American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936: Images from the University of Chicago Library

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Go directly to the collection, American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936: Images from the University of Chicago Library, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

The images in American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936 complement the study of the development of the industrial United States from 1876 to 1915 and the emergence of modern America from 1890 to 1930. Users of the collection will learn about turn-of-the-century life, including the new discipline of ecology, increasing industrialization, and large-scale agriculture. In particular, one can discover the impacts of industrial society on the environment. The collection also depicts rural life and the settlement of the West and the history of Native Americans and women and education. Finally, the collection also reflects the development of the National Park system and the advent of leisure time.

1) A New Discipline: Ecology

The photographs in this collection were created by members of the Department of Botany at the University of Chicago from the 1890s to the 1930s. In 1897, Henry C. Cowles joined the department's faculty and brought its attention to the study of ecology. A word first used in 1886, "ecology" meant for Cowles that the composition of plant life in any setting must be understood as the result of constant change in relations within plant communities and among communities and their environs. Cowles thought that plants should not be studied in a vacuum, but as part of a system.

Nearly all of the pictures in this collection can be viewed as reflecting the University of Chicago botanists' study and understanding of ecology. Browse the Subject Index for an idea of the breadth of this collection and its exploration of ecology. Sample images indexed under some of these subject headings, including Ecological succession and Ecology-Research, for a sense of the meaning of ecology and how it was practiced.

A Hackberry Pocket, Thomas County, Nebraska.

Hackberry, Indiana.

• Overall, how do these photographs inform our knowledge of ecology, as opposed to botany alone?
• In what ways do these images reflect the definition of "ecology" as a system or community?
• What do these images indicate about how the University of Chicago botanists defined an ecological system? What kinds of systems or communities do you find documented in these photographs?
• An essay, "Henry C. Cowles and Ecological Succession", from the collection's Special Presentation, describes some of Cowles's ecological theories and interests. How are these reflected in the collection's images? Do the images corroborate Cowles's theories?
• What other approaches to botany are reflected in the collection?
• If you were a botanist, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of using photographs of plants in their natural settings and and using photographs of plants in isolation?

2) Industrialization and Conservation

At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States was evolving into an increasingly industrial nation. Increased manufacturing required enormous amounts of natural resources. The supply of raw materials seemed endless, and the negative effects of their use seemed negligible. However, as the photographs in this collection demonstrate, natural resources are finite. The negative impact on the environment and the ecology is visible.

Photographs of lumbering in western Maryland, Washington state, and California document the large-scale harvesting of natural resources and its impact on the landscape. Search on lumbering for images such as these, of Krug, Maryland. This series of photographs documents the logging process from the forest to the sawmill.

Snaking Logs, Krug, Maryland.

A Lumbering Town, Krug, Maryland.

• What might these trees have been used for at the turn of the twentieth century?
• What are the short- and long-term impacts on the environment of the harvesting methods used?
• How might these men have harvested lumber with less impact on the natural ecology?
• What lumbering techniques are used today?
• Why would the effects of industrialization be of particular interest to ecologists?

Search the collection on mining, erosion, and environmental destruction to see additional images of the impact of the industrial age on the landscape. Learn about the ways ecology contributed to the attitudes and practices of conservation in America in the Special Presentation, "Ecology and the American Environment." For additional resources, browse the collection The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920.

3) Large-scale Agricultural Production

Industrialization at the turn of the century also provided a means of making large-scale agricultural production possible. Photographs of farming operations in Hawaii in the 1930s chronicle the use of mechanized equipment, irrigation, and chemical fertilizers in the large-scale production of sugar, pineapples, and coffee for consumption on the mainland. Search on agriculture for pictures of large-scale farming in Hawaii.

A Sugar Cane Irrigation Flume, near Hilo, Hawaii, February, 1932.

Using Nitrate Fertilizer in Irrigation Water on Sugar Cane, Island of Kauai, Hawaii.

There are also many images in the collection that illustrate the ecological impact of large-scale farming and ranching in the West. For example, "Overgrazing Often Brings About Blow-out Conditions" shows a Nebraska prairie reduced to a desert by grazing. Search on graze for additional images of overgrazing. Why is agriculture of interest to the ecologists who took these photographs? What are the impacts of a monoculture farm (one crop grown over a large area) on the environment? Why is the agricultural use of irrigation systems, chemicals, and fuel-powered machinery of interest to ecologists? How does agriculture change the landscape, as seen in the images of overgrazed land in Nebraska? Can agriculture benefit the landscape? Are the impacts of agriculture on the environment the same today as they were in the 1930s? What has changed?

The following collections are useful in further study of agriculture, industrialization, and the West:

• Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
• The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920
• Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-41

4) Rural America & Settlement of The Great West

The Homestead Act, which provided 600,000 families with 160 acres of land each by 1900, encouraged people to move west. Several distinctive photographs in this collection supplement the study of rural life and the settling of the western United States in the late nineteenth century. Browse the Geographic Location Index for images of western states to get a sense of the region at that time. Or, search on homestead, wagon, cabin, dwelling, camp, and town for evidence of settlement in photographs of small towns and rural homes, such as "The Home of Homesteader C. M. Bourland Two Miles North of Blytheville, Arkansas."

A Man and Woman With a Covered Wagon, Prospect, Oregon.

An Old Russian House Sitka, Alaska, 1907.

An Old Cabin Near Bethel Hollow, Pope County, Illinois.

• What kinds of building materials, architectural styles, forms, and functions do you see in these structures?
• What do these things indicate about the regions in which the dwellings were built? What do they indicate about the challenges of settlement and rural life?
• What are the similarities and differences between these dwellings and their regions?
• What do you think were the most important factors to consider in building a home at that time?

The Main Street of Jardine, Montana.

The plain construction and dirt road in Jardine, Montana is typical of many hastily built small towns in the sparsely settled West. Why were these towns built hastily? How do these images compare to those of cities of the same time period? Do you think these small towns still exist, why or why not?

5) Railroads and the Changing Landscape

The importance of the railroad in the continuing expansion of settlement and development into remote places in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is clearly evidenced in this collection. Search on railroad to retrieve images of trains barreling through the stark landscape of the West and across the straits of Florida to the Florida keys.

With the expansion of railroads, who was able to access remote areas? How did this new accessibility impact these once remote areas and the people who arrived there in terms of economics and in terms of the environment? How did the railroad impact other industries? How did the construction of the railroad impact the environment? Were the costs and benefits of bringing rail lines into remote areas balanced, or did one outweigh the other?

Railroad Construction Work Over the Florida Keys.

A Lumber Train, Glen Haven, Michigan.

Moffatt Railroad, Tolland, Colorado.

• How do these images of railroads reflect the interests of the botanists who took the photographs?
• Do the photographs as a whole seem to reflect certain opinions?
• If the photographers had used these pictures to illustrate an academic paper on ecology, what topics and arguments might you expect to have found in such a paper?

For more material on the railroad, refer to the American Memory collection Railroad Maps, 1828-1900.

6) Native Americans

The rapid expansion of the railroad and of settlement across the nation took place at the expense of the native people of North America and of their cultures. Through long and damaging processes of forced relocation and through outright extermination, the population of Native Americans in North America dwindled from ten million to two hundred and fifty thousand in the United States by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Images of native peoples in this collection represent the survival of complex native cultures with rich artistic and religious traditions. Search on Indians in North America to find these images.

Mojave Indian Dwellings, Canyon Diablo, Arizona.

A Grouping of Mortuary Poles, Old Kasaan, Alaska.

• Why might the university ecologists have been particularly interested in Native Americans?
• In what aspects of these people's lives do the photographs suggest the ecologists were most interested?
• Can you draw parallels between the treatment and use of land in the nineteenth century and the treatment of Native Americans?

Native Americans at the Train Station, Laguna, New Mexico.

Photographs of Native Americans in an industrialized Southwest reflect the rapid and dramatic change that took place as railroads made the region more accessible. In this image, women and children balance large clay pots on their heads as they make their way through a diverse group of people on a crowded platform. Another photograph, taken in 1929, shows a Pueblo Indian on horseback in front of an automobile.

7) Higher Education & The New Woman

One of the consequences of industrial expansion was a flowering of philanthropy, much of which was directed toward higher education. At the turn of the twentieth century, a spirit of inquiry and discovery fueled education, research, and scientific discovery in new graduate schools. Now women, too, were being included in these institutions.

Photographs of student field classes, sponsored by the University of Chicago's Department of Botany from the late 1890s to the 1930s, represent the first generations of men and women pursuing graduate education side by side. Search on student for images from these field trips.

George Damon Fuller and Students of a University of Chicago department of Botany Field Ecology Class, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 1923.

As soon as the train pulled out the knapsacks would hold the skirts of the women of the class, which were shucked off to reveal riding breeches and high shoes, and were put on again before we got on the train at the end of the day. Thielgaard Watts quoted in "Ecology and the Preservation of the Indiana Dunes," from "Ecology and the American Environment."

• Based on the information in the quote, in what era do you think these women lived?
• Why would the female students have to change in and out of their skirts for train rides?
• Why do you think it was acceptable for women to wear pants in the field?
• When did it become acceptable for women to wear pants in public?
• How did changes in women's roles in higher education and in society influence each other?
• What other examples are there of cultural norms limiting a person's educational pursuits?

A Biographical Guide to Individuals lists faculty and graduate students in the University's Department of Botany between 1894 and 1935. It includes a few links to photographs of women faculty. See also "Botany Faculty and Students in Front of the Botany Building, Hull Biological." Taken in 1917, this group portrait is representative of the strides women were making in some university programs during the first decades of the twentieth century.

8) National Parks & Leisure in the 1920s

Students, explorers, photographers, and others educated the public about the devastating effects the industrial age was having on the environment. Through photographs and stories of the remaining untouched landscapes, these pioneers created a movement for conservation that developed into the National Park System. The combination of new wealth and time for leisure made tourism a popular pastime and the national parks, popular destinations.

Twice a year, Professors Coulter and Cowles held ecology classes in remote locations, often in wilderness areas recently set aside as national parks. The collection includes hundreds of photographs of national park lands across the country, from the Everglades in Florida to Mt. Rainier in the Pacific Northwest. Search on national parks to retrieve these images.

A 1927 photograph of an early trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park captures the spirit of anticipation and adventure that marked the opening of scenic wilderness areas. Two young women sporting bobbed hair and short dresses stand in front of a railroad car with a sign reading "Schantz Tours University of Chicago First Botanical Excursion to New Smoky Mountains National Park." See "A University of Chicago Department of Botany Field Ecology Class Trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee."

Photographs of lodges, mountain climbing, and camping reflect the growing popularity of outdoor leisure and organized tourism in the 1910s and 1920s. Search on trail national park, inn national park, and camp national park for images of the facilities constructed for tourists. What impact did tourism and the infrastructure built to support it have on the environment? Do the costs and benefits of tourism balance, or does one outweigh the other? What policies has the National Park Service created to accommodate tourists and minimize their impact on the environment?

Lake Camp, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

For more resources, browse the collections The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 and Mapping the National Parks.