The John Ormsbee Simonds

Landscape Architecture

Collection is currently being

arranged and described and will be

made fully available to Special and

Area Studies Collections researchers

in upcoming months. Simonds is

recognized internationally as a leading

landscape architect, urban planner,

and environmental thinker.He and his

firm, Environmental Planning and

Design (EPD) of Pittsburgh, are

responsible for planning over eighty

communities and four new towns in

the United States. In addition to a

distinguished career as a practitioner,

he also is a renowned educator and

the author of numerous publications,

including the influential 1961 book,

The collection is comprised of

landscape designs by Simonds, his

writings and speeches, photographs,

audiovisual recordings, planning

reports, and project files. A large

number of the projects are based in

Florida, including a major

park system for Collier

County and urban planning

for several communities and

new towns. In addition,

Simonds donated several

boxes of his favorite reference

monographs and journals,

many of which will be

added to the holdings of the

Architecture and Fine Arts

library.

Although a basic inventory

of the collection has

existed for over a year, the

materials have never been processed

completely and access has been limited.

The processing activities are made

possible by the support of the

Department of Landscape

Architecture and Bob Grist, chair of

the department. Two graduate students,

Brenda Curtis and Nicole

Hawkins, have been appointed to

physically arrange the collection, and

Associate Professor Kay Williams is

volunteering her time to provide subject

expertise and assist with the identification

and description of materials.

In addition, all three will assist in the

selection of drawings, photographs,

and other items for digitization so

that materials can be made available

to patrons via the Internet. It is hoped

that this collaboration will be the first

of many such projects between the

Libraries and Landscape Architecture.