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Dissertation on Small Town Ideology Wins Thomas Scholarship


The 2003 Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design was awarded to Rachel Leibowitz for her dissertation on the writings of William Allen White and his impact as a journalist on early twentieth-century landscapes across the country.

Ms. Leibowitz intends to demonstrate how White’s descriptions of his hometown of Emporia, Kansas in nationally published articles, essays and editorials promoted small-town, middle-class values and impacted streetscapes, gardens and public parks across the country by shaping Americans perception of the ideal landscape. She will also bring attention to the unique landscapes of the Midwest and Great Plains regions, as well as explore how the use, and abuse, of journalism and stereotypical images can create a sense of place.

 

The 2003 fellowship jury consisted of Mark Francis, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of California in Davis; Karen Hanna, Professor and Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University; and Darrel Morrison, Professor of the School of Environmental Design, University of Georgia.

The jury commented that Ms. Leibowitz’s topic was “exciting, innovative and very current with new urbanist thinking.”

Rachel Liebowitz is in her final year of coursework in the new doctoral program in landscape history and theory at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. With assistance from the Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship, Ms Liebowitz will return to Kansas and Washington, DC to view source material on William Allen White.

The Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design is awarded annually and provides $4,000 to an exceptional graduate student studying landscape architecture or horticulture at a leading American institution. The fellowship is administered by LAF for the Garden Club of America (GCA) and was established in 2000 by Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr. Please visit www.LAprofession.org or www.gcamerica.org for additional information on the fellowship.