Calvert Vaux papers

1860-1921 [bulk 1860s]

Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) was a British-born landscape architect who practiced in the U.S. He worked on the designs for the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. In 1857 he began collaborating with Frederick Law Olmsted on the construction of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Central, Morningside and Riverside Parks in Manhattan. They also worked on the South Park in Chicago and the state reservation at Niagara Falls, N.Y. Vaux was the landscape architect for the department of parks in New York City for many years. Collection consists of correspondence, documents, drawings, maps, plans, reports, speech, photograph, newsclippings, and other printed matter. Correspondence includes letters, 1860-1894, by Vaux relating to the design and construction of Central Park; letters, 1865-1895, to Vaux from Olmsted and others concerning Prospect and other parks, and Olmsted's life and work in California; letters to the editor of the New York Tribune about the roles of Vaux and Olmsted in the design of Prospect and Central Parks; and letters, 1921, between C. Bowyer Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. concerning their fathers' letters. Also, documents relating to Vaux's work'; drawings, maps and plans for some of his work; reports on parks; speech, 1908, by Samuel Parsons about Central Park; photographic portrait of Vaux; clippings on the work of Vaux and Olmsted; and other printed materials.