Women and the City Archives

Inaugural Symposium Launches the Humanities Institute

Posted in From the Library, Humanities Institute on July 10 2014, by Vanessa Sellers

On June 20, 2014, The New York Botanical Garden’s renowned LuEsther T. Mertz Library, directed by Susan Fraser, officially opened its new humanities division, coordinated by Vanessa B. Sellers.

The Humanities Institute’s inaugural Symposium, Women and the City: From a Landscape Perspective, attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd to the Ross Lecture Hall.

The audience asked insightful questions relating to the topic of women as architects and photographers—a topic linked to the Garden-wide exhibition Groundbreakers. “Cities are the grand challenge of the 21st century, and for over one hundred years women have played a crucial, if under-celebrated, role in shaping and adapting our urban spaces,” explained Thaisa Way (University of Washington, Seattle). This award-winning landscape historian moderated the fascinating morning session that featured four experts in landscape scholarship and practice, including Susannah Drake (Founding Principal, dlandstudio, Brooklyn), Sonja Dümpelmann (Harvard Graduate School of Design), Linda Jewell (University of California Berkeley), and Mary Woods (Cornell University).

Women in Urban Planning: Past, Present, and Future

Posted in Programs and Events on June 18 2014, by Lansing Moore

LuEsther T. Mertz Library Groundbreakers Exhibition This Friday, June 20, the Garden will host the inaugural symposium of the new Humanities Institute within the LuEsther T. Mertz Library! This exciting new initiative will further establish the academic role of the world’s largest, most comprehensive botanical and horticultural library.

In keeping with the spirit of Groundbreakers: Great American Gardens and The Women Who Designed Them, Friday will honor the role of women in the historic development of today’s urban spaces with a panel of visiting experts. These various speakers will be led by landscape historian Thaisa Way, ASLA, in a conversation entitled Women and the City—From a Landscape Perspective. Read on for the full lineup and more information about the new Humanities Institute!