Environmental Design Library @ UC Berkeley

Biographical Information on Landscape Architects

Biographical Information on Landscape Architects is a bibliographic guide to UC Berkeley Library and web resources for biographical information on landscape architects. For additional information, please consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall.

• Collective Biographies
• Finding Books
• Finding Journal & Newspaper Articles
• Directories
• Additional Sources

UC Berkeley faculty, registered students, and staff who are off campus may use items marked UCB Only or UC Only by using The Library's off-campus access services.

Compiled by Deborah Sommer. Content reviewed: June 2010

Collective Biographies

In addition to titles listed here, go to Find Information on The Library's home page→ Electronic resources→ Electronic resources: types A-Z→ Biographical Sources for a list of links to full-text biographical sources on the web.

• Biography and genealogy master index - UCB Only Index to Who's Whos and other biographical directories.
  http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BGMI
• Biography reference bank - UCB Only An easy-to-search large database which includes some full text articles and other listings. Can serve as a bibliography of works by and about a particular person.
  Online coverage: Varies
  Print equivalents:
  -----. Biography index. Indexes books, biographical dictionaries, periodicals, diaries, obituaries, etc. Coverage: 1946/49--.
  Doe Refe CT28 B5 Biographies
  -----. Current biography, H.W. Wilson. Includes the usual biographical data plus: subject's own views, attitudes and opinions, references to additional sources of information, and more. Coverage: 1940-- Cumulative index: 1940-1996.
  Doe Refe CT100 C8 Biographies
• LexisNexis academic--Biographical information - UCB Only Indexes current biographical information in a broad range of academic, popular, business, and other journals as well as newspapers.
  Available via The Library's home page→ Articles→ LexisNexis Academic→ "People" tab.
• World biographical information system online (K.G. Saur) - UCB Only "Indexes the complete contents of 38 microfiche sets of biographical archives, providing short biographies on more than 3.6 million persons from all periods, countries and regions worldwide." Better for less contemporary names. In German and English. The Library owns the microfiche editions of the archives containing the complete texts; locations may be found by searching OskiCat.
  Available via The Library's home page→ Electronic resources/Electronic resources→ types/Biographical sources.

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• American landscape architecture: designers and places, William H. Tishler, ed., Washington, DC: Preservation Pr., 1989.
EnvDesign SB470.53 A441 1989 Reference Desk & circulating
• Breaking ground: portraits of ten garden designers, by Page Dickey. NY: Artisan, 1997. Biographies of 10 contemporary American and European gardeners: Benech, Cox, Chasse, Idoux, Lutsko, Martino, McCabe, Oudolf, Pearson, and Power.
  EnvDesign SB472.45 D535 1997
• British gardeners: a biographical dictionary, by Miles Hadfield, Robert Harling, Leonie Highton, London: Zwemmer: Conde Nast, 1980.
  EnvDesign SB61 H3 Reference
• California landscape architecture & gardens (UC Berkeley, Library) A bibliographic research guide to California landscape architecture in the UC Berkeley libraries and on the web. Includes biographical sources for California landscape architects.
  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/landscape_california.html
• Createurs de jardins et de paysages en France de la renaissance au XXI siecle, Michel Racine, ed. Arles: Actes Sud; Versailles: Ecole nationale superieure du paysage, 2001-. French landscape architects and designers. Well-illustrated. Includes brief bibliographies.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 C74 v.1-2 Reference
• Dictionary of gardening, the Royal Horticultural Society. Anthony Huxley, ed. 4 vols. NY: Stockton Pr., 1992. Primarily an encyclopedia of plants. However, includes 173 brief biographies of landscape architects and gardeners (e.g., Roberto Burle-Marx, Thomas Church, Beatrix Farrand, and Hermann Puckler-Muskau).
  EnvDesign SB450.95 D53 1992 Reference
• Dictionary of today's landscape designers, Pierluigi Nicolin, Francesco Repishti, eds. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. For 86 international contemporary landscape architects and designers, engineers, artists, and more, provides a biographical note, a list of works and related bibliography, and color photographs of significant designs.
  EnvDesign SB469.37 D53 2003 Reference
• Down-to-earth women: those who care for the soil, Dawn Macleod, Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1982. British focus.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 M3
• Eminent gardeners: some people of influence and their gardens, 1880-1980, by Jane Brown, London: Viking, 1990. British focus.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 B762 1990
• Encyclopedia of gardens: history and design, Chicago Botanic Garden. Candice A. Shoemaker, ed. 3 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. Substantive signed articles are illustrated; each includes a brief bibliography. Includes biographies of significant landscape designers, with chronologies of selected projects.
  EnvDesign SB465 E63 2001 Reference Desk
• Garden makers: the great tradition of garden design from 1600 to the present day, by George Plumptre, NY: Random House, 1993.
  EnvDesign SB61 P58 1993
• Gardeners, gurus & grubs: the stories of garden inventors & innovations, by George Drower. Stroud: Sutton, 2001.
  EnvDesign SB454.8 D76 2001
• Grune Biographien: biographisches Handbuch zur Landschaftsarchitektur des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland, by Gert Groning. Berlin: Patzer, 1997. Includes more than 2700 19th and 20th century German landscape architects and designers. Brief listings include works, publications, competitions, etc.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 G76 1997 Reference
• Influential gardeners: the designers who shaped 20th-century garden style, by Andrew Wilson. NY: Clarkson Potter/Publisher, 2002. Includes illustrated biographies of 57 international landscape architects and designers. No bibliography.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 W55 2002
• Invisible gardens: the search for modernism in the American landscape, by Peter Walker and Melanie Simo, Cambridge, MA: MIT Pr., 1994. Includes biographies of 20th century landscape architects and bibliography.
  EnvDesign SB470.5 W34 1994
• Landscape architecture: an illustrated history in timelines, site plans, and biography, by William A. Mann, NY: John Wiley, 1993. Chapter 6 contains biographical sketches of 300 designers.
  EnvDesign SB470.5 M37 1993 Reference Desk
• 19th century horticulturists and plant raisers, by Thomas A. Brown. Petaluma, CA: The Author, 1998.
  EnvDesign QK26 B76 1998
• The Oxford companion to the garden, Patrick Taylor, ed. NY: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2006. Table of contents. A one-volume encyclopedia of short authoritative articles on notable gardens, landscape designers, garden features, etc. New ed. of the classic The Oxford companion to gardens. Selectively illustrated. Bibliography: pp.531-538.
  EnvDesign SB 469.25 O951 2006 Reference Desk & circulating
• Pioneers of American landscape design, Charles A. Birnbaum, Robin Karson, eds. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Contains excellent biographical essays about 160 American landscape architects and designers. Each essay includes a brief bibliography. Illustrated.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 P56 2000 Reference Desk
• Profiles in landscape architecture. Washington, D.C.: American Society of Landscape Architects, 1992.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 P96 1992
• The School in a garden: foundations and founders of landscape architecture, by Gordon T. Millichap, J. Gordon Millichap. Chicago: PNB Publishers, 2000.
  EnvDesign SB470.5 M54 2000
• Shaping the American landscape: new profiles from the pioneers of American landscape design project, Charles A. Birnbaum, Stephanie S. Foell, eds. Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Pr., 2009. Contains excellent biographical essays about 160 American landscape architects and designers and their work. Each essay includes a brief bibliography. Illustrated.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 S53 2009 Reference Desk
• The Triumph of Flora: women and the American landscape, by Deborah Nevins. IN: Magazine antiques, vol.127:4 (1985) pp.904-922.
  EnvDesign NK1125 A35 Periodical stacks
• Women and the land: a biographical survey of women who have contributed to the development of landscape architecture in the United States..., by Catherine R. Brown, Baltimore, MD: Built Environment Studies, Morgan State Univ., 1979.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 B7
• Women in the ASLA: a descriptive analysis, by Valorie Hennigan and Jot D. Carpenter. IN: Landscape Journal, vol.17:1 (1998), pp.70-84. Analyses women's membership and leadership in the American Society of Landscape Architects. Includes bibliography.
  EnvDesign SB469 L34 Periodical stacks
• The World of landscape architects, by Francisco Asensio Cerver, Barcelona: [Arco Editorial Board], 1995.
  EnvDesign SB469.9 A84 1995

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Finding Books

To search for books about landscape architects as a group, in the library catalogs, the following Library of Congress subject headings may be useful.

Modify these searches with the addition of descriptive terms (subheadings). The following subheadings may be especially useful:

Remember to search for a landscape architect's firm name as well as his/her personal name. For example, search for both the personal name eckbo garrett and the corporate name garrett eckbo associates.

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Finding Journal & Newspaper Articles

Biographies may be found in journal and newspaper articles; note that newspaper articles on contemporary projects can be useful sources of biographical information. In addition to the indexes listed here, some newspapers are available full text on the web; information regarding archives of older issues is sometimes available at these sites.

• Access world news via NewsBank - UCB Only Formerly America's Newspapers. Full-text database of articles from 500+ regional, national, and international newspapers and newswires.
  Coverage: Varies
• Historical newspapers online - UC Only Indexes four major historical resources: Palmer's Index to the Times (1790 to 1905), Palmer's Full Text Online (1785-1870), The Official Index to the Times (1906 to 1980), The Historical Index to the New York Times (1851-1923). Includes some full text.
  Coverage: 1790-1980
• Landscape architecture indexes & abstracts (UC Berkeley, Library) An annotated list of journal article indexes for landscape architecture. Includes some newspaper indexes.
  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/laindx.html
• Lexis-Nexis academic - UCB Only Includes indexing to and full text of over 6,000 newspapers, news media, and journals.
  Coverage: Varies
• Nineteenth century masterfile - UCB Only A subject index to almost 500 American and English periodicals and newspapers. Serves as an enhanced version of Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. Bibliographic citations only.
  Online ed.: 1802-1906
  Print ed. of Poole's: Doe Refe & Moff Refe AJ3 P7 Consult library catalog for holdings

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Directories

• American Society of Landscape Architects. Member handbook.
  EnvDesign SB469 A632a Latest ed. Reference Desk
• Historic landscape directory: a source book of agencies, organizations, and institutions providing information on historic landscape preservation, Lauren G. Meier, ed. Washington, DC: Preservation Assistance Division, National Park Service, [1991]. American focus.
  EnvDesign SB451.3 H57 1991 Reference & circ.

Additional Sources

Obituaries frequently include synopses of an individual's professional life and contributions and often appear in newspapers. See Finding Journal & Newspaper Articles in this guide for useful sources.

• Avery obituary index of architects and artists, 1st and 2nd eds. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1963, 1968. Includes citations to obituaries of landscape architects. Citations also available online through the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (UC Only); combine a title search on obituary with a subject search on the name.
  EnvDesign fNA40 C6 Reference & fNA8 C63 1968 Reference
• Land online: landscape architecture news digest (American Society of Landscape Architects) Some articles are available online (see In Memoriam).
  http://www.asla.org/land/
  Print ed.: EnvDesign SB469 L12 Bound & unbound periodical stacks

• Architectural records in the San Francisco Bay Area: a guide to research. Waverly B. Lowell, project dir. and ed., NY: Garland, 1988.
EnvDesign NA2125 C22 S2631 1988 Reference Desk
• Archival finding aids. Guides or finding aids to archival collections related to individual people usually include useful and succinct biographies of those individuals. Many finding aids can be located via the following web-based archives as well as through the library catalogs:
  Archive Finder - UCB Only http://archives.chadwyck.com/
  Online archive of California http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
• Environmental Design Archives finding aids. Available through UC Berkeley Finding Aids from The Library's home page. This collection includes archives of San Francisco Bay Area architects and landscape architects, among others.

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