GENERAL REFERENCES TO LITERATURE ON PARKS 



IO2I 



made by the planners of that day. Among such cities 

 were Buffalo, Boston, Minneapolis, parts of Chicago, 

 San Francisco, etc., etc. During the fourth and fifth 

 decades many more such reports were made, and during 

 the past quarter of a century they have become very 

 numerous and have often been combined with general 

 city plan reports. See Chapter II, pages 68, 69 for 

 references to some plan reports. A more complete list 

 can be had upon application to the Playground and 

 Recreation Association of America, 315 Fourth Avenue, 

 New York City, or to the Recreation Department of 

 the Russell Sage Foundation, 120 East Twenty-Second 

 Street, New York City. In the Manual of Information 

 on City Planning and Zoning, may be found very ex- 

 tensive references to both park plan reports and city 

 plan reports. 



Park Department Reports. Next to the minutes of 

 the proceedings of park governing authorities the 

 annual reports of park departments comprise the most 

 voluminous literature on parks and park development 

 in the United States that can be had. Unfortunately 

 this source of information does not present a continuous 

 record, as only a few departments have published annual 

 reports continuously since their establishment. In the 

 smaller cities these reports are almost invariably in- 

 cluded in general municipal reports, and during the past 

 ten years this has become a common custom even 

 among many of the larger cities. A few cities that are 

 now issuing very excellent annual reports are: Boston, 

 New Haven, Waterbury, South Park and West Park 

 Districts, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, 

 Kansas City, Missouri, Atlanta, St. Louis. 



Some county park departments issuing annual re- 

 ports include: Essex County, N.J.; Westchester County, 

 N. Y.; Wayne County, Michigan; Cook County, 111.; 

 Union County, N. J. 



Metropolitan park departments issuing annual re- 

 ports include Boston Metropolitan Park Department, 

 Cleveland and Tacoma. 



So far as known, no individual, association or public 

 library has a complete collection of park department 

 reports. There is quite an extensive collection in the 

 office of the American Institute of Park Executives, 

 Rockford, 111.; in the office of the Playground and Rec- 

 reation Association of America, 315 Fourth Avenue, 

 New York City, and in some of the large municipal 

 reference libraries such as those in Boston, New York 

 and Chicago. 



Minutes of the Proceedings of Park Governing Author- 

 ities. The real history of the park movement in the 

 United States is to be found in the records of the pro- 

 ceedings of park governing authorities. These are sel- 

 dom published in full and the student of park affairs 

 desiring to use such source material would be under 

 the necessity of going to each city to consult them. 

 The Commissioners of the Cook County Forest Pre- 

 serves publish these records in full. 



Playground and Recreation Association of America. 

 The reports of the annual meetings of this Association 

 since its first meeting at Chicago in 1906 to date com- 

 prise a veritable mine of information on all manner of 

 questions relating to planning for playgrounds and 

 recreation, administration, organization and conduct 

 of activities, financing, laws, etc. Since 1910 these 

 reports have appeared through the columns of The 

 Playground. 



The Playground Year Book, published annually by 

 the Association as one of the numbersof The Playground, 

 constitutes a valuable series of statistical summaries 

 concerning playgrounds and recreation from the year 

 1911 to date. 



The Association's collection of facts relative to the 

 parks and other outdoor recreation areas of approxi- 

 mately 2,700 villages and cities and some 45 counties 

 as of 1925-26 is perhaps the most comprehensive in 

 existence. 



Portland, Oregon Public Library. In 1926 the Refer- 

 ence Librarian of the Portland Public Library prepared 

 and issued a statistical report on the parks of 66 cities 

 in the United States. This was later reprinted by the 

 Municipal Reference Library of New York City, 

 April, 1926. 



The Civic Press, New York. This organization is the 

 publisher of The American City and the Municipal 

 Index. The latter from time to time contains valuable 

 reports on parks and playgrounds. The Index for the 

 year 1927 presents quite a comprehensive statistical 

 report on the parks and recreation facilities of 857 

 cities in the United States, section 17, pages 635-649. 

 This same issue also contains valuable statistics on 

 "Swimming Pools and other Bathing Places" in all 

 cities in the United States, 5,000 population and over, 

 section n, pages 476-490. 



United States Census Bureau Reports. The Census 

 Bureau beginning in 1880 has issued a number of re- 

 ports on parks in American cities. The complete list 

 is as follows: 



1880. Social Statistics of Cities, embodying reports 

 on parks in all incorporated municipalities of 8,000 in- 

 habitants and above. This is now out of print. 



1900. Vital Statistics of Cities of 100,000 and Up- 

 wards, Eleventh Census of the United States, Vol. 21, 

 Vital and Social Statistics, Part 2, pages 3-4. Shows 

 total area of parks in each city, area to every 1,000 

 inhabitants and per cent of city area in parks. 



1903. Statistics of Cities Having a Population of 

 over 25,000, Table II, pages 109-113. Area of public 

 parks. 



1905. Statistics of Cities Having a Population of 

 over 30,000, Table 45, pages 356-358. Parks, Play- 

 grounds and Bathing Beaches. Table 46, Zoological 

 Parks and Collections. 



1907. Statistics of Cities Having a Population of 

 over 30,000. Table 68, Public Parks and other Public 



