Inventory of the Arthur Bernard Recknagel Auxiliary Photograph Collection, 1911 - 1947

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Arthur B. "Reck" Recknagel (1883-1962) had a long and varied career in forestry as a forester with the U.S. Forest Service, as a professor of forest management, and later as a leader and consultant in the paper industry. A widely respected industrial forester, he was also a prolific writer, authoring many technical articles and books dealing with forest management, taxation, and the pulp and paper industry.

After graduating from the Yale School of Forestry in 1906 with a master of forestry degree, Recknagel served until 1913 as chief of forest reconnaissance for the U.S. Forest Service. Accepting an offer from Cornell University, he taught in the Department of Forestry until 1943, sometimes leading his classes on field trips to obtain practical training. In 1943, he left to become area forester for New York in the Timber Production War Project, given the responsibility of developing timber supplies for the war effort.

Simultaneous to these assignments, Recknagel also served the Empire State Forest Products Association as forester and executive secretary from 1917 until 1948. After World War II and following a second stint in academia as head of the University of British Columbia forestry faculty, he accepted the position of technical director of forestry for the St. Regis Pulp and Paper Company in 1948. He retired from St. Regis in 1953 to enter practice as an industry consultant.

A member of the Society of American Foresters since 1908 and a chairman from 1940 to 1941, Recknagel was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1961. Arthur Recknagel died in August of 1962 in his home state of New York.

Note: The above biographical information about Arthur B. Recknagel was drawn from the following source: "Arthur Bernard Recknagel (1883-1962)."Journal of Forestry 60:10 (October 1962): 759. Obituary.

Collection Overview

The collection contains four photograph albums containing 257 chiefly black-and-white photographs (with a few color and photo postcards) taken or collected by American forester Arthur Bernard Recknagel. Album 1, entitled "European Forest Photographs, October 1911 to September 1912" documents the year Recknagel spent in Europe (France, Austria, Germany) attending German forest schools Eberswalde and Tharandt. Albums 2 and 3 document his time as a professor of forestry at Cornell University in New York, particularly field trips taken by Cornell forestry students to South Carolina during the years 1928 to 1934. The images primarily depict students observing logging activities and forest management practices being used at that time in South Carolina. Album 4 documents a 1947 consulting job in southern British Columbia, Canada to determine differences between Engelmann and white spruce.

Collection Arrangement

1. European Forest, 1911-1912

2. Cornell Forestry School Field Trips to South Carolina, 1928-1934

3. British Columbia, Canada, 1947

Subject Headings

• College Teachers
• Cornell University -- Faculty -- Forestry
• Cornell University -- Students
• Engelmann spruce -- Research -- British Columbia
• Foresters -- United States -- 20th century
• Forestry schools and education -- New York
• Forests and forestry -- Austria
• Forests and forestry -- British Columbia
• Forests and forestry -- Europe
• Forests and forestry -- Germany
• Forests and forestry -- France
• Forests and forestry -- Research
• Forests and forestry -- South Carolina -- History
• Forests and forestry -- United States -- History
• Forestry schools and education
• Forestry teachers
• Photograph albums -- Fieldwork (Educational method) -- South Carolina
• Photograph albums -- School field trips -- South Carolina
• Recknagel, A. B. (Arthur Bernhard), 1883-1962 -- Interviews.
• White spruce -- Research -- British Columbia

Related Material

Cornell Forestry School Field Trips Photograph Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Arthur Bernard Recknagel Auxiliary Photograph Collection, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.

Processing Information

Processed by Elizabeth Arnold, August 2003, and Amanda Ross, January 2009

Encoded by Amanda Ross, January 2009

Albums 2 and 3 were initially described as the Cornell Forestry School Field Trips Photograph Collection, produced as part of the second round of a cooperative project between the Forest History Society, the Biltmore Estate Archives, and the NCSU Special Collections Libraries, 2002-2003. The description has been re-incorporated into the Arthur Bernard Recknagel Auxiliary Photograph Collection, per provenance principles.

Funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission supported the encoding of this finding aid. Support for digitization and outreach provided by the Alvin J. Huss Endowment.