Inventory of the Richard H. D. Boerker Papers, 1910 – 1957
Descriptive Summary
Abstract: Richard Hans Douai Boerker (1887-1966) was a forester with the U.S. Forest Service in California (1911-1914), Wyoming (1916), and Colorado (1917), and later a science teacher in Kingston, New York (beginning in 1921). Boerker was the author of numerous technical and popular articles on forestry that were published in prominent journals and various state conservation periodicals.
The collection consists of files and note cards produced and collected by Richard H. D. Boerker in the course of research. The records contain information on many aspects of forestry, on biology and related fields of study, and on landscape management.
Title: Richard H. D. Boerker Papers, 1910 - 1957
Creator: Boerker, Richard H. D. (Richard Hans Douai)
Repository: Forest History Society Library and Archives
Call Number: 3244
Language of Material: Material in English
Extent: 3 linear feet (2 record cartons)
Biographical Note
Richard Hans Douai Boerker (1887-1966) was a forester with the U.S. Forest Service in California (1911-1914), Wyoming (1916), and Colorado (1917), and later a science teacher in Kingston, New York (beginning in 1921).
Boerker spent his youth in New York State. When he was a teenager, he worked during his summer vacations as an assistant book keeper for various New York businesses. Boerker gained experience in landscape gardening by helping to maintain the grounds of his family's three homes in Brooklyn, New York; Bradley Beach, New Jersey; and the Catskill Mountains. He explored much of New England during his youth by taking bicycle and hiking trips throughout the northeastern United States, all the while developing a great appreciation of nature and the outdoors.
From 1906 to 1909 Boerker attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Although his goal upon entering college was to become a teacher of German, his father urged him to become a forester, so he altered the course of his studies accordingly. His summer employment allowed him to continue to explore his native New England while gaining valuable experience in the forestry profession. In the fall of 1908 he was a special student in Forestry at Yale University, and in 1909 he was granted a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth.
From 1909 to 1911 Boerker attended the University of Michigan as a graduate student in Forestry. There, he studied under such well respected educators in Forestry as Dr. Filibert "Daddy" Roth and Dr. Mulford. During his years as a graduate student, Boerker explored much of the Midwest while doing reconnaissance work for the Edison Electric Company, and he visited the far west for the first time in 1910 while working for the U.S. Forest Service in Battlement National Forest, Colorado. In 1911 he received a Master of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Michigan.
From 1911 to 1914, Richard Boerker worked as a Forest Assistant for the United States Forest Service in California. For much of that time, he did timber reconnaissance work in the Lassen National Forest, collecting information on such tree species as the Yellow Pine, White Fir, Red Fir, Sugar Pine, and Lodgepole Pine. In 1914 he went to Nebraska, where he worked as a forester for a time before beginning post-graduate work in Botany and Silviculture at the University of Nebraska. Upon receiving a Ph.D. degree in 1915, Boerker worked as a forester in Wyoming (1916) and in Colorado (1917). He was employed as an arboriculturist for the Department of Parks in New York City for a year before accepting what would become a long-term post as a teacher of Biology in the Kingston, New York, High School. Boerker sometimes supplemented his teaching work by serving as a consultant to numerous public and private organizations at various times.
Boerker was the author of numerous technical and popular articles on forestry that were published in such prominent journals as The Land and Rural New Yorker and in various state conservation periodicals. His most successful publications include "A Historical Study of Forest Ecology: Its Development in the Fields of Botany and Forestry" (Forestry Quarterly 14 {September 1916}: 380-432); Our National Forests: A Short Popular Account of the Work of the United States Forest Service on the National Forests (1919); and Behold Our Green Mansions (1945). [These three works can be found in the Forest History Society Library.]
Collection Overview
The collection consists of files and note cards produced and collected by Richard H. D. Boerker in the course of research. The records contain information on many aspects of forestry, on biology and related fields of study, and on landscape management. The inclusive dates of the collection are 1910-1957; however, much of the material is undated. The materials are arranged (chronologically whenever possible) in seven series:
The Biographical Materials series consists of a single file which holds various papers that reveal biographical information about Richard Boerker. The Correpsondence series is broken into General and Personal subseries; thus, Boerker's correspondence with his family is separate from his correspondence with business associates. The Manuscript Materials series is the largest in the collection. Drafts of various articles Boerker wrote are arranged by general subject in eleven subseries. Many files contain accompanying research notes and/or correspondence with prospective publishers. The subject of the manuscript in each file is enclosed in quotes. The Teaching Materials series consists of ten files that contain information on Biology, Botany, and related fields of study. The Research Notes series consists of one card-file box and six files. The card-file box contains note cards, on which is recorded bibliographical information on a variety of subjects, among which forestry is the most prevalent. The files in this series contain miscellaneous notes on forestry subjects and several bound volumes in which Boerker recorded notes from various works on forestry. The Published Materials series contains five files holding newspaper articles, journal and magazine articles, and pamphlets and newsletters that Boerker collected. The final series is entitled Miscellaneous Materials, and it consists of files of records pertaining to such topics as forestry management and landscape management.
Collection Arrangement
1. Biographical Materials, undated
2. Correspondence, 1910-1951
3. Manuscript Materials, 1917-1957
3.1. Botany
3.2. Forest Conservation
3.3. Forest Ecology
3.4. Forest Fires
3.5. Forest Management
3.6. Forest Regions and Tree Species
3.7. Forset Restoration
3.8. Forests and Their Uses
3.9. Forests and Wildlife
3.10. Silviculture
3.11. Miscellaneous
4. Teaching Materials, 1868-1915
4.1. Botany
4.2. Biology
5. Research Notes, undated
6. Published Materials, 1923-1956
7. Miscellaneous Materials, 1946
Subject Headings
- Botany
- Conservation of natural resources
- Boerker, Richard H. D. (Richard Hans Douai), b. 1887
- Environmental protection
- Forest conservation
- Forest ecology -- West (U.S.)
- Forest management -- West (U.S.)
- Forest reserves -- United States
- Foresters -- California
- Foresters -- Wyoming
- Foresters -- Colorado
- Forests and forestry -- West (U.S.)
- Forests and forestry -- California
- Forests and forestry -- Colorado
- Forests and forestry -- Wyoming
- Lassen National Forest (Calif.)
- National parks and reserves
- Science teachers -- New York (State) -- Kingston
- United States. Forest Service.
Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Biographical Materials, undated.
Contains a single file, which holds various papers that reveal biographical information about Richard Boerker.
- Folder 1
Personal History, undated
2. Correspondence, 1910-1951, and undated.
- Folder 2
Correspondence: General, May 18, 1915 to March 29, 1947- Includes correspondence with prospective publishers of Boerker's works, primarily.
- Folder 3
Correspondence: General, March 1, 1949 to June 26, 1951 and undated - Folder 4
Correspondence: Personal, 1910- Includes Boerker's correspondence with his family while doing reconnaissance work for the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado during the summer of 1910.
3. Manuscript Materials, 1917-1957.
Includes drafts of various articles Boerker wrote, arranged by general subject in eleven subseries. Many files contain accompanying research notes and/or correspondence with prospective publishers.
3.1. Botany.
- Folder 5
Botany: "Botanical Explorations," undated
3.2. Forest Conservation.
- Folder 6
"After Us the Deluge" (bound volume), undated - Folder 7
"After Us the Deluge" (miscellaneous notes), undated - Folder 8
"Conservation Education," undated - Folder 9
"A Few Suggestions Concerning Forestry Education," undated - Folder 10
"Forest Conservation: A Challenge to Secondary Education," undated - Folder 11
"Forest Conservation and Good Citizenship," undated - Folder 12
"Grass Conservation on the Mexican Border," undated - Folder 13
"Some Fundamentals of a Conservation Education Program," 1951 and undated - Folder 14
"What Is Conservation?" undated
3.3 Forest Ecology.
- Folder 15
"Bibliography of Ecology" (bound volume), undated - Folder 16
"Bibliography of Ecology" (miscellaneous notes), undated - Folder 17-19
"Ecological Observations in California Forests," undated- Contains information such as the zonal distribution of California forests, the physiographic ecology of the northern Sierras, and silvical notes taken in the 1910s on tree species in the northern Sierras.
- Folder 20
"Forests and Climate," undated - Folder 21
"Forests and Erosion," undated - Folder 22
"The Role of Ecology in Forestry," undated
3.4. Forest Fires, 1945-1950.
- Folder 23
"Pyro-Legacy," 1945-1950 - Folder 24
"Unto the Third and Fourth Generations," undated
3.5. Forest Management, 1917-1957.
- Folder 25
"Community Forests and Better Rural Living," undated - Folder 26
"Forests and Forestry," 1917- Includes information on the U.S. Forest Service.
- Folder 27
Our National Forests, 1919-1920 and 1944- Includes copies of reviews from May 1919 to November 1920 and correspondence between Boerker and the publisher from March 7, 1944 to March 30, 1944 concerning copyright and the number of books still in print.
- Folder 28
"The U.S. Forest Service: A Half Century of Achievement," November 21, 1955 to April 5, 1957, and undated
3.6. Forest Regions and Tree Species, 1913-1917.
- Folder 29
"American Forests" (unpublished source materials), undated - Folder 30
"American Forests" (published source materials), 1913--1917- Includes National Forests--Location, Date, and Area (U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 31, 1913; Standard Classification of Forest Types (issued by the Forester, February 19, 1914; The Production of Lumber in 1913 (U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin #232, June 26, 1915; and Production of Lumber, Lath, and Shingles in 1915 and Lumber in 1914 (U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin #506, April 21, 1917.
- Folder 31
"North Carolina," undated - Folder 32
"Some Biological Observations on the California Red Fir," undated
3.7 Forest Restoration, 1942-1949.
- Folder 33
- Behold Our Green Mansions, May 8, 1945 to March 15, 1949, and undated.
- Includes reviews, lists of colleagues likely to furnish published comments about the work, and a list of various publications likely to review the work.
- Folder 34
"A Program for Restoration; A Program for Natural Resource Education," undated - Folder 35
"Reforesting Those Idle Acres," June 1, 1942 to July 7, 1942 - Folder 36
"Forest Restoration," undated
3.8. Forests and Their Uses, 1936-1944.
- Folder 37
"All-Out Production for the Farm Woodlot," undated - Folder 38
"Continuous Forest Production and Rural Independence," undated - Folder 39
"The Duty of Developing the Science of Forest Production," undated - Folder 40
"Farm Crops From Our Forests," March 7, 1944 - Folder 41
"Forests and National Welfare," April 25, 1936 - Folder 42
"Forests in War and Post-War Adjustment," undated - Folder 43
"In Quest of Beauty," undated - Folder 44
"Only God Can Make A Tree," undated - Folder 45
"Our Forests: Their Products and Services," 1941 - Folder 46
"Science of Forest Production," undated - Folder 47
"Structural Properties and Uses of Wood," undated
3.9. Forests and Wildlife, 1942-1949.
- Folder 48
"Animal Neighbors," January 31, 1949 to February 16, 1949 - Folder 49
"Forests, Water, and Fish," July 24, 1942
3.10. Silviculture.
- Folder 50
"The Technique of Silvicultural Research," undated
3.11. Miscellaneous, 1950.
- Folder 51
"Only A Tree," February 15, 1950 to August 16, 1950 - Folder 52
Miscellaneous Papers, undated- Includes such topics as conservation, federal legislation, science, post-WWII economic problems, etc.
- Folder 53
Miscellaneous Notes, undated- Includes statistics, quotes, and other such materials.
4. Teaching Materials, 1868-1915.
Includes ten files that contain information on Biology, Botany, and related fields of study.
4.1. Botany.
- Folder 54
Botany Course #1, undated- Includes lecture materials on the structure and content of plant cells.
- Folder 55
Botany Course #3, undated- Includes lecture materials on the classification and identification of blue-green algae.
- Folder 56
Botany Course #6, undated- Includes instructions on how to properly kill plant specimens and make permanent slides.
- Folder 57
Laboratory Exercises, 1915 - Folder 58
Plant Physiology, undated- Includes miscellaneous notes on the structure and functions of plant cells and tissues.
- Folder 59
Plant Ecology, 1914-1915- Pool, Raymond J. "Suggestions for Laboratory and Field Work in Plant Ecology." University of Nebraska, 1914-1915.
- Folder 60
Mycology and Pathology, 1914- Walker, "Leva B. Laboratory Outlines and Lists of Literature for the Use of Students in Elementary Mycology and Pathology," 1914.
- Folder 61
Botanical Nomenclature, 1868- Laws of Botanical Nomenclature adopted by the International Botanical Congress, Paris, August 1867 (1868).
- Folder 62
Dendrology, undated- Contains notes on the "botany of trees" (dendrology), including such subjects as taxonomy and silviculture.
4.2. Biology.
- Folder 63
Outline for Textbook, undated
5. Research Notes, undated.
Consists of one card-file box and six files. The card-file box contains note cards, on which is recorded bibliographical information on a variety of subjects, among which forestry is the most prevalent. The files in this series contain miscellaneous notes on forestry subjects and several bound volumes in which Boerker recorded notes from various works on forestry.
- Box Card File
General Forestry- Note cards are divided into such subjects as Silviculture, Utilization, Mensuration, Botany, Regulation, Management, Forest Surveys and Maps, Timber Preservation, Forest Products, Forest Legislation, Dendrology, Forest Regions of the United States, Logging, Forest Administration, Insects, Fires, etc. Most subject categories contain not only research information on the topic, but also bibliographical information delineating the most authoritative written works that pertain to the topic.
- Folder 64
Mulford (bound volume), undated- Walter Mulford taught silviculture at the University of Michigan from 1905 to 1911; Boerker was one of his students.
- Folder 65
Mulford (miscellaneous notes), undated - Folder 66
Utilization (bound volume), undated - Folder 67
Utilization (miscellaneous notes), undated - Folder 68
Miscellaneous (bound volume), undated - Folder 69
Miscellaneous (miscellaneous notes), undated
6. Published Materials, 1923-1956.
Contains five files holding newspaper articles, journal and magazine articles, and pamphlets and newsletters that Boerker collected.
- Folder 70
Newspaper Articles: Agriculture, August 19, 1923 to July 20, 1942, and undated- Includes articles on the plight of American farmers during the 1920s and 1930s (i.e. dust storms, floods, droughts, etc.). NOTE: there is a picture of Hitler and Mussolini on the back of a July 11, 1936 article from the Kingston Daily Freeman.
- Folder 71
Newspaper Articles: Forestry, June 8, 1941 to November 11, 1956, and undated- Includes articles on conservation, reforestation, tree farming, forest fires, national parks, and irrigation and dam projects in the United States.
- Folder 72
Newspaper Articles: Miscellaneous, August 19, 1923 to 1950, undated- These few articles cover a range of topics, the most important of which is a January 13, 1924 New York Times article discussing a "Science vs. Evolution" speech given by William Jennings Bryan to an audience of Dartmouth College undergraduates.
- Folder 73
Journals/Magazines, April 10, 1941 to December 1952, and undated- Articles discuss such topics as conservation, national parks, and science.
- Folder 74
Pamphlets/Newsletters, 1942-1954, and undated- Topics covered include national parks, the U.S. Forest Service, conservation, game laws, etc. A December 1925 Association of Michigan Foresters newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Filibert "Daddy" Roth. Roth (with Dr. Fernow) founded the first forestry school in the U.S. at Cornell University. Roth also founded the forestry school at the University of Michigan, where Boerker studied under his guidance. Roth wrote a number of forestry texts, attended the 1910 International Forestry Conference in Brussels as the U.S. representative, and served on many state commissions. He was affectionately called "Daddy" by his students and was well-respected by his peers.
7. Miscellaneous Materials, 1946.
Includes files pertaining to such topics as forestry management and landscape management.
- Folder 75
Forestry Management (miscellaneous publications), undated - Folder 76
Forestry Management: New England Forestry Foundation, Inc. (sample reports), 1946 - Folder 77
Landscape Management (miscellaneous notes), undated - Folder 78
Kiwanis Talk, We Build Through Conservation, undated
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
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Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Richard H. D. Boerker Papers, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.
Processing Information
Processed by Michele Justice and Amanda Ross, March 1991
Encoded by Amanda Ross, September 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.
