NAOP RECEIVES GRANT FROM FRIENDS OF SEATTLE’S OLMSTED PARKS FOR LANDSCAPE MAPPING PROJECT

  Woodland Park (Courtesy Friends of Olmsted Parks)

The National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) announces a $5,000 grant award from Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks (FSOP) to support ongoing work on Olmsted Online, a Washington based pilot project to document Olmsted landscapes. The grant award augments the current program’s funding by creating and enhancing public user content for Olmsted Online. In 2011, NAOP secured a $235,000 grant from the State of Washington, under the 2010 Statewide Transportation Enhancements Program, for Olmsted Online—an integrated mapping project, database and web portal for Olmsted designed landscapes. In partnership with the Olmsted National Historic Site, National Park Service, and the Friends of Seattle Olmsted Parks, NAOP has begun work to map and inventory Olmsted Brothers-designed parks and parkways to create a statewide database linked with archival and comparative data. It is NAOP’s objective to use this pilot in Washington as a model for nationwide mapping and inventorying of Olmsted landscapes. Currently, FSOP and NAOP are working on documenting the Olmsted parks and boulevard system in the greater Seattle area to be featured on the website that will integrate interactive maps, drawings, photographs, archival data and descriptive text related to landscapes designed by the Olmsted firm. The Olmsted Online website will make available information that until now has only been available in specialized libraries, providing new research tools to historians, park and transportation professionals as well as inspiring residents and visitors to learn more about the history and future of some of the most affecting and effective landscapes ever designed. The pilot phase of the Olmsted Online project is focused on the Olmsted landscapes in the Puget Sound and other regions of Washington State. The pilot project will act as the foundation and model with the capacity to grow into a web portal and database for Olmsted landscapes throughout North America. The National Association for Olmsted Parks is a coalition of design and preservation professionals, historic property and park managers, scholars, municipal officials, citizen activists and representatives of numerous Olmsted organizations. Its concern is the legacy of landscape work left by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. and the firm continued by his sons. Established in 1980, NAOP is the only national organization solely dedicated to preserving the Olmsted legacy by providing the advocacy, research, education and outreach needed to protect, restore and maintain these exemplary parks and landscapes, particularly in urban areas. The Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to raising the awareness and protection of Seattle’s Olmsted park and boulevard system.