Elizabeth Milroy: The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682-1876

The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682-1876

Elizabeth Milroy will describe how what began as an exploration of how painters and photographers portrayed Philadelphia’s 19th century parks turned into a deeper study of urban green spaces reaching back to the city’s founding. In the course of writing this book, she uncovered new information and new insights that explain in particular how and why the Schuylkill River valley, anchored by the hill called Fairmount, gained renown for its scenery and why it was later developed as public parkland both in opposition to and in concert with the squares Penn envisioned in his city center.

Elizabeth Milroy has been Professor and Department Head of Art & Art History at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design of Drexel University since September, 2015.  Prior to this, she was the Zoë and Dean Pappas Curator of Education, Public Programs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; from 1988 to 2013, she taught at Wesleyan University in Connecticut where she is Professor Emerita in Art History and American Studies. Dr. Milroy received a BA (Honours) degree from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, an MA degree from William’s College and the PhD in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania, where she wrote her dissertation on Thomas Eakins’s artistic training.

The Grid and the River: Philadelphia's Green Spaces, 1682-1876, published by Penn State University Press, has been awarded a WyethFoundation Publication Grant and a Furthermore Grant, as well as the David Coffin Publication Grant from the Foundation for Landscape Studies.