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Volume 7, Issue 5 | May 2020
Olmsted in Seattle by Jennifer Ott and the HistoryLink staff
reviewed by Priscilla Grundy

Most people in Seattle know that the name Olmsted is connected to the city’s landscapes. This elegant book presents both the context and the details of that connection. The text is clear and engaging, and the photographs and maps are handsome as well as instructive. For the many landscape designs, the reader may want to keep a magnifying glass at hand to help with details.

Two popular movements help explain how Seattle movers and shakers came to hire and support the plans of the far-off and famous Olmsted Brothers, a Brookline, MA firm. Most significant was the City Beautiful Movement, which spread the idea that any city worth anything needed to be beautiful. The other was the Playground Movement, which encouraged cities to develop many playgrounds, so that even poor children could grow up healthy and “moral.” 

Olmsted in Seattle carries the reader chronologically through the planning and execution of plans for many of the city’s parks and boulevards. John C. Olmsted, who visited Seattle and created plans in 1903 and 1908, was the nephew (and stepson) of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., of New York’s Central Park fame. Ott shows the progress, the politics involved, and the compromises necessary to carry out the plans. One compromise: In 1909 John Olmsted noted that walkways should have been included parallel to several drives, including Lake Washington, Montlake, and Washington Park. In our current need for more such paths for bikes and pedestrians, we can surely wish those had been built.

“Borrowed landscapes” were a major part of Olmsted’s planning. He designed each park to take advantage of its natural contours, but especially to use views of mountains, water, and other vistas to make the park seem larger than it was. The gorgeous mountain and water views from Fort Lawton, for instance, informed Olmsted’s plea to acquire it as a park, a wish only fulfilled years later with the inclusion of Discovery Park.

Near the end of the book Ott shows how the concepts that Olmsted promoted, such as curved paths, have been adapted in the decades afterward, so that the Olmsted influence continues. 

The whole history depicted in Olmsted in Seattle is worth reading. On the other hand, readers in a hurry can just use the excellent index to trace the history of their favorite parks.  Or they can just page through, admiring the photos, informational side bars, and awesome maps.

Editor's note: This is one of many valuable publications not currently available electronically. We look forward to welcoming borrowers when the library reopens.
Trends in borrowing: our 20 most-borrowed items
an annual feature by Laura Blumhagen

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What have Miller Library borrowers been reading lately? Each spring we look at the most popular items of the preceding 12 months, gaining insight into how our collections are used. As in past years, many of your favorite books are locally produced and about topics of special interest here in the Pacific Northwest. This year, we see books on Northwest native plants, plant selection, gardening techniques, and several books from our Youth Collection. Here are Miller Library borrowers' top picks this past year:

1. The princess and the peas
11. Landscaping for wildlife in the Pacific Northwest
2. Encyclopedia of Northwest native plants...
12. Mossy
3. Planting the dry shade garden
13. Conifers for gardens
4. Penguin and Pinecone
14. Diary of a worm
5. The flora of Seattle in 1850
15. Trees and shrubs of the Pacific Northwest
6. The botanical garden: v.1 and v. 2
16. Rain gardens (Dunnett and Clayden)
7. Trees of Seattle
17. Field guide to the rare plants of Washington
8. Native plants in the coastal garden
18. How to teach a slug to read
9. Plant propagation (Toogood)
19. Cass Turnbull's guide to pruning
10. Encyclopedia of garden ferns
20. Summer

When we reopen, we hope you'll take a tip from your fellow borrowers and check these out. For now, those available electronically through Seattle Public Library, the National Emergency Library, or Google Books are linked above.

Parent/Teacher Resource Collection favorites since 2012
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The annual top twenty books featured in the May Leaflet for Scholars (archived on our website) are the most-borrowed items from our lending collection as a whole. In honor of everyone spending some extra time with children this spring (at home, daycare, or teaching without a school building), we are proud to present the top ten books from our Parent/Teacher Collection (in terms of borrowing) since our borrowing system came online in October 2012:

1. The book of gardening projects for kids
6. Children's special places
2. Last child in the woods
7. Asphalt to ecosystems
3. How to raise a wild child
8. Natural playscapes
4. Nature printing with herbs, fruits and flowers
9. Learning with nature
5. Lens on outdoor learning
10. Play the Forest School way         

When we reopen, teachers and families with children will be able to find these and many more beloved titles in the Youth corner. For now, those available electronically through Seattle Public Library, the National Emergency Library, or Google Books are linked in the list above.
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