Peeling Back The Bark
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Korstian Forestry Education Lantern Slides Now Viewable
By Eben Lehman on December 17, 2014From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, lecturers often used glass lantern slides to illustrate their topics. Photographs were copied onto glass plates to make the slides, which would then be used with a projector to cast images onto walls or large screens. First developed in 1849, this process allowed for large groups of people…
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The Greatest Baseball Championship Series Ever Played
By James Lewis on October 28, 2014The debate can now be settled. We know what the greatest championship series in baseball history is. It’s certainly not the 2014 San Francisco-Kansas City match-up, though that’s been entertaining. What championship am I talking about? The year was 1908. Theodore “Big Stick” Roosevelt was finishing his second term as president. “Big Bill” Taft was running…
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Growing a Tree Army: Historic Photos of Michigan’s USFS Nurseries
By Eben Lehman on November 6, 2013A significant amount of Michigan’s public forests today owe their existence to the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. Known as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” CCC enrollees played a crucial role in reforestation efforts throughout the country during the Great Depression, and nowhere was the impact of their work more significant than in…
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FHS's 19th Annual Halloween Horror Film Festival
By James Lewis on October 31, 2013As faithful readers know, we love movies here at Peeling Back the Bark HQ. And there are numerous forest history-related horror films worth checking out for Halloween. We love the B-movies from yesteryear the best. So without further ado, here are our favorites. Be sure to check out these flicks where a Forest Service chief…
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"The Day JFK Was Here": Pinchot Institute Dedicated 9/24/1963
By James Lewis on September 13, 2013By Dan Dwyer, Port Jervis Union-Gazette¹ MILFORD, Penn., Sept. 24— The helicopter landed exactly on time. It was 1 p.m. The door opened and became a ramp and this man came out. It was the start of a hectic 70-minute visit by Pres. John F. Kennedy to Grey Towers in Milford yesterday afternoon. President Kennedy…
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Camp Cajon: California’s Original Welcome Station
By Eben Lehman on August 14, 2013Over 300 historic U.S. Forest Service photographs from California were recently added to our image database, thanks to a collaboration with USFS Region 5 (Pacific Southwest). Matthew Stever, a Region 5 Heritage Photo Project intern, organized and scanned a large number of previously uncataloged photographs from the region, and digital copies were added to the…
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Mason County Forest Festival Rolls On
By Eben Lehman on May 31, 2013A parade, a pageant, and Paul Bunyan. These may not be the first three things that come to mind when you think about fire prevention, but residents of Mason County, Washington, back in 1945 had their own unique ideas. To help combat the destructive wildfires in the region — while also promoting the importance of…
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May 29, 1903: Bob "Forest History" Hope was Born
By James Lewis on May 29, 2013On this date in 1903, Bob “Forest History” Hope was born in London, England. His career in comedy spanned 60 years and moved from the Vaudeville stage to radio and film and eventually television. He appeared in more than 70 movies, most famously in the “Road” series with his pal Bing Crosby, a fellow tree…
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CCC and the Art of Woodsmanship
By Eben Lehman on March 21, 2013Eighty years ago, Rudy Wendelin was a young artist fresh out of the University of Kansas School of Architecture struggling like many others to find work during the Great Depression. Relief came in 1933 when he applied for a job in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under the new Civilian Conservation program launched that same year. Wendelin got…
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The New Swimsuit Issue Is Out From … Forest Echoes?
By James Lewis on February 15, 2013That’s not Kate Upton on the cover. And that’s not Sports Illustrated. And that’s not even in color. That’s Miss Sally Johnson. And it’s the new swimsuit issue of Forest Echoes—well, “new” on the forest history temporal scale. It’s from 1947. And to be honest, it’s not really their swimsuit issue. So what’s going on here?…
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National Pancake Day and Lumberjack Breakfasts
By James Lewis on February 5, 2013Today is National Pancake Day at the International House of Pancakes. You can get a free short stack of pancakes, though IHOP customers are encouraged to make a donation that will go to a local charity. (This date should not be confused with International Pancake Day, which is when a foot race between the women of…
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Forest Service "Bulletin" Christmas Art Sampler
By James Lewis on December 14, 2012This holiday season we turn to the U.S. Forest Service History Collection for a little fun artwork. The “Service Bulletin” was the newsletter, initially issued weekly and then later monthly, published by the Washington Office (WO) to keep employees abreast of the latest information from DC and around the nation. They typically were 6 or…
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Mt. Mitchell, Where Mystery, Intrigue, and Forest History Meet!
By James Lewis on October 16, 2012At this time of year the mountains of North Carolina are a great place to go view the leaves changing colors. One popular destination is Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains, found just off the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker #355. You may be familiar with the name Mt. Mitchell…
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NC Forest Service Photo Gallery Now Available
By James Lewis on August 1, 2012Between 1891 and 1938, forestry in North Carolina saw many changes. The state government hired its first state employee to carry out forestry work in 1891; its first professionally trained forester, John Simcox Holmes, in 1909; and its first fire wardens in 1915 (four years after the Weeks Act had passed). However, when Holmes was…
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On the Waterfront: Pulp Company Photos Document Bellingham’s Past
By Eben Lehman on June 7, 2012Small crowds gathered around the Bellingham, Washington, waterfront on a Tuesday afternoon this past February to watch a 93-foot red brick building crash to the ground. The planned demolition of the former bleach plant building was just the latest chapter in the ongoing transformation of the city’s waterfront landscape. Once the site of a sprawling,…
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May 11, 1922: US Forest Service heeds call of nature
By James Lewis on May 11, 2012On this date in 1922, the Agricultural Appropriations Act of May 11 made the first appropriation for the improvement of public campgrounds in national forests. The bill made special reference to the protection of public health and the prevention of forest fires. The U.S. Forest Service received $10,000. What’s most surprising about that amount is…
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McNary, Arizona: A town on the move
By James Lewis on May 7, 2012When my wife and I moved from Washington, DC, to Durham in 2003, we only half-jokingly said we wished we could move our friends and some of our favorite restaurants and stores with us. When the Cady Lumber Corporation decided to move in 1924 to get access to more timber, its owners did just that….
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Looking Back at the National Christmas Tree Tradition
By Eben Lehman on December 1, 2011Tonight, December 1st, President Barack Obama and his family will officially light the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse south of the White House. The tree lighting ceremony dates back to 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge personally lit what was then called the National Community Christmas Tree. This first national tree was presented to Coolidge by…
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October 8, 1871: Peshtigo, Wisconsin, is Consumed by Fire
By James Lewis on October 8, 2011On this date in 1871, the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and several smaller surrounding communities were obliterated by fire. The “booming town of 1700 people was wiped out of existence in the greatest fire disaster in American history,” according to the memorial marker that still stands in Peshtigo as silent sentinel watching over the graves…
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American Tree Farm System Collection Open to Researchers
By Eben Lehman on August 26, 2011Recently processed with the help of graduate student intern Shaun Trujillo, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) Collection is now open to researchers. The tree farm movement began in June of 1941 with the dedication of the Clemons Tree Farm in Washington. Since then, the American Tree Farm System’s membership and focus have moved from…
