Library of American Landscape History
Turns 20

 

The Emerald Necklace is a series of parks connected by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Mass. It is the only remaining intact linear park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Parkways were an integral element of the Emerald Necklace. Olmsted laid out the parkways with carriages in mind.

The Library of American Landscape History (LALH), a not-for-profit in Amherst, Mass. that produces books and exhibitions about North American landscape history, just celebrated its 20th year.

LALA has published 26 books. Soon to be released by LALH is Community by Design: The Olmsted Firm and the Planning of Brookline, by Elisabeth Hope Cushing, Roger Reed and Boston University professor Keith Morgan. After designing Central Park, Olmsted relocated in to Brookline, Mass. This book details how Olmsted's son used Brookline as an experimental ground for city planning.

Next year will also see LAHL publishing The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System, by Francis Kowsky.