Inventory of the Yale Forestry Club Experience Book, 1910 – 1913
Descriptive Summary
Abstract: As one of the first professional forestry schools in the nation, the Yale Forest School placed a strong emphasis on research, developing a curriculum that included both classroom instruction in scientific forestry and silvicultural field work.
The collection includes letters written by alumni of the Yale Forest School describing the graduates' field experiences and impressions of forestry after graduation. The graduates submitted these letters for a scrapbook that professor Herman Haupt Chapman (1874-1963) compiled for the benefit of future forestry school students. Most of the contributors to this collection were graduates from the classes of 1910, 1911, and 1912, and many were U.S. Forest Service employees.
Title: Yale Forestry Club Experience Book, 1910 - 1913
Repository: Forest History Society Library and Archives
Call Number: 7135
Language of Material: Material in English
Extent: 0.5 linear feet (1 archival box)
Historical Note
As one of the first professional forestry schools in the nation, the Yale Forest School placed a strong emphasis on research, developing a curriculum that included both classroom instruction in scientific forestry and silvicultural field work.
In 1900, the James W. Pinchot family endowed a graduate school of forestry at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Many prominent foresters were associated with the school in its early years, most notably Henry Solon Graves (1871-1951), who was the school's first director, and Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), who was both a lecturer and a member of the school's Board of Governors. Throughout its one-hundred-year existence, the Yale Forest School (known since 1972 as the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) has continually strengthened and enlarged the scope of its curriculum, producing many graduates who have achieved success as leaders in the fields of forestry, forest conservation, environmental management, and related disciplines.
Note: This historical note was drawn from an account by James William Toumey in the 1913 publication Biographical Record of the Graduates and Former Students of the Yale Forest School, with Introductory Papers on Yale in the Forestry Movement and the History of the Yale Forest School (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Forest School; pp. 10-32) and from the official web site of the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Collection Overview
The collection includes letters written by alumni of the Yale Forest School describing the graduates' field experiences and impressions of forestry after graduation. The graduates submitted these letters for a scrapbook that professor Herman Haupt Chapman (1874-1963) compiled for the benefit of future forestry school students. Most of the contributors to this collection were graduates from the classes of 1910, 1911, and 1912, and many were U.S. Forest Service employees. The letters are unique first-hand accounts of early forestry work in the United States that provide insight into what life was like for American foresters in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The materials are housed in a single manuscript box.
Several letters comprising the Yale Forestry Club "Experience Book" were reproduced in the October 1981 Journal of Forest History article "'Dear Professor Chapman': Letters from Yale Forestry Graduates, 1910-1912" (volume 25; pp. 197-208).
Collection Arrangement
The letters were originally pasted into the pages of an 11 14/16" x 12 8/16" black leather-bound scrapbook. As of August 2001, the pages of the scrapbook were extremely brittle, the leather binding was crumbling, and the actual handwriting and type print on the letters were rapidly deteriorating due to contact with the acidic, brittle scrapbook pages. In an effort to conserve these unique documents, archivist Michele Justice removed the letters from the scrapbook in August 2001. A "use copy" of each letter was produced via photocopying to be used for reference purposes. The pages of each photocopied letter were stapled together, with all of the photocopied letters filed in their original order within a single acid-free folder, filed at the front of the manuscript box. The original letters were separated from the acidic scrapbook page backing if possible and were filed in their original order in acid-free folders, with each folder containing the contents of one scrapbook page. The acid-free folders are labeled with the name of the author of the letter(s) within the file.
- Letters from Alumni, 1910-1913 and undated
Subject Headings
- Barlow, Waldo D., b. 1885
- Bright, George A., II, b. 1883
- Bruce, Donald, b. 1884
- Bushnell, Elwood P., b. 1885
- Chapman, Herman Haupt, 1874-1963
- Clark, Charles R., b. 1881
- Coan, Hamilton M., b. 1886
- Cromie, George A., b. 1883
- Dwight, Theodore W., b. 1889
- Fahrenbach, John A., b. 1888
- Foresters -- United States
- Forestry schools and education -- United States
- Gallaher, William Hallowell, b. 1887
- Haasis, Ferdinand Wead, b. 1889
- Hitchcock, Lester E., b. 1884
- Hoar, Crosby Arthur, 1886-1976
- Hough, Jesse Winegar, b. 1885
- Jeffers, Dwight Smithson, 1883-1980
- Kerr, Arthur F., b. 1884
- Klem, Stephen, b. 1885
- Larsen, Julius Ansgar, 1877-1977
- Marsh, Raymond Eugene, 1885-1971
- McCullough, Thomas E., b. 1887
- Moon, Frederick Franklin, 1880-1929
- Moyer, Jason K., b. 1887
- Munger, Thornton T. (Thornton Taft), 1883-
- Newins, Harold Stephenson, 1887-1963
- Noyes, Douglas Keefer, 1884-1952
- Oteyza, Mauricio J., b. 1886
- Recknagel, A. B. (Arthur Bernhard), 1883-1962
- Richards, Edward C. M., b. 1886
- Stetson, Irving G., b. 1885
- Stokes, J. Warrington, b. 1886
- United States. Forest Service -- Officials and employees
- Vorse, Albert O., b. 1883
- Watzek, Charles Harlan, 1887-1964
- Yale University. Forestry Club
- Yale University. School of Forestry
Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Letters from Alumni, 1910-1913 and undated.
The folder tab headings under which remembrances are filed in the manuscript box are listed below. Supplemental biographical information was added to each student's name for the benefit of researchers using this collection.
Letter from the Yale Forestry Club 'Experience Book,' dated October 30, 1910.
- Larsen, Julius Ansgar (1877-1977), class of 1910
- Haasis, Ferdinand Wead (b. 1889), class of 1913
- Newins, Harold Stephenson (1887-1963), class of 1911
- Jeffers, Dwight Smithson (1883-1980), class of 1911
- Watzek, Charles Harlan (1887-1964), class of 1911
- Noyes, Douglas Keefer (1884-1952), class of 1911
- Hoar Crosby Arthur (1886-1976), class of 1910
- Kerr, Arthur F. (b. 1884), class of 1911
- Richards, Edward C. M. (b. 1886), class of 1911
- Recknagel, Arthur Bernhard (1883-1962), class of 1906
- Moyer, Jason K. (b. 1887), class of 1912 (non-graduate)
- Bright, George A. II (b. 1883), class of 1910
- Marsh, Raymond Eugene (1885-1971), class of 1910
- Munger, Thornton Taft (1883-1975), class of 1908
- Bruce, Donald (1884-1966), class of 1910
- Cromie, George A. (b. 1883), class of 1910
- Stetson, Irving G. (b. 1885), class of 1910
- Description of the "Experience Book" of the Yale Forestry Club
- Hitchcock, Lester E. (b. 1884), class of 1910
- Cromie, George A. (b. 1883), class of 1910
- Moon, Frederick Franklin (1880-1929), class of 1909
- Vorse, Albert O. (b. 1883), class of 1910
- Klem, Stephen (b. 1885), class of 1910
- Clark, Charles R. (b. 1881), class of 1910
- Gallaher, William Hallowell (b. 1887), class of 1910
- Hough, Jesse Winegar (b. 1885), class of 1911
- Jeffers, Dwight Smithson (1883-1980), class of 1911
- Oteyza, Mauricio J. (b. 1886), class of 1910
- Coan, Hamilton M. (b. 1886), class of 1910
- Notestein, Frank B. (b. 1885), class of 1910
- Hough, Jesse Winegar (b. 1885), class of 1911
- Bushnell, Elwood P. (b. 1885), class of 1911
- Barlow, Waldo D. (b. 1885), class of 1911
- McCullough, Thomas E. (b. 1887), class of 1911
- Dwight, Theodore W. (b. 1889), class of 1911
- Stokes, J. Warrington (b. 1886), [class unknown]
- Fahrenbach, John A. (b. 1888), class of 1911
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], Yale Forestry Club Experience Book, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.
Processing Information
Processed by Michele Justice, August 2001
Encoded by Amanda Ross, November 2008
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.
