Inventory of the Forest History Society Oral History Interviews, 1940 – 2008

Descriptive Summary

Abstract: The Forest History Society (FHS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational institution that links the past to the future by identifying, collecting, preserving, interpreting, and disseminating information on the history of interactions between people, forests, and their related resources -- timber, water, soil, forage, fish and wildlife, recreation, and scenic or spiritual values. Through programs in research, publication, and education, the Society promotes and rewards scholarship in the fields of forest, conservation, and environmental history. FHS houses a comprehensive compilation of materials related to forest history in the Alvin J. Huss Archives, which contain the records of industry and conservation organizations worldwide, and the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Library, which contains than 9,000 volumes.

The collection includes over 250 interviews conducted with individuals important to the history of North American forests and forestry. Persons interviewed include chiefs of the U.S. Forest Service, employees of other government agencies charged with land management, officers of forest products companies, conservationists, and forestry educators. Many of these interviewees began their careers before the turn of the 20th century; their first-hand accounts of momentous events and critical policy changes provide often detailed historical insight that goes beyond what is recorded in traditional written records. Subjects discussed in the oral history interviews broadly pertain to the history of human interaction with the forested environment. Many people interviewed by the Society in the 1940s and 1950s were veterans of the forest products industry whose first-hand accounts of momentous events document critical policy changes that occurred within the industry in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. As the boundaries of the field of forest history broadened in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s to include the associated fields of conservation and environmental history, the Society's OHI mission expanded to include projects that recorded the reminiscences of forestry educators and researchers, conservationists, and employees of American government agencies charged with managing natural resources. Many interviews conducted over the last couple of decades relate the contentious political atmosphere experienced by women who held relatively high positions of leadership within the United States Forest Service (USFS) or describe the administrative challenges endured by former chiefs of the USFS and administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Title: Forest History Society Oral History Interviews, 1940 - 2008

Creator: Forest History Society

Repository: Forest History Society Library and Archives

Call Number: 7207

Language of Material: Material in English

Extent: 86 linear feet (20 file cabinet drawers, tapes for 250 oral history interviews)

Historical Note

The Forest History Society (FHS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational institution that links the past to the future by identifying, collecting, preserving, interpreting, and disseminating information on the history of interactions between people, forests, and their related resources -- timber, water, soil, forage, fish and wildlife, recreation, and scenic or spiritual values. Through programs in research, publication, and education, the Society promotes and rewards scholarship in the fields of forest, conservation, and environmental history. FHS houses a comprehensive compilation of materials related to forest history in the Alvin J. Huss Archives, which contain the records of industry and conservation organizations worldwide, and the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Library, which contains than 9,000 volumes.

Collection Overview

The collection includes over 250 interviews conducted with individuals important to the history of North American forests and forestry. Persons interviewed include chiefs of the U.S. Forest Service, employees of other government agencies charged with land management, officers of forest products companies, conservationists, and forestry educators. Many of these interviewees began their careers before the turn of the 20th century; their first-hand accounts of momentous events and critical policy changes provide often detailed historical insight that goes beyond what is recorded in traditional written records.

Subjects discussed in the oral history interviews broadly pertain to the history of human interaction with the forested environment. Many people interviewed by the Society in the 1940s and 1950s were veterans of the forest products industry whose first-hand accounts of momentous events document critical policy changes that occurred within the industry in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. As the boundaries of the field of forest history broadened in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s to include the associated fields of conservation and environmental history, the Society's OHI mission expanded to include projects that recorded the reminiscences of forestry educators and researchers, conservationists, and employees of American government agencies charged with managing natural resources. Many interviews conducted over the last couple of decades relate the contentious political atmosphere experienced by women who held relatively high positions of leadership within the United States Forest Service (USFS) or describe the administrative challenges endured by former chiefs of the USFS and administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Collection Arrangement

1. Oral History Interviews, 1940-2008

Subject Headings

• Conservation of natural resources -- United States -- Societies, etc.
• Conservationists -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Conservationists -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Conservationists -- Interviews
• Forest History Society
• Forests and forestry -- Educators -- United States -- Interviews
• Forest policy -- United States -- History
• Forest products industry -- United States -- History
• Forestry law and legislation -- United States -- History
• Forests and forestry -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Forests and forestry -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Scientists -- United States -- Interviews
• United States. Environmental Protection Agency -- Employees
• United States. Forest Service -- Employees
• Women in conservation of natural resources -- United States -- Interviews

Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Oral History Interviews, 1940-2008.

• The Society's Oral History Interview Collection includes more than 250 oral history interviews (OHIs) conducted with individuals involved with the management and use of forests and their related resources. The sound recordings are in various analog formats, including reel-to-reel recordings, stenorette tape recordings, and cassette recordings. Most interviews have at least rough transcriptions in typescript format.
• An Annotated Guide to the Oral History Collection of the Forest History Society provides brief descriptions of the interviews. Electronic transcriptions for more recently conducted interviews are available for research in the Society's library, and some are accessible through our web site from links in our Annotated Guide to the FHS Oral History Collection.
• The oral history technique employed by the Society is essentially the same as that generally accepted and practiced by other oral history programs in the United States. The subject field and respondent are carefully selected and researched prior to the interview. The interviewer then meets the interviewee and establishes a plan for conducting the interview during several sittings. Hours of tape-recorded question-and-answer sessions follow. The tapes are transcribed to a rough typescript that is edited for accuracy by all parties to the interview. Some interviews have been footnoted, illustrated, and indexed before being photocopied and bound in hard cover. Interviews are copyrighted with the Library of Congress.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the Forest History Society's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Forest History Society claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Forest History Society Oral History Interviews, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.

Processing Information

Processed by Staff

Encoded by Amanda Ross, February 2009

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.