Bradley, Mary O. "Mira Dock was ahead of her time.." Harrisburg Patriot News ((November 11, 1996)).
Article published around the time of Mira Lloyd Dock's historical marker unveiling.
Hoose, Philip. It's Our World, Too! . New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
This book has two parts: the first contains stories of young people who have made a difference in the world, and the second provides helpful information on how the reader too can take action on issues about which they care. Students can be inspired by the examples of their peers such as James Ale, who, after seeing his friend get hit by a car, persuades city officials to build a park in a crowded neighborhood.
Lewis, Barbara A. The Kid's Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, 1995.
This is a wonderful resource of service project ideas for students. One chapter is on "Community Development and Beautification" with ideas for improving your community. Also included is a section on political and governmental projects. Ideas include working for voter registration and ways to taking political action. There is a useful "how to" section in the back which, among its many subjects, discusses "how to lobby."
Morrison, Ernest. J. Horace McFarland: A Thorn for Beauty. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1995.
Beautifully illustrated and well-researched biography on the life of J. Horace McFarland, an advocate of the City Beautiful movement in Harrisburg and nationwide.
Wilson, William H. The City Beautiful Movement. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins Press, 1994.
William Wilson, a professor at the University of North Texas, takes a look at the City Beautiful movement, breaking down its content into four parts: origins and ideology, early city beautiful movement, later city beautiful movement, and the national level.
This Library of Congress resource page includes a section on Frederick Law Olmstead and the City Beautiful Movement. Frederick Olmstead was one of the nation's foremost landscape architects during the City Beautiful movement at the turn of the century. Among his nationwide projects was Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slides are Fairmount Park are accessible in this collection.
PBS Kids, ZOOM action - Help the Environment http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/action/way04.html
This website of the PBS show ZOOM offers different ideas of how to help the environment. Several examples of student projects are "spotlighted". One project spotlight, called "Playground Pick-up", is a great example of a beautification project. Students picked up playground trash, created a sign that says "Please Keep Our Park Clean," and raised money through a bake sale to buy plants for the park. Good steps and tips are given on how you can start your own clean-up project.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Mira Lloyd Dock http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/polycomm/update/01-02-98/01029...
This biography on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection website is an excellent source of background information fit for the teacher or middle-high school students.
The City Beautiful Movement and Harrisburg's Old 8th Ward http://www.old8thward.com/citybeautiful.htm
This exciting graduate project from the American Studies Department at Pennsylvania State University includes a wonderful image comparison section called "Then and Now of Harrisburg's 8th Ward Tour." After reading about the city beautiful movement in general and how it came to Harrisburg specifically, click on the link of Further Reading to "Then and Now" to go to this image tour. This is a great opportunity for students to see specific examples of beautification (trees planted, parks created, fountain installed, old buildings demolished, power lines moved, etc.).
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy http://www.paconserve.org/
Fantastic website that shows a group in action in Western Pennsylvania. Includes excellent links to environmental websites as well as pictures of areas that they work on each year. The lists of the materials used in projects could be useful for students to reference if they are researching plants and ideas to use in their beautification project.
