Anne Whiston Spirn Oral History

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In 2026 the Pioneers of American Landscape Design® Oral History series will highlight influential educator, author and practitioner Anne Whiston Spirn, FASLA. 

This series is an ever-growing, award-winning collection of thoughtfully produced videotaped first-person interviews with significant practitioners that currently features twenty oral histories. Each profile examines a designer’s personal and professional history, their overall design philosophy, and how that approach was carried out in their most emblematic projects. The deftly edited video segments include never-before-seen archival footage, new photography, and on-location videography. The final result also includes a complete transcript and a collection of approximately twenty illustrated personal recollections written by colleagues, collaborators, and friends. 

The oral history with Spirn will be videotaped at Spirn’s home and office in Nahant, Massachusetts, and on the MIT campus. If funding permits, videotaping will also take place in critical project locations including West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and The Woodlands, Texas.