ARTH 307(F) The North-American Park Idea (Same as Environmental Studies 327)
This research seminar considers those sites whose nature may be displayed in an idealized form, for reasons of stewardship, curiosity, delectation, or some other intention. Among the "open-spaces" to be studied, both in terms of design intent and design execution, are: commons and squares; groves and pleasure grounds; cemeteries; exposition grounds; playgrounds; a few "landmark" subdivisions; and those large natural areas of reservations generally subsumed, in common usage, by the wording "national park." Many of these "parks" are sites of leisure activities, and the design and furnishing of outdoor recreation will be a major concomitant theme. One kind of primary evidence, in the form of texts, will be contemporary reports, letters, and journals from the period of these sites' creation. Secondary evidence will lie in accounts of the behavior induced by the scouting, wilderness, ecological and naturalist-explorer movements. Frederick Law Olmsted, Steven Mather, Robert Moses, and Walt Disney are among the seminal figures whose careers in park creation will be scrutinized. Evaluation will be based on four essays and a class presentation. (This course includes an obligatory all-day field trip to the Boston environs, beginning with the new Financial District park at Post Office Square, the seventeenth-century Old Granary Burying Grounds and the Boston Common, continuing by foot out the Emerald Necklace some ten miles to the Arnold Arboretum's living collections, and to Franklin Park.) No prerequisites. Open to sophomores.