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Grassroots Activism and the American Wilderness: Pioneers in the Twentieth Century Adirondack Park Conservation Movement project at Union College: Further Research on Adirondack Conservationists

Council on Library and Information Resources grant-funded project at Union College

Adirondack Affiliates

Adirondack Museum

Located in Tupper Lake, New York, the Wild Center ignites an enduring passion for the Adirondacks where people and nature can thrive together and set an example for the world.

 

Adirondack Park Agency

The Adirondack Park Agency is a New York State government agency, consisting of approximately 54 staff and an eleven-member board. In 1971 the APA was created by the State Legislature to develop long-range land use plans for both public and private lands within the Park.

 

Adirondack Research Consortium

The Adirondack Research Consortium is dedicated to encourage, facilitate, and disseminate scholarship that advances the quality and vitality of the Adirondack Park and related environs.

 

Paul Smith’s College

Paul Smith’s College is the only private four-year college inside the Adirondack Park, six million acres of breathtaking natural beauty, diverse wildlife and endless outdoor adventure in upstate New York.

 

Southern Adirondack Library System

The Southern Adirondack Library System (SALS) is a voluntary association of 34 public libraries in Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties. We work together to provide the best possible library services to people living in our region.

 

St. Lawrence University

The mission of St. Lawrence's Adirondack Semester is to enable students to study nature and human relationships with nature through academic classes enriched by direct experience. 

 

SUNY Adirondack

SUNY Adirondack is a teaching- and learning-centered community college that offers innovative instructional and student support programs, responds to the educational needs of its community, and serves as a stimulus for economic development, partnerships and leadership.

 

Wild Center

Located in Tupper Lake, New York, the Wild Center ignites an enduring passion for the Adirondacks whre people and nature can thrive together and set an example for the world.

Suggested Archival Collections for Further Research

Denver Public Library

The Denver Public Library holds several manuscript and archival collections relevant to this area of study:

Adirondack Mountains Collection 

Conservation Collections 

Howard Zahniser Papers 

Karl T. Frederick Papers 

Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund Records 

Wilderness Society Records 

 

The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920

The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 collection documents the historical formation and cultural foundations of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage. This collection contains books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, photographs, and motion picture footage drawn from the collections of the Library of Congress.

 

Craig A. Gilborn Collection

Craig A. Gilborn was the director of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. He has written several books, most focusing on the Adirondacks, particularly its camps and the rustic furniture made for them. Titles include Durant: The Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the AdirondacksAdirondack Furniture and the Rustic Tradition, and Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950. His research papers are housed at the Winterthur Library of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum in Winterthur Delaware.

 

Dr. Irving Langmuir Collections

Nobel laureate Dr. Irving Langmuir was a very close friend and companion of John S. Apperson Jr.'s. Dr. Langmuir not only accompanied Apperson on many of this recreational trips to the Adirondacks, he also participated in and supported Apperson’s conservation battles.

His papers may be found at both the Library of Congress and this Schenectady Museum Archives.

 

Dr. Robert Marshall Collections

Dr. Robert Marshall accomplished so much towards conservation that he is widely considered the father of the Wilderness Act. One of the first people to become an "Adirondack Forty-Sixer", Marshall was involved in the work of both Apperson and Schaefer.  His papers may be found at the American Jewish Archives, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, and within the Wilderness Fund records at Denver Public Library.

 

New York State Archives

The New York State Archives holds several manuscript and archival collections relevant to this area of study:

Adirondack League Club Architectural Drawings 

Adirondack Mountain Reserve Records 

New York State Adirondack Mountain Authority Administrative Subject Files 

Verplanck Colvin Field Books for the Adirondack Survey 

 

New York State Library

The New York State Library holds several manuscript and archival collections relevant to this area of study:

Adirondack Forty-Sixers Organizational Records 

Adirondack Mountain Club Records 

Adirondack Park Agency Records