FRIENDS OF FAIRSTED PAST LECTURES

2022–2023 LECTURES

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Before Central Park: A Conversation on Seneca Village

A discussion with Sara Cedar Miller and Carla L. Peterson

2021–2022 LECTURES

March 12, 2022

Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea

A book talk by Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr

2020–2021 LECTURES

April 26, 2021

Ecologies of Memory

Sara Zewde, Founding principal of Studio Zewde, Assistant Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

December 3, 2020

The Olmsted Brothers’ Planning in California: A Prescient Approach to Ecological Design

Christine E. O’Hara, Professor of Landscape Architecture, California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo

2019–2020 LECTURES

November 7, 2019

Climate Change and Urban Landscapes: Extending Olmsted’s Legacy

Chris Reed, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Boston

2018–2019 LECTURES

December 5, 2018

Saving Central Park: A History and A Memoir

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers

2017–2018 LECTURES

April 3, 2018

What is a Park For? Olmsted, Obama, and the Meaning of Urban Landscape

Carlo Rotella, Director of the American Studies Program, Boston College

December 7, 2017

Beyond Drawings: The Olmsted Archives as Muse and Vision

Lucinda Brockway, Cultural Resources Program Director, The Trustees of Reservations

2016–2017 LECTURES

The Nature of Cities: Practice and Perception

March 9, 2017

Lewis Mumford’s Green Urbanism

Aaron Sachs, Professor of History and American Studies, Cornell University

December 1, 2016

From the Granite Garden to West Philadelphia (with a nod to the Fens): Restoring Nature & Communities

Anne Whiston Spirn, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning, MIT

2015–2016 LECTURES

In Recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service
America’s Best Idea: Fairsted, the Olmsteds and Our National Parks

Series Commentator: Anne Whiston Spirn
Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

April 5, 2016

Parks: Cornerstones of Civic Revitalization

Rolf Diamant, Adjunct Associate Professor, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, UVM, Retired NPS Superintendent

December 3, 2015

Our National Parks and the “Fairsted School”: An Enduring Legacy

Ethan Carr, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts/AMHERST

2014–2015 LECTURES

Perspectives on Place

Series Commentator: Keith Morgan
Director of Architectural Studies, History of Art & Architecture Department
Boston University

March 12, 2015

Visible | Invisible

Gary Hilderbrand, Principal, Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture
Professor of Practice, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

December 11, 2014

Dwelling in Landscape

Daniel Bluestone, Director, Preservation Studies Program, Boston University

2013–2014 LECTURES

March 27, 2014

The Shaping of Regions: The New York Regional Plan and the Origins of Planning in America

Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association

November 21, 2013

From Buffalo to Boston: Olmsted’s Evolving Vision of Urban Park Systems

Francis R. Kowsky, SUNY Professor of Fine Arts Emeritus

2012–2013 LECTURES

March 14, 2013

Brooklyn’s Resilient Edge: The Transformation of Industrial Waterfront into Brooklyn Bridge Park

Nate Trevethan, Senior Associate, Michael Van Valkenberg Associates

November 14, 2012

Time Made Visible: Charles Eliot and the Planning of the Metropolitan Park System

Anita Berrizbeitia, Professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

2011-2012 LECTURES

March 15, 2012

Frederick Law Olmsted 1882-1890: Boston, Brookline and Beyond

Ethan Carr, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

November 17, 2011

The Enduring Design Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. in the Nation’s Capital

Arleyn A. Levee, Landscape Historian

2009 LECTURE

October 28, 2009

The Olmsted Firm and Development of Brookline

Keith Morgan, Director of Architectural Studies, History of Art & Architecture Department, Boston University

RELATED EVENTS PAST LECTURES

2018 LECTURE

May 30, 2018

Renewal of the Blue Garden in Newport, Rhode Island

Sarah Vance, MLA, Director, the Blue Garden and
Arleyn A. Levee, Landscape Historian, Hon. ASLA

2017 LECTURE

October 12, 2017

Plans, Policy and Passion: How the Olmsteds Helped Shape the National Park System for the 21st Century

Ethan Carr, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Rolf Diamant, Adjunct associate professor at the University of Vermont, School of Environment and National Resources
Lauren Meier, ASLA
Lucy Lawliss, Co-chair of the National Association for Olmsted Parks