OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



81 



A Statement in Regard to the Establishment of a Fellowship in 

 Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome 



In January, 1914, Mr. Ferruccio Vitale, a 

 member of the Society, met the Director of 

 the American Academy in Rome, Dr. Jesse 

 Benedict Carter, and discussed with him the 

 advisability of including Landscape Design 

 among the Fellowships in Fine Arts at the 

 Academy. Dr. Carter showed interest in and 

 sympathy with such a project, and was good 

 enough to state that he would support the idea 

 with the Board of Trustees of the Academy. 



Mr. Vitale then called on Mr. William 

 Rutherford Mead, President of the Academy 

 and secured his opinion on the same subject, 

 ofifering, in case he viewed the idea favorably, 

 to enlist the co-operation of the American 

 Society of Landscape Architects in raising 

 the necessary funds to maintain a Fellowship 

 and in directing the competition and the study 

 and research work of Landscape Architecture 

 in Rome. Mr. Mead assured Mr. Vitale that 

 he would welcome the collaboration of Fel- 

 lows in Landscape Architecture with Fellows 

 of the other Fine Arts, and asked him to see 

 other Trustees and to present definite sug- 

 gestions as soon as possible. Messrs. S. B. P. 

 Trowbridge, C. Grant LaFarge, William A. 

 Boring and other Trustees with whom the pro- 

 ject was then discussed seemed to be heartily 

 in favor. 



Mr. Vitale, therefore, decided to bring the 

 matter officially to the attention of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Landscape Architects, asking 

 for their opinion and endorsement. This he 

 did at the Boston meeting in February, 1914. 

 The proposal met with most enthusiastic ap- 

 proval on the part of the President of the 

 Society, Mr. Manning, and all the members 

 present at the meeting; and it was decided that 

 the Society should undertake to raise an en- 

 dowment fund sufficient ,10 maintain three 

 Fellowships in Landscape Architecture at the 

 American Academy in Rome, and that, in the 

 meantime, the annual stipend for one Fellow 

 be provided by annual contributions from 

 Landscape Architects and their friends. 



The members who were present at this 

 meeting contributed then and there very gen- 



erously and later more and more members sub- 

 scribed to this temporary fund through the 

 solicitations of the Committee, appointed for 

 the purpose, composed of Messrs. Frederick 

 L. Olmsted, Bryant Fleming and Ferruccio 

 Vitale, until sufficient funds were in sight to 

 guarantee the first Fellowship at the Academy. 



From that moment negotiations with the 

 President, the Secretary and other members 

 of the Board of Trustees of the Academy be- 

 came more and more encouraging until as- 

 surance was obtained that a Fellowship would 

 be established. The American Society of 

 Landscape Architects was officially requested 

 by the Secretary of the Academy to submit 

 a program for a competition to select the first 

 Fellow, and to outline the relationship of the 

 American Society of Landscape Architects to 

 the Academy in regard to the administration 

 of such a Fellowship. It is undoubtedly due to 

 the enthusiasm and untiring efforts of Fred- 

 erick Law Olmsted and Professor James S. 

 Pray that many difficulties were surmounted 

 at that time and that the project was finally 

 crowned with complete success. 



The first Fellow, Mr. Edward Lawson, went 

 to Rome in the fall of 1915. Owing to the 

 unusual and unpropitious conditions during 

 the long period of the war, and the subsequent 

 financial depression the efforts of the Society 

 to raise a permanent endowment have not 

 been successful; but it is very gratifying to 

 know that the Board of Trustees of the Acad- 

 emy are now so favorably impressed with the 

 usefulness of the Fellowship, and the good 

 record made by Mr. Lawson, and the promise 

 of an equally fine record by the second Fel- 

 low, Mr. Griswold, that the raising of a per- 

 manent endowment fund of$150,000to maintain 

 three Fellowships in Landscape Design at the 

 Academy has recently been made part of the 

 program for the increasing of the general en- 

 dowment of the Academy. So that it is very 

 safe to say that our Art has obtained full 

 recognition, and is placed by the Academy on 

 a par with her sisters, Architecture, Painting 

 and Sculpture. 



