architecture + urban design
The Oglethorpe Laboratory
The Oglethorpe Laboratory is a gift from author Tom Wilson of The Oglethorpe Plan. Tom donated his research library of books, maps, papers and manifests to Gunn Meyerhoff Shay Architects to preserve it and make it available to those interested in making sure that this grand master plan remains relevant to 21st Century architects, planners and preservationists. We welcome you to check out this laboratory as a place for practical research to gain an understanding and appreciation for what truths are behind “Savannah’s Squares” and its masterful urban design.
Inventory of Books on Oglethorpe, Savannah, Planning, and Design (Approx. 114 titles 121 volumes)
The Oglethorpe Plan (5)
Wilson, Thomas. The Oglethorpe Plan.
Fries, Sylvia. The Urban Idea in Colonial America.
Baine, Rodney. The Publications of James Edward Oglethorpe.
Oglethorpe, James. Some Account of the Design of the Trustees.
Moore, Francis. A Voyage to Georgia.
Biographies of Oglethorpe (8 titles, 9 vols.)
Ettinger, Amos. James Edward Oglethorpe: Imperial Idealist.
Spalding, Phinizy. Oglethorpe: A Brief Biography (2 copies).
Harris, Thaddeus. Biographical Memorials of James Oglethorpe.
Vaeth, Gordon. The Man Who Founded Georgia.
Radford and Graves. James Oglethorpe.
Church, Leslie. Oglethorpe: A Study of Philanthropy in England and Georgia.
Bruce, Henry. A Life of General Oglethorpe.
Hill, Patricia. The Oglethorpe Ladies.
Histories of Savannah and Georgia (22 titles, 25 vols.)
Fraser, Walter. Savannah in the Old South.
Stephens, William. A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia (2 vols.)
Saye, Albert. Georgia.
Coulter and Saye. A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia.
Coleman. Colonial Georgia.
Rahn, Ruby. River Highway for Trade: The Savannah.
Adler, Lee and Emma. Savannah Renaissance.
Candler, Alan, ed. Colonial Records of the State of Georgia (vols. 1, 2, 31).
Cashin, Edward. Setting Out to Begin a New World.
Price, et al. Greetings from Savannah.
Sonneborn, Liz. A Primary Source History of the Colony of Georgia.
Sweet, Julie Anne. William Stephens.
Sweet, Julie Anne. Negotiating for Georgia.
Triplett, Whip. Postcard History Series: Savannah.
Montgomery, Robert. Discourse of the Establishment of the Colony South of Carolina.
Bonnie Prince Charlie Country and the 1745 Jacobite Rising.
Hoskins, Charles. Out of Yamacraw and Beyond: Discovering Black Savannah.
Chan, Sieg. The Squares: An Introduction to Savannah.
Reese, Trevor, ed. The Clamorous Malcontents.
Stewart, Matt. What Nature Suffers to Groe.
Mereness, Newton. Travels in American Colonies (covers JEO treks).
Sholes, A. Chronological History of Georgia.
City Planning (19 titles, 20 vols.)
Ewing, Reid. Best Development Practices.
Reps, John. The Making of Urban America.
Ben-Joseph, Eran. The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Placemaking.
Glaab and Brown. A History of Urban America.
Garreau, Joel. Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. (2 copies)
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class.
Bacon, Edmund. Design of Cities.
Jacobs, Jane. The Life and Death of Great American Cities.
Levine, Robert. Public Planning.
Jacobs, Allan. Great Streets.
Kostof, Spiro. The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meaning Through History.
Walter, Arkin, and Crenshaw, eds. Sustainable Cities.
Peirce, Neal R. Citistates.
Peirce and Gunskind. Breakthroughs: Recreating the American City.
Downs, Anthony. New Visions for Metropolitan America.
Downs, Anthony. Stuck in Traffic.
Hall, Peter. The World Cities.
Rapoport, Amos. House Form and Culture.
Leapman, Michael, ed. The Book of London: The Evolution of a Great City.
The Oglethorpe Plan – related publications (10 titles, 11 vols.)
Lane, Mills, ed. General Oglethorpe’s Georgia: Colonial Letters (2 vols.)
Lane, Mills. Savannah Revisited: History and Architecture.
Spalding, Phinizy. Oglethorpe in America.
Spalding and Jackson. Oglethorpe in Perspective.
Spalding and Jackson. Forty Years of Diversity: Essays on Colonial Georgia.
Sears, Joan. The First 100 Years of Planning in Georgia.
McCain, James. Georgia as a Proprietary Province.
The Journal of the Earl of Egmont.
Minutes of the Bray Associates.
Mitchell, William. Classic Savannah.
History Related to Formative Ideas for the Oglethorpe Plan (25 titles, 26 vols.)
Campbell, Mildred. The English Yeoman.
Monod, Paul. Jacobitism and the English People.
Doak, Robin. Voices from Colonial America.
Kramnick, Leonard. Bolingbroke and His Circle.
Rand, Benjamin. Berkeley and Percival.
Biddle, Sheila. Bolingbroke and Harley.
Hammond. Pope and Bolingbroke.
Meinig, D. W. The Shaping of America, 1492-1800. Perceptive on JEO.
Garrison, Webb. Oglethorpe’s Folly.
Treasure, Geoffrey. Early Hannoverian Britain, 1714-1789.
Uglow, Jenny. Hogarth: A Life and World.
Pope, Alexander. Major Works.
Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment (2 vols.).
The Theological and Philological Works of John Toland.
Lord Bolingbroke: Historical Writings.
Curti, Merle. The Growth of American Thought.
Voltaire. Letters on England.
Jarrett, Derek. England in the Age of Hogarth.
McConnell, John. Evangelical Revolutionists and Idealists.
Stubbs. Masters of Violence.
Marrs. Railroads of the Old South.
Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade. (extensive discussion of Georgia)
Green. Money, Trade, and Power.
David. Trade, Politics, and Revolution.
Grant. The Fortunate Slave. (Francis Moore)
Urban Design, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture (7)
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language.
Cooper, Michael. Robert Hooke and the Rebuilding of London after the Great Fire.
Hunt, John Dixon. The Genius of Place.
Zucker, Paul. Town and Square: From the Agora to the Village Green.
Kennedy, Roger. Architecture: Men, Women, and Money in America, 1600 to 1860.
Breeze, Carla. L.A. Deco.
Rewarding Conservation. Durban Conservation Committee.
Misc. Documents (20 approx.)
Savannah Golden Heritage Plan (MPC document from 1950s).
Burton, John. “Sermon Preached Before the Georgia Trustees.” 1733.
Georgia Historical Quarterly (20 volumes on Trustee Georgia).
Whitbourn, John. The Royal Changeling. (fiction/fantasy; Oglethorpe’s parents are the protagonists)
Savannah Morning News, “The New Savannah … A Waking Giant” (1957).
Savannah Morning News, various planning articles from the 1950s.
Gentleman’s Magazine, “A New Georgia,” January, 1756.
Robertson, Thomas. “The Colonial Plan of Augusta.” Georgia Historical Quarterly, Winter, 2002.
Miscellaneous Maps.
Miscellaneous Documents.