in the two Trustee organizations and my own biography. With best wishes, Ron P.S. Before my third career as a academic library director, I was editor of a scholarly journal published the Association or College and Research Libraries, and before that a Professor of Philosophy at the U.S.Naval Academy and the universities of Memphis and Hartford "specializing" in ancient philosophy, environmental ethics, and the history of ideas. > Quoting knmorgan@bu.edu: > > Dear Ronald Epp: > > > > Thank you so much for this very exciting news. I would be very eager > > to inspect the scrapbook. Do you know who I should contact at the > > Sharon archives? > > > > I find it slightly ironic that Charles W. Eliot, II, had this scrapbook > > in his collection and never told me about it. At one point, the > > Trustees asked me to consider writing a history of the organization. I > > spoke with Charles W. Eliot, II, about this project and he suggested > > that I demand that the Trustee spend time getting their archives > > organized and if they wouldn't, I should not agree to work on the > > project. I did make this suggestion which was not well received. > > Fortunately, a good history of the trustee emerged from Gordon Abbott. https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=62 2/19/2009 Page 2 of 3 > > > I wonder whether the Trustees shouldn't consider publishing this > > scrapbook in facsimile--well, maybe I should take a look first. > > Nevertheless, this is extremely exciting news for such a gray February > > morning. > > > Keith Morgan Dear Professor Morgan: Robin Karson suggested that I contact you. She and I recently signed > a contract to publish Becoming Acadia National Park: a Biography of > George B. Dorr. As you doubtless know, Dorr collaborated with Charles W. Eliot to establish in Maine the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations which was modeled on the Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations. > I'm writing to inquire whether you were aware of the existence of a > 132-page scrapbook > > compiled by Charles Eliot tracking the development of the Trustee concept from 1888-1897 ? My research on Dorr led me in 2006 to the Massachusetts Trustee archives located at the Crane Estate, following a review of the Trustee Minutes at Long Hill. The archives had received very > recently--from Lawrence Eliot--the unprocessed Papers of Charles W. > Eliot II. Contained in one of these boxes--and unknown to Trustee > staff--was the Eliot scrapbook containing news clippings, policy > drafts, invitations, records of meetings, and legal memorabilia > chonologically arranged and frequently bearing the signatures of > Charles Eliot. This unique treasure excited me to no end! I risked > photocopying selected documents from Eliot's scrapbook. Obviously, > the scrapbook requires extensive conservation treatment, including > > preparation of a digital copy. > > This scrapbook was recently relocated to the new TTOR Archive and > Research Center in Sharon. As a member of the TTOR Historic Resources > > Committee, I offered to promote the importance of this discovery. > > When I brought this issue to Karson's attention, she suggested that I approach you to determine whether you were aware of its existence. I look forward to hearing from you. > > > Cordially, > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive > > Merrimack, NH 03054 > (603) 424-6149 eppster2@myfairpoint.net > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive > Merrimack, NH 03054 > (603) 424-6149 > eppster2@myfairpoint.net > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 47 Pondview Drive https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=62 2/19/2009 Page 1 of 2 Re: Charles Eliot Scrapbook From To Date Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:57:03 -0500 Dear Ronald Epp: Thank you so much for this very exciting news. I would be very eager to inspect the scrapbook. Do you know who I should contact at the Sharon archives? I find it slightly ironic that Charles W. Eliot, II, had this scrapbook in his collection and never told me about it. At one point, the Trustees asked me to consider writing a history of the organization. I spoke with Charles W. Eliot, II, about this project and he suggested that I demand that the Trustee spend time getting their archives organized and if they wouldn't, I should not agree to work on the project. I did make this suggestion which was not well received. Fortunately, a good history of the trustee emerged from Gordon Abbott. I wonder whether the Trustees shouldn't consider publishing this scrapbook in facsimile--well, maybe I should take a look first. Nevertheless, this is extremely exciting news for such a gray February morning. Keith Morgan > > > Dear Professor Morgan: > > Robin Karson suggested that I contact you. She and I recently signed > a contract to publish Becoming Acadia National Park: a Biography of > George B. Dorr. As you doubtless know, Dorr collaborated with Charles > W. Eliot to establish in Maine the Hancock County Trustees of Public > Reservations which was modeled on the Massachusetts Trustees of > Reservations. > > I'm writing to inquire whether you were aware of the existence of a > 132-page scrapbook > compiled by Charles Eliot tracking the development of the Trustee > concept from 1888-1897 ? > > My research on Dorr led me in 2006 to the Massachusetts Trustee > archives located at the Crane Estate, following a review of the > Trustee Minutes at Long Hill. The archives had received very > recently--from Lawrence Eliot--the unprocessed Papers of Charles W. > Eliot II. Contained in one of these boxes--and unknown to Trustee > staff--was the Eliot scrapbook containing news clippings, policy > drafts, invitations, records of meetings, and legal memorabilia > chonologically arranged and frequently bearing the signatures of > Charles Eliot. This unique treasure excited me to no end! I risked > photocopying selected documents from Eliot's scrapbook. Obviously, > the scrapbook requires extensive conservation treatment, including > preparation of a digital copy. > > This scrapbook was recently relocated to the new TTOR Archive and > Research Center in Sharon. As a member of the TTOR Historic Resources > Committee, I offered to promote the importance of this discovery. > When I brought this issue to Karson's attention, she suggested that I > approach you to determine whether you were aware of its existence. > > I look forward to hearing from you. > https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=18 2/19/2009 3/11/2015 XFINITY Connect XFINITY Connect eppster2@comcast.net + Font Size Eliot Family Introduction : CANP, ch. 2 From Ronald Epp Wed, Mar 11, 2015 05:22 PM Subject : Eliot Family Introduction : CANP, ch. 2 1 attachment To : Alec Dear Alec, Thank you for facilitating the use of the Charles Eliot photograph in Keith Morgan's possession. I've delayed responding to your request for a sample chapter from Creating Acadia National Park because I expected a clean --that is, post-edited--version which is still not available. So I've provided you with chapter two where the Eliot family is introduced. I welcome any comments. All the Best, Ronald Epp From: "Alec" To: knmorgan@bu.edu, eppster2@comcast.net Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 3:55:41 PM Subject: Re: George B. Dorr JUST IN CASE I NEVER SENT THIS OUT, HERE IT IS FROM MY DRAFT FILE! Gentlemen - Thanks for the up-date. We all seem to be moving in the right direction. I, of course, am trying to avoid having to dig out the carte de visit and having someone scan it in high pixels, but I will if I have to. Larry Eliot was his father, Charles William Eliot II's, executor (and youngest child). I know him well. Handling his father's papers must have been a very big job. I'd love to see the scrap book. On the MDIHS manuscript, it sound like something that Larry's father might have written. The only Charles Eliot manuscript I know, from a typescript here and at the Loeb Library, is Charles' memoir of his travel in Europe. And of course I would like to see the sample chapter of your biography that deals with the Eliot's Alec - ehttps://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=277202&tz=America/New_York&xim=1 1/3 3/11/2015 XFINITY Connect -Original Message- From: Morgan, Keith N To: Ronald Epp ; Alec Sent: Mon, Feb 9, 2015 7:49 am Subject: Re: George B. Dorr Dear Ronald: I will check with the Library of American Landscape History to see if they have a scan that they can send to you. In terms of Mount Desert, I assume you know about David Haney MA thesis at the University of Pennsylvania on Eliot and Mount Desert. David is a friend, although I have never actually seen his thesis. He teaches in England now. Keith From: Ronald Epp Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 10:57 PM To: Alec Cc: Keith Morgan Subject: Re: George B. Dorr Dear Alex & Keith, Thank you very much for permission to use the requested Charles Eliot photograph. Keith, do you still possesses a scanned copy of the image in question that you could share with me? I just returned from Bar Harbor where I gave a talk at the annual gathering of 300 members of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. I referred at some length to Charles Eliot and the discovery I made at the Crane Estate of his personal Scrapbook. Several people asked afterward how such an important document could have had "so little interest" to the Eliot family, quoting directly from Lawrence Eliot. Do either of you have a read on this situation? While at this meeting I learned also that the MDIHS possesses a Charles Eliot manuscript on the history of Mount Desert Island, a document which was unknown to me. I intend to examine this at my next visit but wondered whether there is anything in the Eliot family archive that refers to this manuscript? Again, Alex, my thanks for your kindness, I can send you a sample chapter of my biography of Mr. Dorr that deals with the Eliot family if you are interested. Cordially, Ronald From: "Alec" To: Eppster2@comcast.net https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=277202&tz=America/New_York&xim=1 2/3 3/11/2015 XFINITY Connect Cc: auimee@friendsofacadia.org Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2015 3:20:38 PM Subject: George B. Dorr Dear Dr. Epp - Your letter arrived here and then the snow which has bogged things down. And now snow again. Yes. I am aware of your book and am looking forward to it very much. I am also aware of Community by Design, written by my friends and published last year and which I am embarrassed to say I had not seen. I needed to see it to find out which photo you wanted to use. I found a copy last week. When Keith Morgan produced the second edition of Charles Eliot Landscape Architect he asked me for permission to use a photo of Eliot standing behind a stone wall (p. viii) and he credited it "Courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky." I chided him for not saying "Courtesy of the family of Carola Eliot Goriansky." It really was her's, and her mother's, photo. And no one else seems to have used it. Then Keith asked me for permission to use a photo in Community by Design. I thought he was using the same photo but not so. This is Eliot's college head-shot and unfortunately credited to "courtesy of the Family of Carola Eliot Goriansky." I have it here in Boston in the form of a carte de visite which Keith saw and may have scanned. He may have it in digitized form. But it had nothing to do with my mother so I think we go back to "Courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky." And yes, I'd be happy if you use it. Sincerely, Alec Goriansky - 617-227-8127 P.O. Box 8752 Boston, MA 02114 _CANP02_clean_editedABC&RE.doc 76 KB https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=277202&tz=America/New_York&xim=1 3/3 3/1/2015 XFINITY Connect XFINITY Connect eppster2@comcast.net + Font Size - Re: George B. Dorr From : Ronald Epp Sun, Mar 01, 2015 08:31 PM Subject : Re: George B. Dorr To : Keith Morgan Dear Keith, Thank you for the scan of Eliot's Harvard photograph. I'll be sure to see that it is appropriately acknowledged. I reviewed your C.V. on the BU website and was enlightened by your your "Muskau and America" article as well as David Haney's "Bringing the American Puckler Back to Germany." I've pursued Haney's M.A. thesis as far as I could take it. Several Yale University staff members have searched for copies of his 1995 thesis in both Proquest, the arts library, and the School of Architecture. Fortunately, I was able to integrate content from his "Legacy of the Picturesque at Mount Desert Island" into my biography of Mr. Dorr, Yet it is still a damn shame that a thief deprived scholars of his research. With much appreciation, Ronald Epp From: "Keith N Morgan" To: "Alec" , eppster2@comcast.net Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 4:34:37 | PM Subject: Re: George B. Dorr Dear Ronald and Alec: My apologies for forgetting to look for this scan of CE's Harvard photograph which I am attaching herewith. Enjoy the weekend. Keith From: Alec Date: Friday, February 27, 2015 at 3:55 PM To: Keith Morgan , "eppster2@comcast.net" Subject: Re: George B. Dorr JUST IN CASE I NEVER SENT THIS OUT, HERE IT IS FROM MY DRAFT FILE! Gentlemen - https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=275058&tz=America/New_York&xim=1 1/3 3/1/2015 XFINITY Connect Thanks for the up-date. We all seem to be moving in the right direction. I, of course, am trying to avoid having to dig out the carte de visit and having someone scan it in high pixels, but I will if I have to. Larry Eliot was his father, Charles William Eliot II's, executor (and youngest child). I know him well. Handling his father's papers must have been a very big job. I'd love to see the scrap book. On the MDIHS manuscript, it sound like something that Larry's father might have written. The only Charles Eliot manuscript I know, from a typescript here and at the Loeb Library, is Charles' memoir of his travel in Europe. And of course I would like to see the sample chapter of your biography that deals with the Eliot's Alec - Original Message From: Morgan, Keith N To: Ronald Epp ; Alec Sent: Mon, Feb 9, 2015 7:49 am Subject: Re: George B. Dorr Dear Ronald: I will check with the Library of American Landscape History to see if they have a scan that they can send to you. In terms of Mount Desert, I assume you know about David Haney MA thesis at the University of Pennsylvania on Eliot and Mount Desert. David is a friend, although I have never actually seen his thesis. He teaches in England now. Keith From: Ronald Epp Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 10:57 PM To: Alec Cc: Keith Morgan Subject: Re: George B. Dorr Dear Alex & Keith, Thank you very much for permission to use the requested Charles Eliot photograph. Keith, do you still possesses a scanned copy of the image in question that you could share with me? I just returned from Bar Harbor where I gave a talk at the annual gathering of 300 members of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. I referred at some length to Charles Eliot and the discovery I made at the Crane Estate of his personal Scrapbook. Several people asked afterward how such an important document could have had "so little interest" to the Eliot family, quoting directly from Lawrence Eliot. Do either of you have a read on this situation? While at this meeting I learned also that the MDIHS possesses a Charles Eliot manuscript on the history of Mount Desert Island, a document which was unknown to me. I intend to examine this at my next visit but wondered whether there is anything in the Eliot family archive that refers to this manuscript? Again, Alex, my thanks for your kindness, I can send you a sample chapter of my biography of Mr. Dorr that deals with the Eliot family if you are interested. Cordially, Ronald From: "Alec" https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=275058&tz=America/New_York&xim= 2/3 Page 1 of 2 Re: Eliot Scrapbook From To Date Thu, 21 May 2009 17:09:33 -0400 Dear Ron: I shall look forward to finding your kind mailing of your notes when I next visit the university. My address in the Berkshires is: 79 Seekonk Cross Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230. One of my sons is leaving for a new job in Uganda on the 15th, so we may all be in Boston at that point. My telephone number here is (413) 528-3620. Will you be at the Red Lion for just one night? Cheers, Keith > Dear Keith, > > Thank you for the responses to my questions. They were helpful. > > I sent my notes to you at BU since I did not have your Berkshire address. > Can you share? I may be coming to the Red Lion Inn in mid-June (16th) > for a Trustees > Historic Resources Committee meeting. Perhaps we could meet and have lunch. > > All the Best, > > Ron > > Quoting knmorgan@bu.edu: >> Dear Ron: >> >> Thanks for your note. I have not received the scrapbook notes, but I am >> grateful for your sharing and sending them to me. Were they mailed to >> the university by chance? If so, I have not been back there since >> graduation last weekend, so they may await my return. In response to >> your excellent questions, I did review the material from >> the Houghton Mifflin archive at Houghton Library and made some >> references to it in the introduction that I wrote for the new edition >> of Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. When we moved to the > : > Berkshires, I donated all my files on Eliot to the Special Collections >> Department at Loeb Library, GSD. If you are making the trip to >> Cambridge any way, it is probably better to go to the originals at >> Houghton than to my files at GSD. I did not find any evidence that I > > recall of President Eliot using his >> summers to work on the biography/anthology. Perhaps the date of the >> correspondence at Houghton would reinforce a perfectly logical >> assumption that he pursued this project during his summers in Maine. > > Was Lawrence Eliot a son of Charles W. Eliot II? It is interesting >> that no members of the family were interested in the scrapbook. CWE II >> was very kind and helpful to me at various stages of my interest in CE, >> but he never mentioned this scrapbook to me, nor did Alec Goriansky >> tell me of its existence. Many thanks, again, for arranging the >> visit to the archives. Good luck >> as you complete your book--I look forward to reading it. Cheers, >> >> Keith >> >> > >> > >> > Dear Keith, >> > https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=889 5/21/2009 Page 2 of 2 I trust that you have received the scrapbook notes I promised to > sends you when we met last week at the ARC. > >> > A couple of matters where I'd appreciate your input. > 1. I have >> not looked at the Houghton Mifflin collection at the >> > Houghton Library but wonder whether you did and took any notes of the >> > publication schedule for Charles Eliot: Landscape Architect. > >> Published in June 1902, it would be helpful to my narrative in the >> > Dorr biography to know when (a) Eliot offered HM the opportunity to >> > publish it, and (b) when a first draft was sent off to the >> publisher. > I'm trying to coordinate this effort by President Eliot >> with his >> > August 1901 gathering of the incorporators of the Hancock County >> > Trustees of Public Reservations. Even lacking the details, what is >> > your impression? >> > >> > 2. According to Henry James, quite soon after the death of Charles >> > Eliot, President Eliot began to assemble his son's papers. Have you >> > run across any indication that for the next several years work on >> > this project may have taken place in Maine rather than Cambridge? I'm >> > wondering whether the demands of the presidency may have led him to >> > sequester this work as a summer project. Could it be that Mount >> > Desert was the environment in which this project was undertaken? Of >> > course he knew well of his Charles' landmark Garden & Forest essay on >> > the "Coast of Maine," but could it be that working on this biography >> > in Northeast Harbor further seeded his intrerest in transplanting the >> > Trustee concept to Maine? >> > >> > 3. I just ran across notes that I took during a July 12, 2007 >> > interview at Castle Hill with Lawrence Eliot, the donor of the Eliot >> > scrapbook. I asked him if he had surveyed it and he remarked that he >> > did not because he was dyslexic. He believed that the routing of it >> > was from CE to CWE to CWE II. He made it quite clear that as far as >> > he knew "there was no family interest in it or awareness of its >> > importance over the generations." >> > >> > Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks again for meeting with >> > me at the ARC. > >> > Ron >> > >> > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive >> > Merrimack, NH 03054 >> > (603) 424-6149 >> > eppster2@myfairpoint.net >> > >> >> >> >> > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive > Merrimack, NH 03054 > (603) 424-6149 > eppster2@myfairpoint.net > > > https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=889 5/21/2009 Page 1 of 3 Re: Charles Eliot Scrapbook From To Date Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:54:21 -0500 Dear Ron: I am delighted that the gift of the Eliot scrapbook has provided an introduction to a kindred spirit. I am also pleased to see that my somewhat skeptical attitude towards the Trustees was understood. My wife is currently spending many hours and much money doing volunteer research for the Trustees. I would not want her to feel that the organization really didn't support her efforts. At the moment, my life is fairly chaotic, having agreed to do too many things on campus while trying to keep a research project for Fairsted moving along as well. I think it would be great to descend on the Sharon archives together. Monday afternoons are often the best times for me, although Wednesday afternoons are also possible. I maintain a crazy existence of working in Boston and living in the Berkshires--at least on the weekends--so my time in town is usually overbooked. Let me know what might work best for your schedule, and we can continue plotting. Cheers, Keith > > > Dear Keith, > > Now that we've exchanged introductory emails, I hope you will address > me as "Ron." > > I am delighted that we share enthusiasm for the Eliot Scrapbook > discovery. To arrange a visit at the ARC, contact Mark Wilson at > 781-784-8200 (mwilson@ttor.org). Shortly after my retirement from > academic library administration, I was called to the ARC to give a > pro bono appraisal of their archival plans. Recently, Mark invited me > to come back and see what progress they have made. Perhaps we could > arrange to visit on the same date. > > You might also wish to contact Lawrence Eliot in Ipswich > 978-356-3742 (Iceliot@comcast.net) for additional details about > transfer of the C.W. Eliot II papers to the TTOR. He lives within > eyeshot of the Crane Estate. > > The cautioning remarks of Charles W. Eliot II about the need for > the TTOR to get their archives in order was well founded. I was not > surprised to hear that when you made this suggestion it was "not well > received." I must inform you that my repeated offers to write an > article about the scrapbook discovery were resisted. I was informed > that the organization was not prepared to deal with the scholarly > interest that public awareness might arouse. Now that the ARC is a > reality, they might be more receptive. Confidentially, it is my > impression as a member of the TTOR Historic Resources Committee that > there appears to be an unstated belief held by some staff that paid > staff should do the work of the organization, not > volunteers--regardless of their credentials. I hope I am wrong on > this matter. > > I think that the Eliot Scrapbook is worthy of publishing as a > facsimile. Should you agree with that appraisal after examining the https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=196 2/20/2009 Page 2 of 3 > scrapbook, perhaps we could do something collaboratively. Especially > since the Eliot family figures so prominently in the two Trustee > organizations and my own biography. > > With best wishes, > > Ron > > P.S. Before my third career as a academic library director, I was > editor of a scholarly journal published the Association or College > and Research Libraries, and before that a Professor of Philosophy at > the U.S.Naval Academy and the universities of Memphis and Hartford > "specializing" in ancient philosophy, environmental ethics, and the > history of ideas. > >> > Quoting knmorgan@bu.edu: >> > Dear Ronald Epp: >> > >> > Thank you so much for this very exciting news. I would be very eager >> > to inspect the scrapbook. Do you know who I should contact at the >> > Sharon archives? >> > >> > I find it slightly ironic that Charles W. Eliot, II, had this scrapbook >> > in his collection and never told me about it. At one point, the >> > Trustees asked me to consider writing a history of the organization. I >> > spoke with Charles W. Eliot, II, about this project and he suggested >> > that I demand that the Trustee spend time getting their archives >> > organized and if they wouldn't, I should not agree to work on the >> > project. I did make this suggestion which was not well received. >> > Fortunately, a good history of the trustee emerged from Gordon Abbott. >> > >> > I wonder whether the Trustees shouldn't consider publishing this >> > scrapbook in facsimile--well, maybe I should take a look first. >> > Nevertheless, this is extremely exciting news for such a gray February >> > morning. >> >> > Keith Morgan >> >> > > > Dear Professor Morgan: > Robin Karson suggested that I contact you. She and I recently signed > a contract to publish Becoming Acadia National Park: a Biography of > George B. Dorr. As you doubtless know, Dorr collaborated with Charles > W. Eliot to establish in Maine the Hancock County Trustees of Public > Reservations which was modeled on the Massachusetts Trustees of >> > Reservations. >> >> > I'm writing to inquire whether you were aware of the existence of a > 132-page scrapbook > compiled by Charles Eliot tracking the development of the Trustee > concept from 1888-1897 > My research on Dorr led me in 2006 to the Massachusetts Trustee archives located at the Crane Estate, following a review of the > Trustee Minutes at Long Hill. The archives had received very recently--from Lawrence Eliot--the unprocessed Papers of Charles W. > Eliot II. Contained in one of these boxes--and unknown to Trustee > staff--was the Eliot scrapbook containing news clippings, policy > drafts, invitations, records of meetings, and legal memorabilia > chonologically arranged and frequently bearing the signatures of > Charles Eliot. This unique treasure excited me to no end! I risked > photocopying selected documents from Eliot's scrapbook. Obviously, > the scrapbook requires extensive conservation treatment, including preparation of a digital copy. > https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=196 2/20/2009 Page 3 of 3 > This scrapbook was recently relocated to the new TTOR Archive and > Research Center in Sharon. As a member of the TTOR Historic Resources > Committee, I offered to promote the importance of this discovery. >> > When I brought this issue to Karson's attention, she suggested that I >> > approach you to determine whether you were aware of its existence. >>>> >>>> I look forward to hearing from you. >>>> >> > Cordially, >> > >> > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. >> > 47 Pondview Drive >> > Merrimack, NH 03054 >> > (603) 424-6149 >> > eppster2@myfairpoint.net >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >> Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. >> 47 Pondview Drive >> Merrimack, NH 03054 >> (603) 424-6149 >> eppster2@myfairpoint.net >> > > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive > Merrimack, NH 03054 > (603) 424-6149 > eppster2@myfairpoint.net > > End forwarded message > Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. > 47 Pondview Drive > Merrimack, NH 03054 > (603) 424-6149 > eppster2@myfairpoint.net https://webmail.myfairpoint.net/hwebmail/mail/message.php?index=19 2/20/2009 Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect: An Introduction to His Life and Work Keith N. Morgan Just five days after Charles Eliot died in 1897 at the age of 37, Charles Sprague Sargent published his obituary in Garden and Forest, his weekly journal. As an apprentice to Frederick Law Olmsted, Eliot had prepared planting plans for the Arnold Arboretum, and thereafter Sargent followed his career, first in solo prac- tice and later as partner to Olmsted. Sargent wrote, "in a great variety of work he has proved himself one of the most accomplished of designers. He had an intense appreciation of nature, but he always kept up his student habits, exam- ining the outdoor world critically, and reasoning upon what he saw to establish principles which could be applied in practice." Sargent also knew Eliot as a frequent contributor to Garden and Forest; he would be missed for his "gift of expression in a singularly effective style his writings embody such an amount of sound doctrine, effectively stated, that one regrets that he has not left more of this kind of work behind him. it is no exaggeration to say that his untimely death is an almost irreparable loss to rural art in America " In 1902 Eliot's father, President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University, compiled and annotated the son's writings, which he published as Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. Nearly a century later, it remains one of our most valuable collections of landscape writing and a necessary resource for those interested in the history of landscape architecture or city and regional planning. The follow- ing essay is excerpted from the introduction to a new edition. R recently returned to Boston from a year- private estates. He became one of the country's long study tour of Europe, the young most prolific and influential landscape critics Charles Eliot set up a landscape architec- and historians, and provided the creative and ture practice on Park Street in December 1886. political impetus for the Trustees of Public Over the next decade he would make an indel- Reservations, the first statewide preservation ible mark on the physical form of the metropoli- and conservation organization in the country tan region and beyond. In Eliot's solo practice, and the precursor to Britain's National Trust. and later as a partner in Olmsted, Olmsted and Finally, and most importantly, Eliot directed the Eliot, he developed many fine public parks and early development of the Boston Metropolitan Five images of Charles Eliot (1859-1897), clockwise from top left, C. 1863; C. 1869; Harvard College graduation photograph, 1882; at age 35; at center, age 37. Courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky. Source: Charles Elioti handscape Architect. Amherst: u. of Massachure H Press. 1999. Pp. vii - l. 4 Arnoldia 1999 Summer Park System, one of the first and most success- ful American experiments in regional landscape planning. It is astounding that all this was accomplished in less than eleven years. Eliot's death from spinal meningitis in 1897, at the age of thirty-seven, robbed the country of one of its most talented landscape architects ever. Early Years When Charles Eliot was born in 1859, his father was a professor of mathematics and chemistry at Harvard College. His mother, Ellen Peabody Eliot, was an amateur artist and lover of nature. She died when he was ten years old. Charles had one younger brother, Samuel Atkins Eliot, who became an important Unitarian minister, presiding over the Arlington Street Church, Boston, and president of the Unitarian Associa- tion. The Eliots' home life was characterized by cultural and social prestige and by intellectual stimulation. In 1863, after losing a promotion battle at Harvard, Eliot senior took his family abroad SO that he could study in French and German labo- ratories.¹ From August of that year, when young Charles was three, through the summer of 1865, the family traveled between Paris, London, Ellen Peabody Eliot and her sons, Samuel Atkins Heidelberg, Marberg, Vienna, Berlin, Switzer- Eliot and (standing) Charles Eliot. land, and Italy. Late in 1864 Ellen Eliot wrote to her mother of the family's life abroad: the fall of 1865, but his wife's lung and throat congestion prompted them to return to Europe I keep regular school for Charly every morning & it is a pleasure & an interest to him & to me. in June 1867 through the following June. Mrs. He learns readily & enjoys it highly-I really Eliot died a year later. sometimes fear the chicks may be spoiled by the Young Charles had loved learning at his entire devotion of their parents to them. They mother's knee, but he found formal education are necessarily with me all day & Charly sews onerous. In 1876 he wrote of the school he with me & studies with me & paints with me attended between ages twelve and sixteen: "To and they generally walk with me, and it is rarely my dismay was sent to Kendall's School, Appian that I can catch Charles-Every day C[harles] Way! Disliked most of the boys but liked gives Charly a regular gymnastic exercise-the Kendall. Often dissolved in tears even in school- child has improved much in the use of his arms room; much to my despair. 114 Fortunately, his & legs.2 education was supplemented by drawing les- The exercises were intended to counteract the sons from Charles H. Moore, which he liked. lingering effects of a bout of typhoid fever that He made lifelong friends at Kendall's, however, little Charles had suffered during the winter of especially Roland Thaxter and John H. Storer, 1863-1864. He was ill for more than a year but and his preparation there helped him pass the eventually recovered fully.³ entrance examination for Harvard College in An invitation to teach chemistry at the Mas- June 1877. sachusetts Institute of Technology brought the Charles was a fragile boy, diffident and senior Eliot and his family back to Cambridge in often given to melancholic moods, while Sam Charles Eliot 5 Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect: A Father's Life of His Son This extraordinary volume, 770 pages in length, is the record of a developing land- scape philosophy, the story of a remarkable career, and a landmark in American writing on landscape architecture. Originally pub- lished in 1902 and reprinted in 1999, it is a rare example of filial biography, the story of a son's life by his father. Charles's father, President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard Uni- versity, did not sign the title page because he considered his role to be that of editor and organizer of his son's writings and record. Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect is really three books intertwined. The first is an intimate life story, told as a loving trib- ute by a devoted father. The second is a spe- cies of superb travel literature, written by young Charles from the perspective of a landscape analyst. The third is an annotated, chronological anthology of professional cor- Charles W Eliot (1838-1926) respondence and public reports. President The things are set forth, not in the above Eliot's format places these elements in the order but in the chronological sequence of context of his understanding of his son's life Charles Eliot's experiences and labors. I only and career. edit the volume; it is in the main written by While his name does not appear on the Charles Eliot himself. title page, there is no question of President Eliot's role as helmsman on this journey of The elder Eliot probably began to consider reconstruction. He not only wrote but the project in the days immediately follow- financed the publication of this book. For ing his son's death. In April of 1897 he told the publisher's spring catalogue of 1902, the one friend, "I am examining his letters and senior Eliot provided Houghton Mifflin with papers, and I am filled with wonder at what a statement of the contents and purposes of he accomplished in the ten years of profes- sional life In the natural course of events the volume: I should have died without ever having It describes (1) the short but fruitful life of a appreciated his influence. His death has well-born and well-trained American; (2) shown it to me. 112 how he got his training as landscape archi- In 1902 no precedent existed for a mono- tect; (3) the enjoyment of landscape at home graph on an American landscape architect. and in travel; (4) the physical features of en- Frederick Law Olmsted's biography was yet joyable landscape; (5) the landscape art- what it can do, and what it should aim to do; to be written, and no other member of this (6) the means of promoting and carrying on young profession, or American landscape public landscape works; and (7) as illustra- architecture as a field, had yet attracted tions of (6) the methods and achievements of book-length analysis. The rich archival col- the Metropolitan Park Commission (Boston) lections that survive from both father and to which he was landscape advisor during its son document the multiple-year campaign first five years. by President Eliot to assemble the reports, 6 Arnoldia 1999 Summer observed Charles senior's biographer, "their wealth obliged them to strive for personal achievement and social usefulness. 114 So we are treated to glimpses of many family mem- bers including President Eliot's first wife and young Charles's mother, Ellen Peabody Eliot. Thus the book is an intimate family portrait. Not all of the nearly 750 pages of text will prove interesting to a modern reader. For example, the chapter on the Met- ropolitan Park Commission projects of 1894 is excessively detailed, of concern only to those thoroughly familiar with the topogra- phy of the Boston area parks. But certain sec- tions of the text are true gems of landscape literature. Anyone interested in the history of landscape architecture, regional planning, or city planning will want to read them. The book's frontispiece-Charles Eliot, Despite the book's being privately pro- landscape architect, at age 33. duced and only moderately distributed, it has become a classic in the literature correspondence, and diaries from which he drew this manuscript. The speed at which of American landscape architecture and the book was written and published reflects city planning, just as President Eliot had its author's determination, especially given hoped that the example of his son's brief career would be a standard and a model for his other responsibilities as president of Harvard. the profession. The father presented a very different biog- Notes raphy from the one his son would have written about himself. By today's standards, 1 Charles W. Eliot to publisher, 15 December 1901, the book is hagiographic; Eliot emerges as Houghton Mifflin Collection, Houghton Library, the perfect model for the young profession, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. receiving credit for ideas and projects that 2 Charles W. Eliot to D. C. Gilman, 23 April 1897, were actually the work of many minds and quoted in Henry James, Charles W Eliot, hands. The overstatement of Eliot's achieve- President of Harvard University, 1869-1909 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930), 91-92. ments is particularly evident in the descrip- tion of his role at the Metropolitan Park 3 Baxter certainly wrote about the idea of a Commission. President Eliot presents his metropolitan park system before Eliot, but the landscape architect had been thinking about son as the sole creator, but it is clear that the issues of regional planning for many years and journalist Sylvester Baxter played a seminal would prove to have the staying power and role in conceiving of the metropolitan Bos- political acumen necessary to make it possible to ton ideal.³ realize Baxter's dream. Sylvester Baxter, Greater Also, President Eliot's narrative empha- Boston A Study for a Federated Metropolis (Boston, 1891), and "Greater Boston's Metro- sizes the importance of heredity and the politan Park System," Boston Evening influential background from which his son Transcript, Part 5, 29 September 1923, p. 8. had emerged. The Eliots belonged to what 4 Hugh Hawkins, Between Harvard and America Oliver Wendell Holmes had dubbed "the The Educational Leadership of Charles W. Eliot Brahmin caste of Boston." "In their eyes," (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), 3. Charles Eliot 7 resembled his father. As President Eliot wrote: continued to grow. Charles secretly complained "His father and brother had very different that he was "distressed by father never telling temperaments from his. They were sanguine, Sam & me of his plans & doings as he once did. confident, content with present action, and Also much annoyed by many things at 'home'. 117 little given to contemplation of either the Nonetheless, within a few years it was his past or the future; Charles was reticent, self- stepmother who became an anchor in his emo- distrustful, speculative, and dissatisfied with tional life. his actual work, though faithful and patient in President Eliot hoped to improve his studies which did not interest him or open to firstborn's sense of self and increase his physical him intellectual pleasures. 5 Charles Eliot seems strength by involving him in the "strenuous to have inherited his mother's talents and inter- life," camping and sailing along the coast of ests in art and nature. Unfortunately, her death New England. Young Charles enjoyed these rig- in 1869 coincided with his father's appointment orous forays into nature. During the summers of to the presidency of Harvard College: the emo- his second and third years at Harvard, he orga- tional gulf widened between the busy father and nized and led a small band of classmates known his awkward, shy elder son. as the Champlain Society in scientific explora- When his father remarried in 1877, the young tion of Mount Desert Island in Maine. Like man resented the intrusion of a stepmother. Theodore Roosevelt, his near-contemporary at He recorded his reactions to a new union in his Harvard, young Charles Eliot embraced life diary: "Heard rumors of father's wooing a Miss in the out-of-doors, but he was inspired prima- Hopkinson and one day after Sam had gone East rily by a delight in viewing nature. 8 President was told by father of his engagement. 116 After Eliot had consistently reinforced the benefits President Eliot married Grace Mellen of physical activity and knowledge of the Hopkinson in October, Charles reported that he wilderness, emphasizing this experience as "tried hard to be pleasant, but felt awkward and a way of counteracting his elder son's melan- 'queer'." The distance between father and son cholic withdrawals. Beginning in 1871, Charles, his father and brother, and the family of his uncle pursued the open-air life on Calf Island, near Mount Desert, Maine. With one exception, they continued to camp and yacht there every summer through 1878. Charles made this drawing of the camp in 1875. 8 Arnoldia 1999 Summer together devised a postgraduate THEER AND course of study at Harvard's Bussey Institute, a professional apprenticeship with Frederick Law Olmsted, and a period of professional travel in the United States and abroad. "You See I Am a Wanderer" Charles Eliot was a landscape wanderer, constant but atten- tive, and a connoisseur of landscape forms.9 While still HARLESTON a young teenager, he began in 1875 to take a series of walk- SAVANNAH ing tours, often tied to public Map and title page of Charles Eliot's journal of his trip through South transportation routes, which Carolina, Georgia, and Florida with his aunt, 1874. allowed him to visit natural areas throughout the greater The Education of a Landscape Architect Boston basin in a methodical manner. In his Charles Eliot's preparation for a career in land- diary for 1878, he provides a "Partial List of scape architecture began long before his Harvard Saturday Walks before 1878." Eliot would later years. During the family's travels in Europe, his recommend many of the sites as additions to parents showed him the beauties of many natu- the metropolitan park system. He also meticu- ral and manmade landscapes. After the death of lously recorded a short trip that he took with his mother, his father and other family mem- his father in 1875, to a "small manufacturing bers continued this tradition. In the summer of village" (of which he drew a plan), where there 1871 the Eliots spent their first summer on was "a very large woolen mill" and also "a tan- Mount Desert, and the following year they nery and a stream below the mill. 1110 Charles's acquired a forty-three-and-a-half-foot sloop, The penchant for landscape description and analysis Sunshine. Maine would remain a central and was further nurtured by keeping the log for important part of Charles Eliot's life thereafter. The Sunshine. In spring 1874 Charles, then fourteen, accom- During his thirteen-month tour of England panied his aunt Anna Peabody on a trip through and the Continent in 1885-1886, Eliot contin- South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. A note- ued to record scenery through detailed narra- book in which he recorded his impressions tives and sketches. In a richly annotated of the landscape, people, and local customs collection of excerpts from his diaries and jour- provides us early evidence of his response to nals, Eliot assesses the design, horticulture, and landscapes. At this time he was sketching fre- topography of the sites on his self-generated quently, exhibiting the natural talent that itinerary and offers sharp opinions about would later encourage him to consider a career the defining characteristics of cultural land- in landscape architecture. scapes-admiring the Scandinavian country- In shaping his education, Charles had the side, expressing contempt for French landscape advantage (or disadvantage) of being the son of fashion and suspicion toward the "nabobry" of one of the era's major educational reformers. the aristocratic English landscape.11 Eliot often Parent and child frequently discussed Charles used his extensive knowledge of the New Eliot's future vocation, although it was England landscape as a touchstone, describing Charles's own decision to pursue a career in an island near Stockholm, for example, as landscape architecture. Since no professional "roughly, wildly beautiful in a wholly New programs existed at the time, the two men Englandish manner." Charles Eliot 9 Two views of Antibes drawn by Charles Eliot, March 1886. From Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (1902). Of all the private estates, public parks, and No landscape architect before Eliot had com- natural sites that Eliot methodically visited bined SO thorough a grounding in the literature in Europe, he was most affected by the former of the profession with such close observation of estate of Prince Hermann Pückler at Muskau the practice of landscape architecture. Eliot's in Silesia. In one of his last letters to Olmsted call slips from the British Library are evidence before returning in October 1887, Eliot effused of his voracious literary appetite and the about the lessons that Muskau could teach: methodical manner in which he read everything His park is probably the finest work of real land- on the topic in English, French, and German scape gardening on a large scale that this century from the seventeenth century on. 14 Thus Eliot has seen carried out in Europe. It is a work that returned to the United States with a uniquely has made one very proud of the profession-for profound knowledge of the history of his profes- here was a river valley in great part very barren, sion. In the December 1887 issue of Garden and fringed by monstrous woods of p. sylvestris and Forest, he included a recommended list of books in no way remarkable for beauty or interest-but on landscape architecture, based on his readings now one of the loveliest vales on earth-and full in Europe. to the brim, so to speak, of variety or pleasant change, of quieting and often touching beauty.13 Eliot also actively pursued the individuals who could help him grow professionally. 15 His In many ways, Muskau served as a prototype journals recount his critical reaction to many of for all that Charles Eliot would do in America. the leading landscape gardeners and nurserymen Every element of the landscape-the pleasure of Europe. One of the most hospitable of his grounds near the Schloss, the village and the English contacts was James Bryce, with whom alum factory, the river valley and the surround- Eliot stayed in both London and Oxford. Bryce ing woodlands-was carefully "improved" with was an avid mountaineer, secretary of the Com- native plants. Pückler presented Eliot with a mons Preservation Society, and the author of lasting lesson on how to capitalize on the inher- the Scottish Mountains bill and other open ent qualities of site and celebrate the ability of space legislation in Parliament. Thus, he could man to enhance nature. share with young Charles Eliot his direct 10 Arnoldia 1999 Summer scape preservation strategies in England and was able to share his knowledge of parallel Ameri- can efforts. It could not have been a better preparation for the work that lay ahead. "Mr. Olmsted's Profession" Charles Eliot inherited the Sioe mantle of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., who defined the post-Civil War profession of landscape architecture in the United States. After pursuing careers as a farmer, journalist, publisher, and traveler, Olmsted had established himself as the country's leading landscape architect with his 1858 design for Central Park in New York VERSAILLES AVENUE. City. He moved his highly suc- cessful practice to Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1883. One of Olmsted's neighbors in that sub- urb was Charles Eliot's uncle, the architect Robert Swain Expect sistain Peabody. It was he who sug- gested Olmsted as a potential role model to the young man in search of a vocation. 16 After a period of self-designed study at hand Harvard's Bussey Institute, in 1883 Eliot gladly accepted the Their this fores St. for invitation to become the first Spanies S pleasure driver time/properties official unpaid apprentice in the Olmsted office. (am accounting effect Olmsted soon recognized Charles Eliot's multiple talents French trees and avenues drawn by Charles Eliot in and near Paris, 1886 From Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (1902). and encouraged their develop- ment. While Eliot was in Europe knowledge of efforts to legislate landscape pres- in 1885-1886, he wrote frequently to Olmsted ervation in Britain. Eliot also visited the secre- about the sites he visited and people he met, tary of the Lake District Defense Society, Canon many of them through his mentor. Olmsted Hardwicke D. Rawnsley, an activist who advo- responded, "I have seen no such justly critical cated protection of the Lake District, especially notes as yours on landscape architecture mat- from the potential intrusion of railroad lines ters from any traveler for a generation past. You and urban reservoirs. Later, he was one of the ought to make it a part of your scheme to write founders of the National Trust for Places of for the public, a little at a time if you please, but Scenic and Natural Beauty in Great Britain. methodically, systematically. It is part of your From their meeting, Eliot learned about land- professional duty to do SO. "18 Eliot heeded Charles Eliot 11 In 1885, as apprentice to Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles Eliot worked on planting plans for the Arnold Arboretum He also worked at the Arboretum, staking out shrub beds from plans he had helped to prepare. This photograph of the collection was taken in May 1931. Olmsted's advice and became one of the most ing for Olmsted, Eliot asked his former mentor productive and effective landscape critics of his to provide a reference for an advertisement generation. announcing his new business.20 Gradually, the professional relationship Three years later, Eliot asked Henry Codman, achieved more equal footing. While Eliot was in who had followed him as an apprentice in the Europe, Olmsted asked him to return home and Olmsted office, to join his firm as a partner, but join the firm. Olmsted was currently developing Codman declined. Then, in July 1889, in a letter plans for the Stanford University campus in to Olmsted, Eliot proposed yet another plan: California and was eager to capitalize on Eliot's My talk with Codman has led me to imagine a fresh knowledge of Mediterranean plant mate- possible general union of forces in which all rial and design. President Eliot's opinion of the three of us young men [Eliot, Codman, and John offer was characteristically firm: "You can make Charles Olmsted] might serve as more or less an excursion to California whenever it is your independent captains under you as general. We interest to do so for $300 & I shall be happy to could perhaps have offices in N.Y. and Phila. as pay for it. I see no inducement whatever in Mr. well as in Boston and Brookline and while we O's offer of $50 a month. You had better start for should manage all small jobs ourselves we yourself in my opinion. My impression is in should refer all weighty matters and all persons favor of refusal by cable-"Decline" & by effu- who distinctly desired your opinion to you.²1 sive letter." 19 In the end, Eliot took his father's But his idea never materialized. Codman advice, finishing his trip as planned and setting accepted a position with Olmsted, and Eliot up his own office on his return. Instead of work- continued to pursue his independent practice 12 Arnoldia 1999 Summer One of Hamburg's Alster Basins, which served as Charles Eliot's inspiration for his 1894 proposal for the improvement of the Charles River in Boston until January 1893, when Codman suddenly he stated his (and Olmsted's) belief that land- died from appendicitis while supervising scape architects must alter natural conditions to the landscape development of the World's meet the needs of the public. 22 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Once again, On one occasion, Eliot actually wrote an Olmsted, especially eager for help with the Chi- article that was published under Olmsted's cago Fair, begged Eliot to become a partner, not name. The senior Eliot states that "Parks, Park- just a junior employee; this time the younger ways, and Pleasure Grounds" in Engineering man saw a more dynamic role for himself and Magazine was "a concise statement-with agreed. In March 1893, the office of Olmsted, some new illustrations-of doctrines which Mr. Olmsted and Eliot was officially announced. Olmsted had been teaching all his life. It was By the time Eliot had joined the firm in 1893, prepared however by Charles Mr. Olmsted Olmsted's health had begun to fail, and one of being unable at the time to write it himself. 1123 the burdens Eliot could take on for his elder Eliot had thoroughly absorbed every lesson on partner was the writing of reports and articles. landscape aesthetics and professional practice Much of the younger man's writings was cast that Olmsted taught. In addition to the standard in his mold, including one article that defended Olmsted agenda, the article includes new ideas his former mentor. Realizing that Olmsted's that Eliot was then pursuing and for which he work for the Boston Municipal Park Commis- uses new language-for instance, "reservations sion was frequently attacked for its "unnatural- of scenery," "Board of Trustees." ness," Eliot responded with an article titled As an ultimate indication of mentor-student "The Gentle Art of Defeating Nature," in which closeness, Eliot was invited to draft an obituary Charles Eliot 13 for Olmsted in 1896 (several years before scape Architecture, as much as Central Park. Olmsted's death). He submitted the draft "with They will be the opening of new chapters in great diffidence," he wrote in the accompanying the art.26 letter, having "been too near him to write it All but the first of these landmark projects rightly." Eliot began the piece: "It is seldom that were commissions that Eliot brought to the the death of one man removes a whole profes- firm. sion, but, excepting for a few associates person- Within the Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot ally inspired by him, this is really what has office, Charles exerted a major influence, espe- happened in the case of the death of Frederick cially among the younger members of the firm. Law Olmsted. Eliot was certainly one of Warren Manning worked closely with Eliot on those "associates personally inspired by him" the analysis of the metropolitan reservations, and provided a rich and elegant account of his learning a process of natural-condition data col- mentor's life and work. lection and systematic analysis that he would From his apprenticeship days on, when Eliot use frequently later in his practice. 27 Arthur wrote to his family and friends about Olmsted, Shurcliff, who with Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. he expressed a mixture of both respect and criti- established the first academic program in land- cism in his letters. He happily told his close scape architecture at Harvard, wrote extensively friend Roland Thaxter in October 1883 that he about the lessons he had learned from Eliot. 28 had "become apprentice to the leading man in The poignant vacuum that Charles Eliot's early my proposed profession-namely Mr. Fred. Law death left in the firm is hauntingly symbolized Olmsted the man who has had a hand in by the photograph that Shurcliff took of Eliot's almost every great Park work that has been desk on the day he died. attempted in this country."25 But in six years of private practice, Eliot had formed his own dis- Eliot's Landscape Philosophy and Language tinct opinions and was highly critical of many Eliot envisioned a new type of public landscape things that Olmsted did. Eliot also maintained and used a distinctive vocabulary to articulate a many of his earlier, independent jobs-such as new set of objectives. Whereas Olmsted wrote positions on the Metropolitan Park and the about green country parks, parkways, and pasto- Cambridge Park commissions-after he joined the firm. Eliot was neither an extension nor pale reflection of Olmsted; he was his own man, facing important new issues in the profession of landscape architecture. Olmsted was delighted to have his former apprentice in the firm and the added income from major projects on which Charles was working. In an 1893 letter to his partners, Olmsted effused about the importance of the work cur- rently in the office: Nothing else compares in importance to us with the Boston work, meaning the Metropolitan quite equally with the city work. The two together will be the most important work in our profession now in hand anywhere in the world. In your probable life-time, Muddy River, Blue Hills, the Fells, Waverley Oaks, Charles River, the Beaches will be points to date Charles Eliot's desk at the offices of Olmsted, Olmsted (v) Eliot as from in the history of American Land- photographed by Arthur A. Shurcliff on the day he died. 14 Arnoldia 1999 Summer Charles Eliot's "scientific 'park system'" for metropolitan Boston included reclaiming the riverbanks and beaches, which were occupied by tenements and industry. In 1896, word spread that the Metropolitan Parks Commission had "reserved" three miles of Revere Beach for the use of the public With warm weather, multitudes began to visit, as seen in the photograph at the top. On one Sunday in July the number mounted to 45,000, convincing the Commissioners that large-scale constructions were needed to accomodate visitors. Charles Eliot spent the rest of that year preparing plans. By 1900, streets and railroads had been relocated, shanties and saloons razed, and sidewalk, driveway, and promenade built. Those constructions can scarcely be seen in the photograph at bottom, taken during "the carnival" for one week in August, local business people were permitted to use part of the beach for sports and amusements, including balloon ascensions and diving horses Charles Eliot 15 ral retreats as places in which modern city 2nd As much as possible of the shores and dwellers could find spiritual replenishment islands of the Bay. through passive contemplation of nature, Eliot 3rd The courses of the larger Tidal estuaries discussed reservations, trusteeships, and rural (above their commercial usefulness) because of landscape preservation that would provide the value of these courses as pleasant routes to settings for active enjoyment of nature. In con- the heart of the City and to the Sea. trast to Olmsted's retreat into a private contem- 4th Two or three large areas of wild forest on plation of nature, Eliot compared scenery the outer rim of the inhabited area. or landscape to other advantages of urban cul- ture, especially books and art. While Olmsted's 5th Numerous small squares in the midst of parks were created through design, Eliot's reser- dense populations. vations were products of choice, preservation, Local and private action can do as much under and improvement. the 5th head but the four others call loudly for Eliot used the word "reservation" often in his action by the whole metropolitan community. articles and lectures. Indeed, he even thought With your approval I shall make my study for the Commission on these lines.³ that the Boston Metropolitan Park Commission should really be called the Metropolitan Reser- This broad scheme represented a larger land- vations Commission.2 He realized that the scape analysis than had ever been attempted term "park" had a specific and limited meaning in America. for his contemporaries, SO Eliot took a different To explain these concepts and others, Eliot word-"scenery"-to distinguish his ideas from invoked a landscape language that had not pre- common assumptions. He had three basic goals: viously been employed. His arena was the to preserve scenery, make it accessible, and physical world at large. In a lecture to a farmer's improve it. 30 By Eliot's definition, scenery was association in New York State, he explained land that had been "resumed" or reclaimed for that he meant "by the term 'landscape' the the public benefit. Reservations, Eliot believed, visible surroundings of men's lives on the sur- should be "held in trust," and those who pre- face of the earth." Eliot considered himself an served and improved scenery were therefore architect and repeatedly referred to a definition "trustees" of that heritage.31 Eliot's use of the of architecture borrowed from the English term "trustee" invoked a legal process by which socialist and art critic William Morris: "Archi- individuals were designated as the guardians of tecture, a great subject truly, for it embraces the landscape, as in the Trustees of Public Reserva- consideration of the whole of the external tions. It is interesting that he also referred to world, for it means the moulding and the alter- park users as "trustees." He was convinced that ing to human needs the very face of the earth. 1133 "ordinary people," as trustees, had the potential This broad environmental consciousness is to appreciate and the right to expect the merits rooted in the lessons he drew from Prince of public reservations. Pückler, a topic about which Eliot frequently Eliot's highly effective and original landscape both spoke and wrote. 34 ideas were especially apparent in his work for Eliot's proto-environmentalist viewpoint the Metropolitan Park Commission, where he grew naturally out of his contact with the Tran- envisioned a new regional approach to planning. scendentalist writers of New England. Ralph In his first letter to Charles Francis Adams, Waldo Emerson, for example, is frequently chairman of the temporary commission, Eliot quoted in both Eliot's commonplace book and outlined the landscape types he wished to incor- in the selections his father incorporated in the porate into the system: biography. An uneasy product of Unitarianism, Eliot had been attracted early to the Transcen- As I conceive it the scientific "park system" for a district such as ours would include dentalist belief in nature as an allegory for the divinity. In essence, however, Eliot practiced an 1st Space upon the Ocean front. applied Transcendentalism, actively securing 16 Arnoldia 1999 Summer for the general public the advantages of active the guiding principle of design. He was not a engagement with nature, not just urging its pas- proponent of either side of the great debate sive contemplation. between the natural and the formal style of Onto this literary-philosophical base, Eliot landscape design. In his review of Italian Gar- grafted other ideals. He was a democrat and an dens by Charles A. Platt, a leader of the formal environmentalist, long before the term had been garden revival, Eliot was enthusiastic about coined. He wrote that reservations, parks, and the lessons that the Renaissance garden could parkways must "be placed, without regard to teach but warned that the conditions of climate, local pressure, solely with a view to securing the topography, and needs of the client must all jus- greatest good of the greatest number," following tify this choice of landscape mode. 37 In his essay the principles of English political philosopher "Anglomania in Park Making, he similarly John Stuart Mill. And he opposed commercial cautioned against the mindless popularity of the intrusion into this scenery of beauty; he argued English or natural landscape style as the only against the exploitation of the landscape with correct manner for public park design. Eliot's giant advertising signs and proposed that tele- philosophy resembles a landscape theory varia- graph lines be sunk below ground to remove tion on the theme of "form follows function"- another modern irritant from the reservations. the battle cry of the Chicago architect Louis His concern transcended the needs of his con- Sullivan at that time. temporary generation. He wrote about hopes for To achieve his broad aims for landscape improved water quality in the Charles River and design preservation, Eliot lobbied ceaselessly celebrated the increase of "wild birds and ani- through prolific letter writing, frequent public mals" that had resulted from improvement in speaking, appearances before legislative com- the Stony Brook Reservation. 35 Recently, Ian mittees, and regular contributions to popular McHarg, a leader in landscape architecture edu- magazines and professional journals. His major cation, commented in his autobiography: "I written contribution to a philosophy of scenery have been described as the inventor of ecologi- preservation and enhancement was his report, cal planning, the incorporation of natural sci- posthumously published in 1898, Vegetation ence within the planning process. Yet Charles and Scenery in the Metropolitan Reservations Eliot, son of Harvard's president, a landscape of Boston. Although specific in its definition architect at Harvard, preceded me by half a of the basic types of landscapes found in the century. He invented a new and vastly more Boston metropolitan reservations and the appro- comprehensive planning method than any pre- priate methods for their management and devel- existing, but it was not emulated. 1136 McHarg opment, Eliot's report has generic implications believed that his own education as a landscape as well. architect at Harvard had been deficient because One important message conveyed in the the school had forgotten the planning vision of report is that all of the landscapes of the metro- Charles Eliot in the 1890s. politan reservations are "artificial" in that they A persistent theme in Eliot's public writings have been changed through human interaction and professional reports is the principle "what with them. Eliot wanted to counter the popular would be fair must be fit." In an article for Gar- assumption that the reservations were "wild" den and Forest by that title, Eliot first warned and therefore should not be altered in any way. his readers about the three types of landscape "Before and after" drawings of specific sites designers to avoid: commercial nurserymen emphasized the importance of improving the who would think only in terms of the plants scenery through careful analysis of natural sys- they could sell, landscape gardeners who laid tems and well-conceived plans of action. Much out everything in curving lines, and former stu- of this analysis had already been begun with the dents of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, who surveys of geology, topography, and history of saw garden design in lockstep geometry. Eliot's use in the reservations. The next step would distance from these dominant trends reflected have been the development of general plans for his sense that function, or "fitness," should be each of the reservations, blueprints for improv- Charles Eliot 17 From Charles Eliot's Vegetation and Scenery in the Metropolitan Reservations of Boston, one of the sets of before-and-after drawings in the manner of English landscape gardener Humphry Repton made by Arthur A Shurcliff. The first-with overleaf-was captioned "Tree-clogged notch, near the southeastern escarpment of the Middlesex Fells, which might command the Malden-Melrose valley and the Saugus hills." The second-with overleaf removed-illustrates the sweeping view of valley and hills that will appear when the notch IS unclogged 18 Arnoldia 1999 Summer his Harvard contemporary Gov- ernor William Russell, who appointed Eliot to various commissions. Eliot's network involved a core group of fellow travelers who could understand and appreciate his ideas. For example, Dr. H. P. Walcott, whom Eliot invited to chair the initial meeting in the formation of the Trustees of Public Reser- vations, was also the chair of the state board of health and would become the chair of the Joint Commission on the Improvement of the Charles River, for which Eliot served as secretary. And Eliot could rely on Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., Charles Sprague Sargent- director of the Arnold Arbore- tum-and a host of literary and political lions to come forth in CHARLES support of many of his efforts. But he did not work primarily for the benefit of an economic and political elite; he deeply appreciated the involvement of an informed public. In 1897, when Warren Manning wrote to him about the possible forma- tion of a professional society for landscape architects, Eliot The "Civic Pride Monument" erected in memory of Charles Eliot at the St responded that it was more Louis Exposition, 1902. timely and important to estab- lish a broad-based support group ing the scenery and providing access to these for public landscape causes. The American Park sites. 39 Sadly, however, Eliot died before he and Outdoor Art Association, founded in 1897, could convince the Metropolitan Park Commis- was the result. sion to move on to this next stage. Political and social action were two of the Eliot's Legacy tools Eliot wielded brilliantly to achieve his Despite, or perhaps because of, his early death, evolving goals. He worked from the bases of Eliot inspired others to perpetuate his ideals. He power and influence that were his birthright. had not only expanded the parameters and con- As the son of the highly visible president cerns of the profession of landscape architec- of Harvard University and the descendant of ture, he had also laid the foundations for the well connected and powerful families, Eliot environmental movement and for the profes- had learned how to inform and influence his sions of city and regional planning. A model contemporaries, even contributing portions village erected at the St. Louis World's Fair of of speeches to powerful friends, such as 1902 included a "Civic Pride Monument," one Charles Eliot 19 of many such testimonials to his importance girl. When he was told it was a boy, he said: and influence. (Ironically, Eliot would have 'That's good! His name will be Charles like his preferred to be remembered for his belief in uncle. He will be a landscape architect like his metropolitan or regional, rather than civic or uncle. He will go on with his uncle's work. 11143 municipal, pride.) Trained in landscape architecture and Eliot's father became a vocal advocate for the regional planning at Harvard, this Charles issues his son had embraced. Indeed, President became the first field secretary of the Trustees Eliot showed the zeal of a convert. Not only did of Public Reservations in 1925. In May of that he write and edit Charles Eliot, Landscape year, the Trustees sponsored a conference, "The Architect, he also began to write articles and Needs and Uses of Open Spaces in Massachu- speak in public about landscape preservation. setts," in which he took a leading role. One From 1905 until 1926, he served on the Standing result of the conference was a renewed effort to Committee, the central governing board of the coordinate the activities of private and public Trustees of Public Reservations. 40 President conservation organizations in the state. Equally Eliot carried forward his son's vision of a forest significant was the proposed "Bay Circuit," a reservation on Mount Desert Island, Maine, new and larger greenbelt for the Greater Boston now Acadia National Park. 41 Perhaps Charles Basin. The idea for the Bay Circuit may not have Eliot's finest legacy was his father's commit- been Eliot's alone, but he became its strongest ment to establishing a professional program in long-term supporter. Like his uncle, Eliot soon landscape architecture at Harvard, which was saw an opportunity to advance the cause of inaugurated in 1900 under the direction of landscape architecture and regional planning by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Eliot's former col- moving into the public sector. He became the league, and Arthur Shurcliff, his former director of the National Capitol Park and Plan- protégé. 42 President Eliot's program today main- ning Commission under the Roosevelt adminis- tains his son's name in the Charles Eliot Profes- tration, a position he maintained until 1955. sorship in Landscape Architecture and the Eliot then returned to Harvard to become the Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship, which Charles Eliot Professor of Landscape Architec- enables promising young landscape architects to ture. He retired in 1968 but remained an active benefit from travel study as its namesake had. supporter of land conservation and became the After his retirement from Harvard University, conscience of both The Trustees of Reservations Charles W. Eliot moved to a house on Fresh and the Metropolitan District Commission Pond Parkway, a green corridor designed by his until his death in 1992.44 son. The Parkway, in turn, connects the Fresh The early growth of the Trustees was modest, Pond Reservation, his son's design for the Cam- in part, because Eliot turned his attention SO bridge Park Commission, to the Memorial quickly to the Metropolitan Park Commission. Drive Reservation on the Cambridge side of the By 1897, the year of Charles Eliot's death, only Charles River, another of the younger Eliot's two properties, Rocky Narrows on the Charles early projects for the Cambridge Park Commis- River in Canton and Mount Anne Park in sion. Today the Eliot Bridge (dedicated in 1955 Gloucester, had been given to the Trustees. to both father and son) connects the Fresh Pond Together they totaled fewer than one hundred Parkway to the Soldiers Field Road Reservation acres. Today, the Trustees are stewards of more on the Boston side of the Charles River. than twenty thousand acres, "the best of the Even more directly perpetuating the ideals of Massachusetts landscape in all its diversity. Charles Eliot was the work of his nephew, The organization has been the inspiration for Charles W. Eliot II. Born in 1900, three years land trusts both in the United States and abroad, after his uncle's death, but named for his grand- and Eliot's early writings also inspired the for- father, this Eliot was destined from birth to mation of other organizations. 46 Most notably, adopt his uncle's profession. "At the time I was the National Trust for Places of Historic Inter- born," he reported late in life, "my grandfather est or Natural Beauty in Great Britain was mod- came to the house and asked if it was a boy or a eled on the Trustees, as was, ultimately, the 20 Arnoldia 1999 Summer National Trust for Historic Preservation in the 2 Ellen Peabody Eliot to her mother, Marberg, 17 United States. November 1864, Charles W. Eliot Papers, Pusey Soon after his success in forming the Trust- Library, Harvard University (hereafter cited as CWE Papers). ees, Eliot turned his attention to the creation of a public authority, the Metropolitan Park Com- 3 Charles W. Eliot to his mother, Marberg, 5 January 1865, CWE Papers. mission. Celebrating its centennial in 1993, the 4 Commonplace Book, October 1876. Charles Eliot commission now "embraces almost twenty Collection, Frances Loeb Library, Graduate School of thousand acres of parklands ranging from dense Design, Harvard University. Hereafter cited as CEC. woodlands and wetlands to intensely developed 5 Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (Boston: and managed urban parks. 1147 One of the most Houghton Mifflin, 1902), 16. Hereafter cited as important potential benefits of the centennial CELA. celebration was the appointment of the Green 6 Commonplace Book, July 1877. CEC Ribbon Commission to suggest improvements 7 Ibid., 30 October 1877 and December 1878. to the organization. At the top of its list of pri- 8 For a picture of Harvard in the later 1870s, see David orities was the issue that Charles Eliot had McCullough, Mornings on Horseback (New York: fought hard but unsuccessfully to impress on Simon and Schuster, 1981), esp. chapter 9. the early commissioners-the need for careful 9 The quotation 1S from a letter Charles Eliot wrote to and persistent maintenance, or what is today his wife, Sunday, 20 July 1895, CELA, 515. called stewardship. 48 The responsibility now 10 Diary of 1875, 14 May 1875, Princeton, Mass. Charles rests with the commission's current administra- Eliot Papers, Goriansky Collection, Boston. Hereafter cited as GC. tion-and with all of us who are "trustees" of the Eliot legacy-to ensure that these resources 11 For his comments on "nabobry," see CELA, 176-177; his assessments of landscapes are chiefly found in receive the care and the use they merit. chapters 9 and 10. Despite the enormous challenges posed by 12 Charles Eliot to Frederick Law Olmsted, Sunday, 10 increasing traffic and neglected maintenance, October [1887], GC. the metropolitan park system that Eliot envi- 13 Ibid. sioned remains his greatest achievement. In 14 CEC. a chapter titled "Growth Invincible" in his 1906 book, The Future in America, H. G. Wells 15 He was greatly assisted in this process by the letters of introduction he brought from his father, Frederick contrasted his recent visits to New York and Law Olmsted, Charles Sprague Sargent, and Asa to Boston: Gray, among others. If possible it 1S more impressive, even, than the 16 CELA, 32. crowded largeness of New York, to trace the 17 Cynthia Zaitzevsky, "Education and Landscape serene preparation Boston has made through this Architecture," in Architectural Education and [Metropolitan Park] Commission to be widely Boston Centennial Publication of the Boston and easily vast. New York's humanity has the Architectural Center, 1889-1989, ed. Margaret curious air of being carried along upon a wave Henderson Floyd (Boston: Boston Architectural of irresistible prosperity, but Boston confesses Center, 1989), 25. design. I suppose no city in all the world has 18 CELA, 207. ever produced SO complete and ample a forecast 19 Charles W. Eliot to Charles Eliot, 11 June 1886, GC. of its own future as this commission's plan for Boston.49 20 Charles Eliot to Frederick Law Olmsted, 10 October 1887, GC. Today, Charles Eliot's ideas "confess design" 21 Charles Eliot to Frederick Law Olmsted, 20 July 1889, as clearly as they did a century ago, just as Eliot Correspondence File, 141-142, CEC. they attempted to forecast a future not only for 22 CELA, 554-556, 543-545. Boston but for the whole of American landscape 23 Ibid., 441. architecture. 24 Charles Eliot to Mr. Garrison, 2 November 1896, Notes Manuscript Letters, vol. 2, nos 164 & 165, CEC. 1 Henry James, Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard Ironically, Eliot died before this obituary could be University, 1869-1909 (Boston Houghton Mifflin, used for Olmsted. 1930), 87-158. 25 Charles Eliot to Roland Thaxter, 13 May 1883, GC. Charles Eliot 21 26 Frederick Law Olmsted to his partners, Biltmore, 46 Abbott, 310, 319. N.C., 28 October 1893, Frederick Law Olmsted 47 Enhancing the Future of the Metropolitan Park Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of System. Final Report and Recommendations of the Congress, Washington, DC. Green Ribbon Commission (Boston: Metropolitan 27 For information on Warren H Manning, see Robin District Commission, 1996), 9 Nine thousand of Karson, The Muses of Gwinn Art and Nature in a these acres were acquired in the commission's first Garden Designed by Warren H Manning, Charles A ten years. The Metropolitan Park Commission Platt, and Ellen Biddle Shipman (Sagaponack, N.Y.: merged with the Metropolitan Water and Sewer Sagapress/Library of American Landscape History, Commission to become the Metropolitan District 1995), esp. chapter 3; and Lance Neckar, "Developing Commission in 1919. Landscape Architecture for the Twentieth Century: 48 Ibid., 47-49. The Green Ribbon Commission focused The Career of Warren H. Manning," Landscape on three general areas for improvement: building Journal 8 (Fall 1989): 78-91. effective stewardship, linking the parks and the 28 "What Mr. Eliot Said," Arthur Shurcliff Notebooks, public, and managing, planning, and supporting the Houghton Library, Harvard University. public trust. The concerns Eliot expressed in his 29 CELA, 600. letters to the commission about general plans are 30 Ibid., 492. identical. See CELA, chapter 34. 49 H. G. Wells, The Future in America (New York: 31 Ibid., 517, 230. Harper & Row, 1906), 49. Sylvester Baxter, Eliot's 32 CELA, 381. colleague, was the guide for Wells's tour of the Boston 33 Ibid., 367, 662. Metropolitan Parks 34 Eliot contributed "Muskau-A German Country Park," the fullest statement of his understanding of Acknowledgments and admiration for this site (which he had visited on For a research and writing grant that supported the 22-23 September 1886), to the 28 January 1891 issue preparation of this introduction, I am deeply grateful to of Garden and Forest. the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine 35 CELA, 596-597, 303, 377, 562, 680. Arts Robin Karson, executive director of the Library of 36 Ian L. McHarg, A Quest for Life. An Autobiography American Landscape History, and Karl Haglund, senior planner for the Metropolitan District Commission, read, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996), 82. criticized, and improved the manuscript I am indebted 37 CELA, 547-549. to Mary Daniels, curator of Special Collections, Frances 38 Eliot and Sullivan were developing parallel Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, and the staff of philosophies at the same moment. Eliot published Pusey Library, both at Harvard University, for their "What Would Be Fair Must First Be Fit" in Garden assistance. My deepest debt 1S to Alexander Y. and Forest on 1 April 1896. Sullivan published Goriansky, grandson of Charles Eliot, for access to the the clearest expression of his ideas in "The Tall family manuscripts in his possession Building Artistically Considered," Lippincott's 57 (March 1896), 403-409. 39 CELA, 650. Keith N. Morgan is professor and chairman of art history 40 Gordon Abbott Jr., Saving Special Places. A at Boston University. A former national president of the Centennial History of the Trustees of Reservations, Society of Architectural Historians, he has written on a Pioneer of the Land Trust Movement (Ipswich, Mass.. range of topics in nineteenth and twentieth century Ipswich Press, 1993), 271. American architectural and landscape history. In addition to his work on Charles Eliot, he is the author of 41 Nan Lincoln, "The Champlain Society," Bar Harbor Charles A Platt, The Artist as Architect and Shaping an Times, 1 August 1996, B5. Eliot first described his American Landscape, The Art and Architecture of vision in an article for Garden and Forest in 1889 Charles A Platt. With Naomi Miller, he wrote Boston The dream was realized in 1916 with the Architecture, 1975-1990 He 1S currently one of the establishment of Mount Desert National Park. principal authors of Buildings of Metropolitan Boston, 42 Zaitzevsky, 20-34, esp. 30-31. one of two Massachusetts volumes being prepared for 43 "From Olmsted's Emerald Necklace to Eliot's Metro- the Buildings of the United States series, published by politan Parks," lecture by Charles W Eliot II, 27 Febru- Oxford University Press for the Society of Architectural ary 1983, transcript, 1, copy in possession of author. Historians. The new edition of Charles Eliot, Landscape 44 The papers of Charles W. Eliot II are held in the Architect 1S being published by the University of Special Collections of the Frances Loeb Library, Massachusetts Press in association with the Library Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. of American Landscape History. To purchase copies, 45 Frederic Winthrop Jr., Introduction, The Trustees of phone 413.545.2219 fax 800.488.1144, or e-mail Reservations Property Guide (1996), 9. order@umpress.umass.edu. 22 Arnoldia 1999 Summer Approach to an estate of six-and-a-half acres in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, designed by Charles Eliot, 1889-1890. To conceal the boundaries of the estate, plant out undesirable objects, and visually connect the plantings with those of neighboring estates, sixty- two kinds of trees and shrubs were planted in spring 1890. Eliot sent another list of 725 plants (52 kinds) that fall, and yet another list of 520 the following spring. The photograph shows the approach as seen from the highway; the sketch looks down to the high- way from the property. From Charles Eliot, Land- scape Architect (1902). 3/1/2015 XFINITY Connect To: Eppster2@comcast.net Cc: auimee@friendsofacadia.org Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2015 3:20:38 PM Subject: George B. Dorr Dear Dr. Epp - Your letter arrived here and then the snow which has bogged things down. And now snow again. Yes. I am aware of your book and am looking forward to it very much. I am also aware of Community by Design, written by my friends and published last year and which I am embarrassed to say I had not seen. I needed to see it to find out which photo you wanted to use. I found a copy last week. When Keith Morgan produced the second edition of Charles Eliot Landscape Architect he asked me for permission to use a photo of Eliot standing behind a stone wall (p. viii) and he credited it "Courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky." I chided him for not saying "Courtesy of the family of Carola Eliot Goriansky." It really was her's, and her mother's, photo. And no one else seems to have used it. Then Keith asked me for permission to use a photo in Community by Design. I thought he was using the same photo but not so. This is Eliot's college head-shot and unfortunately credited to "courtesy of the Family of Carola Eliot Goriansky." I have it here in Boston in the form of a carte de visite which Keith saw and may have scanned. He may have it in digitized form. But it had nothing to do with my mother so I think we go back to "Courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky." And yes, I'd be happy if you use it. Sincerely, Alec Goriansky - 617-227-8127 P.O. Box 8752 Boston, MA 02114 https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=275058&tz=America/New_York&xim=: 3/3 Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect A RESEARCH GUIDE Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Keith N. Morgan is Professor of Art History, Boston University, and former CONTENTS Director of the Boston University Preservation Studies Program. He is the author of "Held in Trust: Charles Eliot's Vision for the New England Landscape," National Association for Olmsted Parks Workshop Series, FOREWORD 1 Vol. I Biography (1991) as well as the new introduction to Charles Eliot, Robert E. Cook, Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Landscape Architect by Charles W. Eliot (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press in association with Library of American Landscape History, 1999). CHRONOLOGY 3 FRONT COVER: ELIOT COMMISSIONS Image of Charles Eliot at age 35, 9 courtesy of Alexander Y. Goriansky. London planes (Plantanus X acerifolia) on BIBLIOGRAPHY 27 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, photograph by A.E. Bye. BACK COVER: Plane trees on Memorial Drive, photograph by John Furlong. The Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies of the Arnold Arboretum supports the management and conservation of cultural landscapes in the northeastern United States. The Institute's programs integrate, develop, and disseminate information across three traditional fields: historic preserva- tion, natural areas conservation, and land use planning. Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies Arnold Arboretum 125 Arborway Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130-3500 Website: www.icls.harvard.edu