By Janet Gracyk (October 23, 2020)

With COVID-19 restrictions this year we have been seeking ways to help members connect with landscapes and with each other. Please check out the website and participate. The new Members Only pages are accessed from the green menu bar on our home page. Note that you must log in to CGLHS.org for access. If you have not logged in before just use the “Forgot Password” button to create your password. 

CGLHS Talks: Did you miss a previous lecture or just want to revisit it? Recordings of recent lectures are available for members. 

Sharing Project: CGLHS members are often engaged in fascinating projects or have acquired knowledge about surprising plants or landscapes. Maybe you are working on care and preservation of historic landscapes or you know about the location of an unusual plant or garden. Share your insights. 

Meaning, Memory, and Landscape: This project was inspired by an essay by the cultural historian Robert Melnick titled Are We There Yet?,* in which he makes a plea to record the personal and the passionate in landscape. We all have places and people who drew us into the world of landscapes and captured our imaginations or that continue to move us. It may be some wild place, a family garden, or a grand vista. We invite you to post your story. 

HALS Reports: We announced the annual competition for Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) reports in the spring, and several CGLHS members submitted documentation. Members can post their surveys here and they will be accessible once they're vetted by the National Park Service. 

In addition, we have two Facebook pages to explore: 

• California Garden & Landscape History Society, where we regularly post items of interest and events for our followers. 
• CGLHS Member Forum, a Facebook group which is meant to host interactive discussions. Interested participants may send requests to our moderator (through Facebook) to join. 

As we look ahead to 2021 we are planning additional lectures online. Are you a candidate to present one of our talks? Let us know.

 

* Robert Z. Melnick, “Are We There Yet?: Travels and Tribulations in the Cultural Landscape.” Cultural Landscapes: Balancing Nature and Heritage in Preservation Practice, edited by Richard Longstreth, NED - New edition ed. (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis; London, 2008). pp. 197–210.