Environmental History

Gathered here are examples of topics covered by multiple repositories and united under this project.

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Charles C. Adams and the science of conservation In 1919, forest zoologist Charles C. Adams helped found the New York State College of Forestry's Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station. While not the first American field station—the station at Woods Hole was—the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station was one in a wave that steered biology away from natural history traditions and closer to a quantitative science. Adams spawned the idea that national parks can serve as the ideal locale for ecological study. He went on to become director of the New York State Museum. To learn more about Charles Adams and his contributions to conservation thought and practice, go to the Charles C. Adams correspondence (Adirondack Museum Library); the Department of Forestry Extension records (State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry); the Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station records (SUNY CESF); and the Charles C. Adams papers (New York State Library).

The Catskill Cockburns: A surveying dynasty The Cockburn family of surveyors left an indelible mark on the early mapping of the Catskills. Patriarch William Cockburn immigrated to New York from Scotland in circa 1761 and settled in Kingston where he worked as a surveyor, land agent, and speculator in New York and Vermont. His sons James (1775–1848) and William Jr. (? – 1806) accompanied their father on surveying expeditions, assisting him and learning the trade. In 17__, the State Assembly appointed James to survey the Hardenburgh Patent, which encompassed two million acres in the Catskill region. William Cockburn mentored fellow Ulster County native John Kiersted, who went on to compile surveys, plats, and field notes for lands in the Hardenburgh Patent. To learn more about the Cockburns' legacy, go to the Cockburn field notes, land records, and maps (New York State Archives); the Cockburn Family Land papers (New York State Library); and the Hardenburgh land patent index (Ulster County Clerk's Archives).

The Empire State Forest Products Association Leaders in forestry education, conservation, and industry came together in 1906 to establish the Empire State Forest Products Association. Its mission was to “to promote the interests of its members and to protect, perpetuate, and increase the forest growth of the state through the establishment of a rational and constructive system of forestry.” This organization advanced both the practice of forestry and the production of forest products on privately owned land in New York State. Its members ranged from loggers and tree farmers to papermakers and furniture makers. Included in their ranks were Ralph S. Hosmer and Arthur B. Recknagel, professors in the Department of Forestry at Cornell University. To learn more about the Empire State Forest Products Association, go to the Empire State Forest Products Association records (Cornell University); the Ralph Hosmer papers (Cornell University); the Arthur Bernard Recknagel papers (Cornell University); the Emporium Forestry Company records (Adirondack Museum Library); and the Broadsides collection (Adirondack Museum Library).

“The organization of spirited people” New York’s wilderness enthusiasts were a driving force behind the creation of the Adirondack Mountain Club and the Wilderness Society. New Yorker Bob Marshall was a trailblazer. In a 1930 article called "The Problem of the Wilderness," he gave voice to his generation of environmentalists: "There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness." For more about Bob Marshall and other 20th-century environmental leaders, go to Wilderness Society records (New York State Library); the Robert Marshall papers (SUNY CESF); the Harold Jerry, Jr. papers (New York State Library); the Harold Jerry, Jr. records and the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century (16290) Subject, correspondence, and meeting files, 1989-1990 (New York State Archives); Russell Mack Little Carson papers (Adirondack Museum); and the Arthur Bernard Recknagel papers and Ralph Hosmer papers (Cornell University).