Processed by: Jane V. Charles, 1999
Copyright © 1999 North Carolina State University
Introduction
Collection Name: Charles E. Little Collection, 1975-1990
Collection Number: M. C. 214
Dates: 1975-1990
Provenance:
Gift of Charles E. Little through George F. Thompson, editor for Johns Hopkins
University Press: February 28, 1991.
Volume: 5.7 linear feet
Citation:
Charles E. Little Collection, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State
University Libraries, Raleigh, NC.
Copyright:
North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. The Special
Collections Research Center recognizes that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
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Biographical Note
Charles E. Little, a native Californian, attended Wesleyan University in 1955, and served
in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Although he began his career as an advertising
executive in New York City, Little decided in his mid-thirties to resign from advertising
to become a full-time environmental activist, author, journalist, and policy analyst.
Since then he has helped pass both federal and state legislation on open space, parks,
and agricultural land preservation. He has also held several research and management
positions in non-profit organizations and government agencies. These include: executive
director of the Open Space Institute in New York, senior associate at the Conservation
Foundation in Washington D.C., and head of natural resources policy at the Congressional
Research Service of the Library of Congress. In 1978 Little established and became
president of the American Land Forum in order to develop policy on land conservation.
Little has written a number of books and magazine articles that have led to numerous
changes in conservation policy, which include better approaches to cooperative planning
for landscape areas, as well as national legislation for farmland protection. Books by
Little include:
Challenge of the Land, 1968,
Space for Survival: Blocking the Bulldozer in Urban America, 1971,
Green Fields Forever: the Conservation Tillage Revolution in America, 1987,
Greenways for America, 1990,
Hope for the Land, 1992,
The Dying of the Trees: the Pandemic in America’s Forests, 1995, and
Discover America: the Smithsonian Book of the National Parks, 1995.
Little and W. Wendell Fletcher co-authored
The American Crisis: Why U.S. Farmland is Being Lost and How Citizens and
Governments are Trying to Save What is Left, 1982.
Little edited
Louis Bromfield at Malabar: Writings on Farming and Country Life, 1988.
In addition, Little co-edited
An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Highland Forest
of Eastern North America, 1998 with Havard Ayers and Jenny Hager.
Little has contributed numerous articles about land conservation, community planning,
and natural resources to the following magazines:
Smithsonian, Garden, Business and Society Review, Air and Space, Country Journal,
and Wilderness, for which he contributed a whole-issue essay on the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1987.
Little has also written pieces for the Capital Ideas department in Harrowsmith,
and Conservation Commentary in the journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
In addition, Little has both edited and published two periodicals:
Open Space Action and American Land Forum,
the prize-winning magazine that he founded in 1980.
He also edited the John Hopkins series American Land Classics.
Little currently resides in Kensington, Maryland with his wife, Ila Dawson Little,
professor of English literature.
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Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of reference materials that Little compiled and used
to write his book, Greenways for America, 1990, which the Conservation Fund
of Washington D.C. commissioned him to write in 1988.
Greenways for America represents the first comprehensive compilation of
information pertaining to greenways, a result of Little’s extensive surveying of
national greenways (both on-site and via mail), and countless interviews with
individuals whose efforts have made these greenway projects come to fruition.
Little defines greenways as
(1.) linear open spaces established along natural corridors, such as riverfronts,
stream valleys, ridgelines and railroad right-of-ways converted to scenic roads,
recreational use, or canals,
(2.) natural or landscaped trails for pedestrian or bicycle passage,
(3.) open-space connectors that link parks, cultural features, nature reserves, or
historic sites with each another and populated areas, and
(4.) local strips and linear parks designated as parkways or greenbelts (Parkway,
a term that Frederick Law Olmsted probably coined, and greenbelt, a British term, are
frequently used interchangeably with the term greenway in the United states.
According to Little, Edmond Bacon, a landscape designer, likely coined the term greenway,
as discussed in William H. Whyte’s monograph Securing Open Space for Urban America, 1959).
In Greenways for America Little traces the history of the greenway movement both
here and abroad. He attributes the present American greenway movement to Olmsted, who
designed the grounds for the University of California’s Berkley Campus in 1865, as well
as the parkways, or green, linear corridors, which Olmsted envisioned cutting through
Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York in 1866. Olmsted oversaw several other projects that
resulted in preserved strips of parkland for pathways and scenic drives, including the
famous Emerald Necklace of Boston, a parkway of open space proposed in 1887.
According to Little, the concept and construction of modern greenways took shape in
the 1960s in the name of open-space action.
The national movement to convert abandoned rails to trails also began in the 1960s.
Although efforts to secure open, green spaces declined in the 1970s and early 1980s,
the greenway movement, experienced a boon in the mid 1980s, when a lack of federal
funds forced concerned citizens to take matters into their own hands.
As a result, proactive Americans have established scores of diverse greenways across
the land.
In two major chapters Little profiles a number of these greenway projects, and describes
the efforts of several people who have created and preserved greenways throughout the
United States.
Many citizens tout these greenways as sorely needed networks of green that provide
exercise, recreation, preservation of natural corridors for wildlife migration,
protection of scenic and historic routes from commercial development, economic
prosperity and growth, and an improved environment.
Little subsequently devotes five chapters to the basic types of greenways:
riverfronts and urban river greenways, paths and trails, ecological corridors,
scenic drives and historic routes, and greenway network programs.
According to Little, the idea of linking greenways together, thus creating a nationwide
system of greenways, has become at present an integral component of the movement.
Linkage, Little notes, is an important concept to greenway advocates because of its
potential to take local grass-roots efforts to a higher level.
These advocates believe that the creation of trails and open spaces connecting towns,
cities, and parks from one end of the country to the other will eventually build a truly
cohesive community, offering both ecological and social benefits for all.
Finally, in the closing chapters of his book, Little pragmatically outlines and discusses
the step-by-step process of developing greenways, as well as the overarching theme of the
greenways imperative: to raise environmental consciousness.
The first series of the collection, called Chapter Files, contains reference material
and drafts of chapters for Greenways for America. A copy of Little’s bibliographic
data base search for articles on greenways, as well as the various greenway maps included
in the book, are also housed here.
The second series, Project Files, consists of professional correspondence, newspapers
articles, essays, studies, reports, surveys, design projects, maps, plans, proposals,
brochures, flyers, pamphlets, assessments, newsletters, magazine articles, and journals
that Little amassed in order to depict the various greenway projects across America.
The third series, Reference Files, consists of general reference material, such as
reports, foundation lists, magazines, brochures, essays, articles, conference programs,
and newsletters.
These papers contain information relating to local, state, and national organizations
and programs.
Reference Files also contains correspondence pertaining to the progression of the
greenway projects, and information on related conservation and environmental interest
groups.
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Series Descriptions
Chapter Files
These include several drafts of the chapters in Greenways for America, with
comments and corrections from Little’s colleagues. This series also contains material
that Little referred to in order to write the book, such as drawings, essays, reports,
maps, Little’s notes and outlines, information on the Olmsted Historic Landscape Act, a
master list of the Olmsted Firm’s Design Projects, 1857-1950, professional correspondence,
articles, newsletters, various publications, pamphlets, plans, manuals, reports, press
releases, conference programs, court cases, brochures, business cards, journals, fact
sheets, studies, and a Land Trust manual. Maps of the various greenways featured in the
book, as well as a copy of Little’s bibliographic data base search, are housed in this
series. The chapters are arranged in chronological order. Placement of other papers in
this series reflects subject matter arrangement (e.g., the bibliographic data base search
is located before the chapter files; the greenway maps are located at the end of the series).
Note: chapter arrangement corresponds with how Little numbered the chapters in the final
version of his book.
Project Files
Information pertaining to the various greenway projects that Little researched,
visited, and outlined in his book is included here. As outlined in the Introduction
of Greenways for America, Little identifies five major types of greenways.
They are: (1.) urban riverside greenways, (2.) recreational greenways, which feature
trails and paths that are based on natural corridors, canals, abandoned railbeds,
and other public rights-of-way, (3.) ecologically significant natural corridors
established along rivers, streams, and ridgelines, which provide wildlife migration,
nature study, and hiking, (4.) scenic and historic routes along roads, highways, and
waterways, and (5.) comprehensive greenway systems or networks, usually based on
natural landforms, designed to create an alternative municipal or regional green
infrastructure. Little assembled information about greenway projects in the
following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Types
of material housed here include: plans, reports, studies, surveys, assessments, maps,
professional correspondence, business cards, newsletters, transcribed interviews with
greenway developers and advocates, Little’s notes taken while visiting greenways
throughout the United States, Little’s greenway project surveys, brochures, pamphlets,
flyers, a masters thesis, press releases, guides, and other publications. Several
newspaper, magazine, and journal articles are also located in this series. This series
is arranged alphabetically, according to the state that the greenway is located in,
followed by the name of the greenway project. Note: Linking Countryside and City:
the Uses of Greenways, an article by Charles Little that appeared in the May-June
1987 issue of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, is located in
folder #30, labeled "Chapter Eight-Reference Material", in Box #3. Two photographs
of Charles E. Little are located in the folder labeled "Oconee River Greenway,
Georgia" in box #8. Also, two copies of greenway bylaws are located in folders
labeled "Yakima Greenway, Washington", and "Platte River Greenway, Wyoming" in box #16.
Reference Files
General reference information is housed here. Included in this series is an extensive
list of national, regional, and state foundations, all potential funding sources for
greenway projects. A toolbook called Tools for the Greenbelt: A Citizen’s Guide to
Protecting Open Space is also located here. This guide contains information on
greenway policies, development procedures, and case studies. General reference material
includes information on national, regional, and state organizations and agencies.
Such materials include lists, brochures, studies, essays, plans, newspaper articles,
professional correspondence, newsletters, reports, flyers, and a U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers list. Information on national organizations and agencies represented in
this series includes: American Farmland Trust, American Trails Network, Bureau of Outdoor
Recreation, Bureau of Land Management, Rails-to-Trails, American Rivers, United States
Department of Agriculture, New England Forestry Foundation, the Conservation Fund
(Greenways for America Program), National Park Service, National Center for Nonprofit
Boards, National Endowment for the Arts, the Conservation Foundation, National Parks
and Conservation Association, and the Land Trust Exchange. A list of greenway-related
organizations, such as the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Nature
Conservancy, the National Institute for Urban Wildlife, and the Walkways Center,
which includes addresses and telephone numbers, is also located in this series.
This series is arranged alphabetically, with general reference material placed at
the end of the series.
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Container List
Chapter Files
MC 214.1
Bibliographic Data Base Search
Front Material and Introduction
Chapter One-Reference Material
Chapter One-Reference Material-Olmsted
Chapter One-Reference Material-Olmsted Design Projects
Chapter One-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Two-Reference Material
Chapter Two-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Three-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Four-Reference Material
MC 214.2
Chapter Four-Reference Material
Chapter Four-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Reference Material
Chapter Five-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Six-Reference Material
MC 214.3
Chapter Six-Reference Material
Chapter Six-Reference Material
Chapter Six-Reference Material
Chapter Six-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Seven-Reference Material
Chapter Seven-Reference Material
Chapter Seven-Reference Material
Chapter Seven-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Eight-Reference Material
Chapter Eight-Reference Material
MC 214.4
Chapter Eight-Reference Material
Chapter Eight-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Nine-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Ten-Reference Material
Chapter Ten-Reference Material
Chapter Ten-Reference Material
Chapter Ten-Reference Material-Land Trust Manual
Chapter Ten-Reference Material-Land Trust Manual
MC 214.5
Chapter Ten-Comments and Drafts
Chapter Eleven-Reference Material
Chapter Eleven-Comments and Draft
Appendix-Comments and Draft
Greenway Maps
Project Files
MC 214.6
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
MC 214.7
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Pima County River Parks, Arizona
Tempe Rio Salado, Arizona
American River Parkway, California
Bay and Ridge Trails, California
Bay and Ridge Trails, California
Big Sur Viewshed, California
Davis Greenway, California
Lindo Channel/Bidwell River Park, California
Los Gatos Creek Trail, California
Moore Creek Canyon/Antonelli Pond, California
San Joaquin River Parkway, California
MC 214.8
Santa Margarita River, California
Arapahoe Greenway, Colorado
Arkansas Riverwalk, Colorado
Boulder Creek Trail, Colorado
Clear Creek River Trail, Colorado
Colorado River Trail, Colorado
Monument Valley Trail, Colorado
Platte River Greenway, Colorado
Platte River Greenway, Colorado
Pueblo River Greenway, Colorado
Uncompahgre Recreational Corridor, Colorado
Farmington Canal Greenway, Connecticut
Monroe Greenway, Connecticut
Redding Greenbelts, Connecticut
Redding Greenbelts, Connecticut
White Clay Creek-Middle Run Corridor, Delaware
Canopy Roads Linear Parkway, Florida
Canopy Roads Linear Parkway, Florida
Oconee River Greenway, Georgia
Snake River Greenbelt, Idaho
MC 214.9
Illinois Greenways-Masters Thesis
Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, Illinois
Thirty-First Street Greenway, Illinois
Cedar Valley Lakes, Iowa
Cedar Valley Nature Trail, Iowa
Chichaqua Valley Trail, Iowa
Cinder Path, Iowa
Comet Trail, Iowa
Great River Road (Mississippi Parkway), Iowa
Great Western Trail, Iowa
Heritage Trail, Iowa
Iowa River Greenbelt, Iowa
Pioneer Trail, Iowa
Saylorville-Des Moines River Trail, Iowa
Mill Creek Streamway Park, Kansas
Red River Trail, Louisiana
Bangor-Orono-Old Town Greenway, Maine
Island Trail, Maine
Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Maine
Capital Crescent Trail, Maryland
Northeast Creek/Western Back River Greenway, Maryland
Patapsco Greenway, Maryland
Patapsco Greenway, Maryland
Seligson Farm, Maryland
Weems Creek Greenway, Maryland
Wildlife Overlay District, Maryland
Youghiogheny River, Maryland
Bay Circuit Greenway, Massachusetts
Cape Cod Ridgeline, Massachusetts
Charles River Greenway, Massachusetts
Emerald Necklace Parks, Massachusetts
Housatonic River Greenway, Massachusetts
Nashua River Greenway, Massachusetts
MC 214.10
Northern Route 128 Corridor, Massachusetts
Proctor Brook and South Middleton Branch Trails, Massachusetts
Quincy Quarries Greenway, Massachusetts
Southwest Corridor Park, Massachusetts
Stockbridge Yokun Ridge Reserve, Massachusetts
Worcester Greenways, Massachusetts
Gateway to Harbor Springs, Michigan
Grand Trunk Trail, Michigan
Lake Front Park, Michigan
Katie River Trail, Missouri
Meramec Greenway, Missouri
Lincoln Creek Parkway, Nebraska
Papio Trail, Nebraska
Bayshore Waterfront Park, New Jersey
Delaware and Raritan Canal, New Jersey
Manumuskin River Watershed, New Jersey
Patriots' Path and Lenape Trail, New Jersey
Stony Brook Greenway, New Jersey
Bronx River Parkway, New York
Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, New York
MC 214.11
Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, New York
Delaware and Hudson Canal, New York
Greenway Trail, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson River Valley Greenway, New York
Hudson-Mohawk Urban Cultural Park, New York
MC 214.12
Mohonk Preserve, New York
Staten Island Greenway/Amundsen Trailway, New York
Monadnock Highlands, New Hampshire
Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, New Hampshire
Capital Area Greenway, North Carolina
Capital Area Greenway, North Carolina
Cary Greenways, North Carolina
Circle the Triangle Trail, North Carolina
Emerald Isle, North Carolina
French Broad Riverfront, North Carolina
French Broad Riverfront, North Carolina
French Broad Riverfront, North Carolina
French Broad Riverfront, North Carolina
MC 214.13
French Broad Riverfront, North Carolina
High Point Greenway, North Carolina
Little Cross Creek Streamway, North Carolina
Mecklenberg County Greenways, North Carolina
Neuse River Corridor, North Carolina
Raleigh Area Greenways, North Carolina
Raleigh Area Greenways, North Carolina
Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio
Forty Mile Loop, Oregon
MC 214.14
Forty Mile Loop, Oregon
Portland Area Projects, Oregon
Willamette River Greenway, Oregon
Willamette River Greenway, Oregon
Brandywine Greenway, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County Plan, Pennsylvania
Lock Port Heritage Greenway, Pennsylvania
Nockamixon Cliffs, Pennsylvania
Schuylkill River Greenway, Pennsylvania
Valley Creek Corridor, Pennsylvania
Wissahicken Creek Greenway, Pennsylvania
Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, Rhode Island
Wood Pawcatuck Rivers, Rhode Island
"The South Carolina Rivers Assessment," South Carolina
Big Sioux River Greenway, South Dakota
MC 214.15
Kingsport Greenbelt, Tennessee
North Chickamauga Creek Greenway, Tennessee
Tennessee Riverpark, Tennessee
Tennessee Riverpark, Tennessee-Master Plan
Tennessee Riverpark, Tennessee-Master Plan
Allen Greenbelt, Texas
Open Space Collin County, Texas
Open Space Collin County, Texas
MC 214.16
Open Space Collin County, Texas
Battenkill River, Vermont
Stowe Recreation Path, Vermont
Virgin River Corridor Greenways, Vermont
Warrenton-Casanova Trail, Virginia
Bear-Evans Creek, Washington
Burke-Gilman Trail, Washington
Friends of Ravine, Washington
Hood Canal, Washington
Palouse Path, Washington
San Juan Preservation Trust, Washington
Spotted Owl Corridor, Washington
Yakima Greenway, Washington
Appalachian Greenway, West Virginia
Dane County Greenbelt, Wisconsin
Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Wisconsin
Janesville Greenbelts, Wisconsin
Platte River Parkway, Wyoming
Reference Files
MC 214.17
Reference Material-Foundations
Reference Material-Foundations
Reference Material-"Tools for the Greenbelt"
Reference Material-"Tools for the Greenbelt"
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
MC 214.18
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Reference Material-General
Publications
The Report of the President’s Commission. Americans Outdoors: The Legacy, the
Challenge: With Case Studies.
Covelo, California: Island Press, 1987.
Diamant, Rolf, J., et al. A Citizen’s Guide to River Conservation.
Washington, D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1984.
Diamond Henry L., et al. with Douglass Lea. Greenways in the Hudson River Valley:
A New Strategy for Preserving an American Treasure.
Tarrytown, New York: Sleepy Hollow Press, 1988.
Dykeman, Wilma. The French Broad.
New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1955.
Federal Highway Administration. Scenic Byways.
Washington, D.C.: 1988.
Greenbelt Alliance. Reviving the Sustainable Metropoli.
San Francisco: n.d.(1989?).
Houle, Marcy Cottrell. One City’s Wilderness: Portland’s Forest Park.
Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1988.
Land Trust Exchange. 1989 National Directory of Conservation Land Trusts.
Alexandria, Virginia: 1989.
Mackintosh, Gay, ed. Preserving Communities and Corridors.
Washington, D.C.: Defenders of Wildlife, 1989.
Mitchell, John G. High Rock. New York: Friends of High Rock, 1976.
The President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors.
A Literature Review.
Washington, D.C.: 1986.
Shoemaker, Joe, with Leonard A. Stevens. Returning the Platte to the People.
Denver, Colorado, The Platte River Greenway Foundation, 1981.
Simpson, Jeffrey. An American Treasure: The Hudson River Valley.
Tarrytown, New York: Sleepy Hollow Restorations, Inc, 1986.
Stokes, Samuel N., et al. Saving America’s Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Water Quality Inventory: 1986
Report to Congress. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1987.
Videocassettes
Treasures of the Greenbelt: A Celebration of the Countryside in the
San Francisco Bay Region, 1986.
Whatever Befalls the Earth...Collin County Cares, Collin County Public Works,
McKinney, Texas.
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Index Terms
Personal Names:
Charles E. Beveridge
Charles (Chuck) Flink
William L. Flournoy, Jr.
Keith G. Hay
Charles E. Little
Anne Lusk
Frederick Law Olmsted
Kristina Reichenbach
David Schuyler
Darlene Thomas
George F. Thompson
Subject Terms:
City Planning
Conservation of Natural Resources
Environmental Ethics
Environmental Law
Environmental Policy
Environmental Protection
Environmentalism--Environmentalists
Greenbelts--U.S.
Greenways--U.S.
Historic Preservation--Law and Legislation
Historic Sites--U.S.--Conservation and Restoration
Human Ecology
Land Use--U.S.--Law and Legislation--Planning
Landscape Architecture--Landscape Design
Landscape Ecology
Landscape Protection
National Parks and Reserves
Natural Areas--Nature Conservation--Nature Reserves
Open Spaces
Outdoor Recreation
Parkways--U.S.
Public Lands--Recreational Use--United States
Regional Planning--Citizen Participation--Law and Legislation
Rivers--Law and Legislation--Recreational Use--Regulation
Stream Conservation--Law and Legislation
Urban Beautification--U.S.
Urban Ecology--U.S.
Wildlife Conservation
Zoning--U.S.
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