CHARLES E. BEVERIDGE RESEARCH GRANT
The Charles E. Beveridge Research Grant honors the eminent scholar, Series Editor of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, and devoted friend of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Olmsted NHS) and its archives and collections. The Research Grant is intended to encourage the use of these archives and foster the continued development of Olmsted scholarship. Many of the Olmsted firm’s plans, drawings and photographs can be viewed online on the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site Flickr page. The Olmsted Research Guide Online is a searchable database list of plans, drawings, and photographs found at Olmsted NHS as well as correspondence and reports held at the Library of Congress. Additional information on the Archives and collections at Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site can be found at the Olmsted NHS website.
Friends of Fairsted invests in the future of landscape history through the Beveridge Research Grants—and to keep this program strong, we must raise $30,000 over the next two years in order to fund grants for the next 8-10 years. These grants nurture the next generation of scholars and practitioners who carry Olmsted’s ideas forward, and they exist solely because of donor support. For information on contributing to the Friends, Please click.
2026 RECIPIENTS OF THE BEVERIDGE RESEARCH GRANT
The 2026 Beveridge Research Grant has been awarded to Alexa Vaughn for her project, Landscapes of Disability: Establishing a Field Through the (Re)consideration of Olmsted’s 19th-Century Institutional Landscapes. Her work explores the foundations of an emerging field of study, examining the intertwined histories of care and segregation of disabled people within institutional landscapes, alongside the development of landscape architecture as a profession in the nineteenth century.
In addition, the Friends are pleased to recognize the strength of this year’s applicant pool with a special award to Charles Oropallo, PLA, ASLA, for his project, Designing from the Source: Hydrological Thinking in the Olmsted Firm’s Work and Its Lessons for Changing Landscapes. His research investigates designed landscapes as dynamic hydrological systems shaped by their soils, drainage patterns, plant communities, and disturbance histories. It also considers how these insights can inform contemporary landscape practice and preservation.
We are inspired by the depth and originality of this year’s proposals and are grateful for the opportunity to support research that continues to expand understanding of the Olmsted legacy and its relevance today.