Olmsted Archives
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Olmsted Lithograph Collection Job #1902 Jackson Park, Chicago IL


The Olmsted Archives is one of the most widely researched museum collections in the National Park System, containing over 1,000,000 historic documents.

Park and city planners from across the United States use these records each year to rehabilitate and rebuild many of the nation's most significant and beloved landscapes to the lasting benefit of millions of people. Historians, students, and preservation planners use the collection to document historic areas and to produce exhibits, films and scholarly publications.

The National Park Service is currently cataloging and conserving the collections which contain landscape photographs, initial surveys, field sketches, general plans, planting lists, presentation drawings, business records and scale models. Researchers have the opportunity to survey and study historic records related to parks, gardens, communities, estates, and campuses designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and the Olmsted firm, including:

    Acadia National Park, Maine

    Atlanta Parks, Georgia

    Baltimore Park System, Maryland

    Boston Park System, Massachusetts

    Buffalo Park System, New York

    Central Park, New York, New York

    Chicago Park System, Illinois

    Denver Park Commission, Colorado

    Louisville Park System, Kentucky

    Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York

    Seattle Park System, Washington

    Stanford University, California

    US Capitol Grounds, Washington, DC

    United States Military Academy,
    West Point, New York

    White House Grounds, Washington, DC

    Yosemite National Park, California.
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