2021–2022
Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Reaching out to engage D.C. public high school students, the Mellon Initiative included programming for three senior students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts who are enrolled in the school’s Museum Studies program. Throughout the spring semester, students met with different leaders at Dumbarton Oaks for career exploration and immersive learning opportunities within the garden. The students’ final project was a reflection journal on their semester that related to the garden. This was an exciting venture, and we hope to continue to work with students from this school just down the block from Dumbarton Oaks.
2019–2020
Teaching Urban Landscape History and Democracy Workshop
POSTPONED | June 1, 2020 | This workshop highlights the work to digitize Dumbarton Oaks’ archival documents on urban landscape history. This study day was created to organize the digitized documents into curricular activities/Document Based Questions for K–12 students. The Mellon Urban Landscape Initiative was partnering with the Manager of Career Discovery and Diversity of ASLA and the Director of Education and Outreach of New American History to organize the event. This initiative highlights Dumbarton Oak’s robust landscape focused primary sources and documents and makes them more accessible to local and nationwide communities, while simultaneously enabling students to learn document analysis skills. Historians, local teachers, and curriculum creators were invited to attend.
Design Like a Girl Workshop
POSTPONED | April 8 | The program pairs girls ages 12–14 with mentors from the architecture, construction, and engineering fields, so they can learn firsthand about these careers from professional women. At Dumbarton Oaks, the Mellon Urban Landscape Initiative had planned to introduce the girls to landscape architecture and history through a guided tour of our gardens and a model-making activity. Thaïsa Way and the garden staff planned on discussing landscape history at Dumbarton Oaks and the garden.
Freedom School K–12 Day at Dumbarton Oaks
POSTPONED | April 6, 2020 | The Mellon Urban Landscape Initiative planned on hosting Nathan Connolly’s Freedom School, associated with Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore. The Freedom school had planned a unit on anti-colonial struggle that would culminate at Dumbarton Oaks. The students would learn about the multi-faceted history of the property, starting with the history prior to Bliss ownership. Special focus would be paid to the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations and the according response by WEB Dubois on human rights. The students would also take a tour of the garden and learn about the impact of climate change and contemporary landscape practices on Beatrix Farrand’s historical design.
Phelps Boat Tour on the Anacostia River with Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School
CANCELLED | Phelps students were planning on discussing conservation challenges and successes of the Anacostia River. This tour was organized in conjunction with the DC River Keepers.
Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School Lunchtime Seminar
March 2, 2020 | The Mellon Initiative facilitated a lunchtime seminar at Phelps that focused on the intersection of food history, landscape history, and inequality. Three postdocs from the Mellon-funded “Before Farm to Table Project” at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Dr. Elisa Tersigni, Dr. Michael Walkden, and Dr. Jack Bouchard, each gave a 15-minute talk regarding different methods of food procurement and history as another avenue for the students exploring landscape use and history.
Landscape Architecture Project, Tour, and Lecture at the US National Arboretum with Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School
February 25, 2020 | The Mellon Initiative hosted Phelps’s architecture and landscape architecture class at the US National Arboretum. The students participated in a discussion with and took a tour with the staff and director of the arboretum, Dr. Olsen. Following the discussion and tour, the students created models for their ongoing design project to redesign a new entrance into the arboretum on Brandenburg Road. The Program Coordinator for Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, Jane Padelford (MLA), and Thaïsa Way participated in giving creative and professional feedback to the students during the visioning session.
2018–2019
Phelps Field Trip to the National Mall
Field trip with students from the Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School. Tour led by John Beardsley on the landscape design, and social and cultural history of the National Mall including the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Washington Monument.
2017–2018
Phelps Herb Garden
During the 2017–2018 academic year, the Mellon Initiative in Urban Landscape Studies sponsored and guided the planning and development of an herb garden with landscape and architecture students at Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School. Students documented the process of design, construction, and maintenance over the course of the year with photos and videos.
Phelps Field Trip to Dumbarton Oaks
September 19, 2017 | Landscape and architecture students at Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School toured the pollinator garden, greenhouse, and green infrastructure at the Fellowship House at Dumbarton Oaks.
2016–2017
Phelps Final Design Review
May 23, 2017 | Final review of student landscape designs for Kingman Park Community Garden at Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Clubhouse 14
May 20, 2017 | Mellon postdoctoral fellow Jeanne Haffner assisted students in the National Building Museum's Design Apprenticeship Program with the construction of vegetable, herb, and butterfly gardens at Clubhouse 14 of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, located on Benning Road NE
Phelps Midterm Design Review
April 11, 2017 | Review of student landscape designs for Kingman Park Community Garden at Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School
National Building Museum, Design Apprenticeship Program
March–May 2017 | Weekly participation in landscape architecture workshops with 30 high school students from around the District, including site analysis and design reviews. Mellon postdoctoral fellow Jeanne Haffner gave a presentation to students on landscape architect Lawrence Halprin’s unbuilt designs for the Anacostia riverfront (1966–70) and its relevance to contemporary waterfront planning in Washington, DC
Field Trip to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park
February 28, 2017 | Field trip with landscape and architecture students from Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School. Tour of the park with landscape architect Jennifer Daniels of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Kingman Park Community Garden, Site Analysis
February 16, 2017 | Participation in site analysis of Kingman Park Community Garden (NE) with landscape and architecture students from Phelps Architecture, Engineering, and Construction High School
Garden Hydrology
September 20, 2016 | Workshop with landscape students from Phelps Architecture, Construction, and Engineering High School
2015–2016
Public Park, Private Garden
May 14, 2016 | Design challenge with students from the National Building Museum Teen Council
Hydraulic Gardens
May 11, 2016 | Water management tour of Dumbarton Oaks for sixth graders, organized through the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative
Tree Notebooks
May 3 & 9, 2016 | Tree identification workshop at Dumbarton Oaks with students (grades 4–8) organized through the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative
Biodiversity from Garden to City
April 27, 2016 | Tour of Dumbarton Oaks with Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School