Last updated: 1 July 2009

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

General
Biography and genealogy master index - UCB Only  Index to Who's Whos and other biographical directories. 
http://galenet.gale.com/a/acp/db/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
Paper 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; see Articles; in LexisNexis Academic, choose the "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.
The Library's home page; see Electronic resources/Electronic resources: types/Biographical sources.


Specialized
American landscape architecture: designers and places, William H. Tishler, ed., Washington, DC: Preservation Pr., 1989.
EnvDesign SB470.53 A441 1989 Reference Desk & circ.


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/califland.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


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 & circ.


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


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





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

Architecture--Film catalogs Architecture--Videotape catalogs Autobiography Gardeners--Biography Landscape architects--Biography Landscape architects--[place name] Landscape architects--[place name]--Correspondence

Landscape architects--[place name]--Exhibitions Landscape architects--[place name]--Interviews Landscape architects--Directories Landscape architects--Homes and haunts Landscape architects--Interviews  Landscape architecture--History  Women landscape architects


Modify these searches with the addition of descriptive terms (subheadings), e.g., f su eckbo garrett interviews. The following subheadings may be especially useful:

-Aesthetics -Archives -Autobiographies -Catalogs

-Correspondence -Criticism & interpretation -Diaries -Exhibitions

-Influence -Interviews -Journeys -Knowledge and learning


Search tip: 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.




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; paper ed. of Poole's: Doe Refe & Moff Refe AJ3 P7 Consult library catalog for holdings





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 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).
Online ed.: http://www.asla.org/land/; paper ed.: EnvDesign SB469 L12 Bound & unbound periodical stacks


Archival Sources
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 online 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.


Compiled by Deborah Sommer
Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning Librarian
Environmental Design Library
Originally compiled in 1999

Top
Environmental Design Library

---

    

---

Copyright © 2009 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Document maintained on server: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ by: Deborah Sommer.
Last modified 7/1/09. Server manager: Contact.