Welcome to the Friends of Fairsted
Images 1,3 and 5 courtesy of Frances Shedd Fisher, others courtesy of National Park Service.
News
Liza Stearns wins 2011 NPS Freeman Tilden Award for Good Neighbors program
Education Specialist Liza Stearns of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is the recipient of the National Park Service’s 2011 Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation. Stearns was honored for creating the “Good Neighbors: Landscape Design and Community Building” program for local third-grade students.
The curriculum-based Good Neighbors program introduces students to landscape concepts and the opportunity to design their own landscapes. In pre-visit classroom activities, students learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and consider how landscape architecture affects their lives. During a park visit, the youth are taught how to read the landscape, draw plant specimens, and compare different design zones. They see how the selection and arrangement of landscape elements contribute to the look, feel, and function of place and use that knowledge to create a 3D landscape model. They also visit either a landscape design firm or Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace.
The program has been officially incorporated into Brookline’s third-grade curriculum. It won the Boston Society of Landscape Architects’ 2011 Award of Excellence and was also featured in the August, 2011 edition of Landscape Architecture Magazine.
The Freeman Tilden Award is an annual award recognizing outstanding public contributions in interpretation and visitor services by a National Park Service employee. Freeman Tilden, who wrote The National Parks, What They Mean to You and Me and Interpreting Our Heritage, has had considerable influence on National Park Service Interpretation and education programs.
New Friends of Fairsted Grant Program
The Friends of Fairsted has established a grant program to support publications, programs, exhibits, education materials or other media that advance the knowledge and appreciation of the Olmsted legacy and that support the mission of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. This new initiative begins in 2011 with funding to the Library of American Landscape History to support the publication of Community by Design by Keith Morgan, Elizabeth Hope Cushing and Roger Reed. Requests for funding will be consi- dered by application and invitation, as the budget allows. This new program provides clear guidelines and criteria for those seeking fun- ding. For more information, please see the grant program guidelines and application.
Friends of Fairsted to Present Pair of Lectures
The Friends of Fairsted is pleased to announce a pair of lectures on the topic of "Designing Communities: The Olmsted Legacy in Shaping the American Landscape". November 17, 2011, landscape historian Arleyn A. Levee presents "The Enduring Design Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in the Nation’s Capital"
March 15, 2012, Ethan Carr, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, presents "Frederick Law Olmsted 1882-1890: Boston, Brookline and Beyond"
For more details, including times, locations and RSVP information, please see our Events calendar.
NAOP Looking for Help Identifying Mystery Olmsted Site
While preparing Volume 8 of the Olmsted Paper Project for publication, the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) has come across a reference to a previously unknown Olmsted design and are looking for help from the public in identifying the site. For more information about the mystery Olmsted design, take a look at this article. Volume 8 covers Olmsted's early years in Boston and Brookline; Friends of Fairsted is supporting its publication.
Congratulations to Frederick Law Olmsted NHS and its staff!
The Good Neighbors: Landscape Design and Community Building educational program has been recognized with an Award of Excellence in Communications by the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Read more here.
Olmtsted Archives Now Open For Appointments
The Olmsted archives have completed their move back to Fairsted and are now available to researchers by appointment. For more information call 617-566-1689 or read this flyer from the National Park Service.
Olmsted Elm Taken Down
The Olmsted Elm, which was critically unstable, was cut down on Wednesday, March 30 in order to protect the public and Fairsted itself. More information about this sad neccesity, as well as future plans can be found in this briefing from the National Park Service. You can also visit the Elm's Facebook Fan Page to share your thoughts about the removal of the tree. Finally you can check out this timelapse video of the Elm's removal.
Renovation Project Nearly Complete
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is pleased to announce that the work to improve the site drainage, the security system, the electrical service and the fire detection and suppression systems is nearly complete. As of June 1, the site will began taking reservations for group tours. Please stay tuned for more details as the project wraps up.
What's Coming
Find out all about all our exciting upcoming events. More…
What's Come
2011 was a banner year for the Friends of Fairsted. Be sure to read our annual report to find out all about our great year. More…
How to Get Here
Right now Fairsted is closed for internal renovations. If you want to come see the outside, including the lovely gardens, here's how... More…
Get in Touch
Want to join the Friends of Fairsted? Feel free to fill out and print an application and mail it back to us with your contribution. More…