ASLA Honors /
BSLA
Changing direction at mid-career
(an
unconscious channeling of the senior
Olmsted?) from public service to the
landscape profession, I embarked on a 20year practice in residential design and a
lifetime of fascinating research into the work
of the Olmsted firm. Volunteering at the 1981
conference of the newly formed National
Association of Olmsted Parks [NAOP]
channeled my interests into the burgeoning
“missionary” movement to rescue neglected
Olmsted landscapes, to recapture the
original intent in our public, and eventually
private, historic designed landscapes. With
a background in history and teaching, to
uncover the myriad tales about the shapers
of these places and their aspirations; about
use and change over time; about what
could be resuscitated and how; became
a mesmerizing occupation. Developing
strategies to engage contemporary
stakeholders with a vision to steward and
sustain rehabilitated sites and transformed
passive research into an activist’s tool.
This conference motivated formation of the
first statewide affiliate, the Massachusetts
Association of Olmsted Parks (1982), which
influenced development of the Olmsted
Historic Landscape Preservation Program,
the nation’s first statewide initiative to
rehabilitate Olmsted-designed parks in
the Commonwealth.
At the beginning of this work, the century
of Olmsted design was untapped, a
reservoir of information about shaping the
American environment—large or small,
urban, suburban or industrial. The creative
individuals of the Olmsted firm were barely
recognized, their talented endeavors long
forgotten—an enticing resource for a voyeur
in this emerging discipline of landscape
history. John Charles Olmsted (JCO)
particularly interested me, as the middle
son without the legendary name, whose
nationwide work was often disregarded or
assigned to his father or brother.
Thus began a challenging labor of love as
an historian—to give JCO a persona and
recognition that his design legacy deserved;
to do likewise for other firm designers and to
examine some of the prescient projects that
the Olmsted firm produced, sharing these
discoveries through lectures, publications
and other endeavors.
H on a r y A SL A M em b er
ARLEYN A. LEVEE
“ To have this b elated c areer c hoic e
rec ognized by the ASL A with an
Honorary memb ership is a tr uly
humbling ex perienc e. I have
b een immeasurably enric hed in
travelling this landsc ape route
by the mentoring and enduring
friendships of so many generous
c olleagues.”
–Arley n Levee
I was immediately drawn to her rigorous research
standards and exemplary communication skills—not
to mention her ability to “read” a landscape as text
and a dynamic system where people live out their lives
(in contrast to more traditional art and architectural
historians of the time). I was drawn to her unique way
of seeing, her infectious intelligence and, perhaps most
of all,