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Catalog Data

Landscape architect:
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903  Search this
Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot  Search this
Olmsted Brothers  Search this
Collection Creator:
Sears, Thomas Warren, 1880-1966  Search this
Sears & Wendell  Search this
Olmsted Brothers  Search this
Harvard University  Search this
American Society of Landscape Architects  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Place:
Franklin Park (Boston, Massachusetts)
Emerald Necklace (Boston, Massachusetts)
United States of America -- Massachusetts -- Suffolk County -- Boston
Scope and Contents:
The folders include worksheets, photocopies of articles and book excerpts about the park, photocopies of correspondence, maps, and additional information.
General:
Franklin Park (named for native son Benjamin Franklin) was created in 1885 as the terminus of the "Emerald Necklace" park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted for the City of Boston. Comprising over 500 acres, with 200 acres of woodland, the park was intended to enable working class people to experience and enjoy a rural atmosphere within the surrounding urban area. In that regard it shared the philosophy of Olmsted's two other major creations, Central Park and Prospect Park. Over the years formal recreational areas have been developed beyond those envisioned in Olmsted's original plan (for example, the "Country Park" was converted to a golf course), but many elements of the original design--such as the road system and extensive woodland walks--remain. In recent years citizen activism by the Franklin Park Coalition and other organizations has led to significant preservation efforts for the park's landscape and historic structures. Many of the images in this series were taken by Thomas W. Sears and selected ones were used to illustrate the July 1906 article by John Nolen cited below.
Persons associated with the site include Frederick Law Olmsted (landscape architect, 1885).
Related Materials:
Franklin Park related holdings consist of 3 folders (26 glass negatives, 8 photographic prints, 9 lantern slides, 3 slides (photographs))
Records related to this site can be found at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Olmsted Job Number 00918, Franklin Park.
See others in:
J. Horace McFarland Collection, 1900-1961. Garden Club of America Collection, ca. 1920-[ongoing].
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection.
Identifier:
AAG.SRS, File MA047
See more items in:
Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection
Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection / Series 1: Photographic Images / United States / Massachusetts
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Gardens
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6d2fa44f4-2d49-47ee-8b7f-dc9885543e68
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aag-srs-ref4113