John Robert Stilgoe (born 1949) is a historian and photographer who is the Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape at the Visual and Environmental Studies Department of Harvard University, where he has been teaching since 1977. He is also a fellow of the Society of American Historians. He was featured on a 60 Minutes episode in 2004 entitled “The Eyes Have It”.
Stilgoe was born in Norwell, Massachusetts in 1949. His father was a boatbuilder. He graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in 1971, and from Purdue University with an M.A. in 1973. He entered Harvard’s Ph.D. program in American Civilizations in 1973, where he studied under J. B. Jackson, a landscape architect known for his studies of vernacular American landscapes.