Member Letter from The Friends of Central Park
New York City: The Friends of Central Park, May 17, 1968. Original The Friends of Central Park envelope with an illustration of a penny-farthing bicycle addressed to Judith De Maria Hearn. Contains 8 pieces of ephemera, including two beautiful maps of Central Park published by the Greensward Foundation. A wonderful ephemeral survival of a member packet sent the year following this important organization’s founding, dedicated to maintaining green space in New York City. Contents described in detail below.
The Friends of Central Park was founded by Henry Hope Reed in 1967, inspired by his friend Clay Lancastor’s non-profit Friends of Prospect Park, in hopes to clean up, preserve, and restore Central Park to Olmsted and Vaux’s original design. Member and cartographer Richard Edes Harrison, when interviewed for The New Yorker piece included, stated, “we welcome everyone interested in keeping Central Park as it was originally designed–woodlands, meadows, forests, and streams–rather than as a setting for more buildings, monuments, permanent athletic fields, and assorted fantasies dreamed up by determined philanthropists anxious to have their names imbedded everlastingly in concrete.” Harrison later commented on the organization’s mission saying, “We want to see more money spent on keeping the Park clean and green, on planting and landscaping. Most people who come here just want to walk or sit, to escape from the pavement, noise, and smells of the city…it doesn’t need Happenings, recreation centers, and all the contrived amusements that could easily be put elsewhere.” Over the next decade, Friends of Central Park actively opposed new construction throughout the park, including the renovation of Wollman Rink. However, they did partner with a few other organizations to raise funds for the restoration of several bridges, returning them to their original splendor. As their efforts progressed, Friends of Central Park worked to highlight the park's beauty, history, and need for preservation by offering walking and bike tours. This growing movement eventually played a key role in the establishment of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980.
Contents include:
1. Central Park: Grand Design or Catch-All? New York City: Greensward Foundation, 1967. Map. 68x27.8cm. Prepared by Richard Eds Harrison–Research by Henry Hope Reed, Curator of Central Park—lettering by George Colbert. Green coloring shows original design by Olmsetd and Calvert Vaux, with black showing additions since 1900. Folded into thirds and then in half to fit original envelope. Curling to edges. Near Fine.
2. Trees of Central Park: Map 1. New York City: Greensward Foundation, 1967. Folded Booklet with map, 14.8x9.4cm. Fully opened, 47x24.5cm. Light green cardstock with dark green printed words and illustrations. Prepared by Cornelius M. O’Shea, Horticulturist for Manhattan, and Henry Hope Reed, Curator of Central Park, assisted by Robert Daismont, Harry Dubrow, and George Hufford. Also, assisted by Edward J Alexander, and Andrew Reed. Contains 51 species of trees, which includes their name, an illustration of the tree itself and its leaf with a short description. Each with a number corresponding to its location in Central Park. Fine.
3. REED, Henry Hope. Reading List 1. 35.2x21.5cm: 3pp. Folded in half and then in half again, stapled. Typed on white paper. Annotated list of books available for purchase on landscape architecture and plant identification. Fine.
4. REED, Henry Hope and Clay Lancaster. Bicycle Tours. 21.5x8.8cm. Single page flyer advertising bicycle tours at both Central Park and Prospect Park.
5. A Visit to Historic Greenwood Cemetery. 21.5x9.3cm. Single page flyer advertising a visit to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn on June 2, 1968 at 2:30pm for members only.
6. Invitation for monthly guided walking tours happening Saturdays Rambles in Central Park and Sundays Gambols in Prospect Park from June to October, 1968.
7. 28x21.8cm. Yellow paper folded into thirds. A one page copy of an article from The New Yorker Magazine dated February 4, 1967 describing the purpose of the organization.
8. 21.5x9.2cm. Yellow paper. A copy of an OpEd piece from The New Yorker Magazine dated March 30, 1963 describing in disgust the amount of garbage found and abhorrence at the mismanagement of Central Park while roller skating.
Price: $500.00
Item #10486