VIRTUAL TALK
Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea
Tuesday, March 12 / 5:30 PM – 7 PM
Free for the General Public*

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Millions of people visit America’s National Parks each year to recreate in the outdoors, discover the natural and cultural history of the United States, or get closer to nature. The idea of a national system that protects land for everyone’s use is a cornerstone of our country’s identity, but that has not always been the case.

VINS is pleased to host Rolf Diamant, former superintendent of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park, for a conversation that explores how anti-slavery activism, the Civil War, and the remaking of the federal government gave rise to the American public park and the concept of a national park system.

In 1865, Frederick Law Olmsted delivered his landmark Yosemite Report in which he envisioned how great public parks could become keystone institutions of a renewed and united republic. This program will examine Olmsted’s legacy and will dive into the tumultuous and aspirational beginnings of some of the public lands we most treasure today.

Speaker Bio:
Rolf Diamant is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Vermont’s Historic Preservation Program. A landscape architect and historian, Rolf undertook his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Rolf was superintendent of five national parks including Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. He is co-author of Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea and co-editor and contributing author of A Thinking Person’s Guide to America’s National Parks. Rolf also writes a column on the challenges facing national parks today that regularly appears in the University of California’s journal, Parks Stewardship Forum.

*A $10 donation suggested for this event.

For more information, contact us at 802.359.5000 or info@vinsweb.org.