How Forest History Can Be Like A Beethoven Symphony

This post is adapted from the Editor’s Note in the Spring/Fall 2020 issue of Forest History Today.

As I sit here in a medical facility in December, waiting to be called, surrounded by people wearing masks because of the global …

“Madam Secretary” and the Gifford Pinchot Connection

I’d never seen the TV series Madam Secretary until this week. Now in its sixth season, former secretary of State Elizabeth McCord is president of the United States. The character’s concern about climate change makes it unsurprising to see landscape …

7/31/1865: Austin Cary, the Father of Southern Forestry, Born

Austin Cary, one of the great unsung heroes of American forestry, was born this date in 1865 in East Machias, Maine. A Yankee through and through, he found professional success in the South, eventually becoming known as the "Father of …

Schenck Documentary Now In Production!

What began as a millionaire’s dream, a genius’s vision, and a forester’s labor is now being captured in a Forest History Society documentary film. This spring the Forest History Society joined forces with Bonesteel Films to produce First in Forestry…

November 14, 1921: First-ever National Fire Control Conference held

On this date in 1921, the U.S. Forest Service convened the first national conference on fire control at Mather Air Field near Sacramento, California. Virtually all the agency’s leaders and brightest minds came together for the conference, including six district …

Notes from the von Salisch Symposium

Walter Cook shared with us his notes from a recent trip to Poland to attend a symposium on Heinrich von Salisch. Cook and Doris Wehlau translated the 1902 edition of von Salisch’s book Forest Aesthetics, which is available from …

In Her Boots: Women in the Forests

In honor of International Women's Day, please enjoy a brief sampling of FHS resources on women in forest-related professions.

Dr. Eloise Gerry at microscope.

Our U.S. Forest History portal highlights the contributions of many foresters, scientists, and others. The …

Forests in Fiction: Tom Gill Lived What He Wrote

Through one degree of separation, we can connect professional foresters with Hollywood glamour!  FHS holds the archival records and popular novels of the nexus: Tom Gill, a leader in international and American forestry and prolific author.

Thomas Harvey Gill (1891-1972) …

December 1, 1874: A [Red] Star is Born

On this day in 1874, Raphael Zon was born in Simbirsk, Russia.  From Russian radical to New World immigrant, Zon achieved national and international influence as a forest researcher.  Gifford Pinchot even proclaimed, "Mr. Zon is my old and valued …

Historian Char Miller Ruminates on SAF Birthday

What do you give a professional organization on its 108th birthday? Warm wishes, I suppose. But in the case of the Society of American Foresters, formally founded on November 30, 1900, in the cramped office of its first president, Gifford …

November 30, 1900: Society of American Foresters Founded

On this day in history, leading conservationist Gifford Pinchot and six other foresters founded the Society of American Foresters in Washington, D.C.  In its 108-year history, the Society has grown to become the largest professional organization for foresters in the …