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

Published this year, in conjunction with Frederick Law Olmsted's 200 birthday and the associated celebrations by landscape architects and park enthusiasts across the country, is new book Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea. 

Authors Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr will speak with CGLHS about their research into the turbulent decade during which the United States engaged in civil war, abolished slavery, and saw Yosemite emerge as a public park.

In their book, the authors identify a connection between the civil war, abolition, and the dawn of urban and national parks via the life of Frederick Law Olmsted. We'll discuss the historical context for this thesis and examine Olmsted's lasting imprint on our national identity. 

Thank you to CGLHS partner the Library of American Landscape History. You can order your copy of Olmsted and Yosemite here and peruse LALH's other publications online. 

About our speakers

Rolf Diamant is a landscape architect, adjunct Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at the University of Vermont, and former superintendent of five national parks including Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. He regularly contributes to the journal Parks Stewardship Forum and is co-editor and contributing author of A Thinking Person's Guide to America's National Parks. 

Ethan Carr, FASLA, is professor of landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an international authority on America's public landscapes. He is author of Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service, Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma, and the Greatest Beach: A History of Cape Cod National Seashore. He is also lead editor of Public Nature: Scenery, History, and Park Design, and co-editor of Volume 8 of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted.