Olmsted, Frederick Law | Frederick Law Olmsted solicits funds for Central Park to benefit "those who have no means to go into the country for relief from the heat and turmoil of the city."

Olmsted, Frederick Law
Manuscript letter signed ("Fred. Law Olmsted Superintendent"), soliciting funds to support public entertainment during the construction of Central Park

1 1/2 pages (206 x 129 mm) on a bifolium of Central Park | Office of the Arch't-in-Chief letterhead, written in a very neat clerical hand, New York, (1859; so docketed at head of first page); pinholes at intersecting folds.

In April 1858, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's "Greensward Plan" was chosen by the Central Park Commission as the winning design for the massive urban park planned for Manhattan. Funding for the project was difficult to secure, but progress was made quickly nevertheless. By December 1858, the Lake in the Park's southwestern section was opened to the public, followed six months later by the Ramble.

It was evidently during this period that the present letter was drafted, possibly as an exemplar for mass solicitation campaign. The letter is unaddressed, and perhaps the campaign never came to fruition; no other examples of this text can be traced in the auction records. The letter underscores Olmsted's commitment to making Central Park available for the use and enjoyment of all citizens, but it also illuminates the Park's long reliance on private philanthropy to achieve that goal.

"It is proposed to provide by subscription a band of music upon the finished portion of the park for a few hours during one or two afternoons a week, for the purpose of increasing its immediate value to those who cannot leave the city. It is believed that after this year the Commissioners of the Park will be able to furnish the means for this purpose without drawing upon their construction fund, but their arrangements cannot be completed at present without the aid of voluntary contributions from citizens who will be influenced by motives of kindness toward those who have no means to go into the country for relief from the heat and turmoil of the city."

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.