Creats ng acadic N.P. - 2013 Proposal and "Contract"," June 18, 2013 Dear David, I intend that this communication inform and provide a framework for our walk and talk on June 28th. My major theme for that engagement will be to explore the possibility that Friends of Acadia publish The Making of Acadia National Park, the working title of the manuscript written by Ron Epp based on twelve years of research on George B. Dorr. Ron's book is the seminal biography of Dorr - and more. To give you a time-efficient preview of Ron's manuscript, I attach the current Table of Contents. Let me be clear from the beginning: I advocate that FOA publish the book and I am in fraternal dialogue with Ron about this possibility. I have wrestled with the angels of my better nature and determined that my advocacy is compatible with my responsibilities as a member of the FOA board. As will become clear below, I believe that publication of the book would be consistent with our FOA mission and past and projected FOA practice. I think that The Making of Acadia National Park will contribute historical foundation to each of our FOA strategic pillars and be a brand-enhancing FOA offering to the celebration of the Acadia Centennial. Some background may clarify my positioning in this prospect. I met Ron in the course of our mutual commitment to island and Acadian history. We were good friends by email and phone before we ever met. Ron introduced me to Judy Goldstein; I introduced him to Bill Horner and Bill's many leading roles in service to local history. Ron is a good friend and a respected colleague. In 2011, when I was preparing my Acadia Senior College three-course History of MDI, Ron graciously provided me with the full electronic file of his manuscript. (Judy and I may be the only MDI folks who have read the full manuscript.) I have been a "Friend of Ron's Book" since then. Knowing my stand, Ron has asked me to represent him through four roles as we explore FOA publication - accepting that I will do so consistent with my FOA board responsibilities. This letter is an important step in my service to the book - and, I hope, to FOA. In what follows, I provide: 1) My best assessment of the status, virtues and limitations of the manuscript; 2) A summary of Ron's proposal to FOA -- as reviewed by him; 3) My view of how the book fits within FOA's mission, practice, strategic focus and Acadia Centennial plans; 4) A high-level summary of the roles Ron has asked me to play; and 5) A list of the near next steps I envision if you, as FOA CEO, wish to explore the possibility. You and I have worked together long enough now so that you know my deep confidence in your leadership and my solidarity with your vision. I hope that this possibility can draw from that well and advance the growing roster of our good works. But I also know that I can never see all the challenges you must compose. If this prospect would be disruptive or stressful to important dimensions of FOA development in the next four years, I will accept any explanation you provide and will help Ron explore other possibilities. The Making of Acadia National Park: Status, Virtues, Limitations Status. Ron Epp has invested more than a decade of research and writing to generate his mature manuscript on the life of George B. Dorr and the making of Acadia National Park through 1944. He has achieved a text that he considers complete and ready for publication. Like many others in the last decade, he has found the trade and academic press inhospitable to texts with a tight focus on themes seen as narrow by publishers who must work on a commercial-return-on-investment basis. In my judgment, he has tested the appropriate commercial and academic windows, benefitted from some editorial feedback from them, and decided to move on. (He has also opened what would be a very long and perhaps problematic discussion with Eastern National, but shelved that while he explores his possibilities with FOA.) He is prepared to make a proposal to FOA that maximizes final work by him and offers significant financial support from him. Virtues. Ron manuscript makes an important contribution to the history of Acadia National Park and our knowledge and understanding of Acadia's iconic champion, George B. Dorr. His account is vigorously researched and clearly expressed. As the seminal biography of the essential actor in the realization and development of Acadia, Ron's book will help readers understand the challenges of conservation and stewardship and the perseverance required to sustain a vision over four decades. Dorr's complex relationships with Charles W. Eliot and John D. Rockefeller Jr. are sensitively drawn. The genius of Dorr as a lobbyist is finally given robust appreciation. Ron shows Dorr's deep emotional commitment to the MDI communities surrounding Acadia and his close work with local leaders. Especially gratifying to me is Ron's account of Dorr's brilliant engagement with FDR's New Deal and the contribution of poor boys from Maine to the development of Acadia National Park. Ron is especially strong in his poignant account of Dorr's final years and his quest to pass Oldfarm safely to Acadia. Ron Epp has written a worthy contribution to the history of our park and region. His book will be valued by subsequent generations of writers who, I predict, will change many of the ways we understand our past. In Ron's account of Dorr and Dorr's relationships with Eliot and Rockefeller, we see a man whose devotion to place had national consequences. Eliot conceived the Hancock Count Trustees as an application of the approach his late son had pioneered in Massachusetts. In Dorr's hands, this trust became a model for private philanthropy in service to conservation for the public. Ron also argues that establishing what became Acadia as the first national park entity east of the Mississippi had a salutary impact on the standing of the new National Park Service. All would agree that the sense of purpose and satisfaction JDR Jr. realized in service to Acadia had national and even international impact through his wide-ranging conservation philanthropy. For the prospect we consider, an additional virtue of the book is the regional standing of its author. Ron has made many presentations here on Dorr and Acadia and published several articles. He has been of good service to FOA and ANP and is appreciated widely for his contributions. Limitations. Ron is neither a life-long historian nor an academic buttressed by the resources of a university-based researcher. What he has done has been entirely on his own. His pen is clear and careful, but he is not a stylist who writes at the National Book Award level. He gives us a good story inherently interesting to those who love Acadia. As he would be the first to affirm, he has made a catalytic contribution to Acadia historiography. In the fullness of time there will be other biographies of Dorr. His work creates future possibilities rather than making a definitive statement. Ron Epp Proposal to Friends of Acadia Knowing life is fragile and finite, Ron is eager to have his work published and participate in its reception. He accepts that his subject is seen as too focused for publication by the trade or academic press. He now seeks a specialty publisher with a strong natural interest in his subject and favors Friends of Acadia. He is prepared to make an offer that seems to me both generous and forthcoming - one that may eliminate any financial concerns FOA might have and reduce to an essential minimum the demand on FOA staff. Ron judges his manuscript as mature and ready for publication. He does not invite additional editorial dialogue nor expect that service from a publisher. (He is, of course, open to editorial suggestions that correct facts or eliminate confusion.) At least four important steps remain to make the manuscript "publication ready." 1) Illustration. Ron has accumulated hundreds of photographs and other FOR graphic materials. He would welcome dialogue with a publisher to select the most appropriate, disciplined by anticipated cost; 2) Proof Reading. Ron has had discussions with a professional he respects; 3) Composition and Design. Ron has candidates in mind. He also recognizes FOR that this important step will involve brand-investment by a publisher and is open to dialogue or trialogue; 4) Permissions. Because Ron developed hundreds of relationships as he conducted his research, he believes that he is the best anchor for the robust communications required to conclude this essential step. Thus Ron is prepared to do the work and pay the bills for all of the remaining "prep" work on the path to publication. He estimates the cost of this work at no less than $5,000. Ron envisions publication in paperback (only) with an initial printing of perhaps 1,000. Once we have agreed on a plan and assessed costs, Ron is also prepared to make a significant contribution to the cost of publication. I also believe that there are several "Friends of Ron's Book" who would be prepared to contribute to its publication, especially if stimulated by some matching arrangement. I certainly count myself among them and would be prepared to quarterback such an effort, if appropriate. Finally, Ron wishes all proceeds from the sale of his book to go to Friends of Acadia, first to recover any remaining costs of publication and modest marketing and then to support FOA. In my judgment, Ron Epp is prepared to make a generous proposal to Friends of Acadia, one that will significantly constrain the funds and staff time FOA would need to invest in the project. The Making of Acadia National Park and the Mission, Practice, Strategic Focus and Acadia Centennial Plans of Friends of Acadia History matters. We cannot conceive and realize the preferred future for Acadia unless we know and use her past. Our park and our organization are the present expression of that past. Publication of The Making of Acadia National Park would help educate our FOA community and support our FOA strategy. Mindful that some might view publication of Ron's book as a deviation from the focus deemed so essential to FOA progress, I make the counter-point with vigor. FOA publication of The Making of Acadia National Park would enhance our brand and provide welcome historical footing for our mission, strategic intent, and plans for the Acadia Centennial. FOA Mission. Knowing better how the founders of Acadia National Park preserved, protected and promoted the stewardship of our park will help us carry forth that mission. The distinctive cultural resources of the surrounding communities were expressed through their cooperation with George B. Dorr over four decades. Ron's book helps tell that story. More of us should know it - and we should make it easier for many more to appreciate this history; Balanced Use Strategic Pillar. The vision of the Hancock County Trustees for Public Reservations and then the unique partnership of Dorr and Rockefeller defined and exemplified balanced use. Together they anticipated, guided and delimited the presence of the automobile in Acadia. Against serious opposition, they carried forth the carriage road program over more than two decades and created our most beloved heritage - the iconic expression of balanced use that FOA now proudly extends. Ron's book gives new dimension to this Acadian story; Resource Preservation Strategic Pillar. The Resource Protection Committee has begun to focus on the challenge of climate change in Acadia and envisioned the importance of citizen science and education in expressing the strategic intent of this FOA pillar. George B. Dorr helped to pioneer both science and strong science journalism in the national parks system and played an essential role in basing both the Jackson Memorial and MDI Biological Laboratories on MDI with links to ANP. Knowing this history should energize the common work of FOA and the Schoodic Institute in science-based resource protection; Generational Stewardship and Youth Strategic Pillar. The most substantial and compelling instantiation of youth education and stewardship in Acadia was the nine-year contribution of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This story is told well in Ron's book. More than 3,000 poor boys from Maine found new purpose in and made a huge contribution to the balanced conservation of Acadia. Our youth and those to come deserve to know this history. Ron's book provides one good way; Carriage Roads and Hiking Trails Strategic Commitment. These iconic Acadia assets that FOA proudly preserves and extends would not exist without the vision and diplomacy of George B. Dorr. Our FOA community and our FOA board could know the history of the trails and carriage road better than they currently do. Ron's book provides an important path to that deeper understanding; and Acadia Centennial Celebration Commitment. More than any other individual, George B. Dorr brought Acadia to consummation as a National Monument in 1916, secured her status as a national park in 1919, and guided her though her first three decades of conservation and growth. Our 2016 Centennial celebration will look forward to inspire continuing stewardship, but we will also look back to the magnificent achievements of those who worked before us. None stands taller than George B. Dorr. Ron Epp has written the book that will inspire deeper appreciation of the history of which FOA is one custodian. Jack Russell Roles in the Exploration of FOA Publication As mentioned above, Ron has asked me to perform a few roles as we all explore the possibility of FOA publication of his book. We have talked through his request and reached current comfort on four roles: 1) To advocate for Friends of Acadia (FOA) publication of The Making of Acadia National Park within a framework of good judgment and his responsibilities as a member of the FOA board of directors; 2) To coordinate the distribution to appropriate parties, as determined through his judgment, those elements of The Making of Acadia National Park that will advance its publication; 3) To be the local representative of Ron Epp, communicating to local prospective partners in the project as long as this is not at odds with the FOA mission; and 4) To advise Ron Epp regarding any local concerns about unclear, ill-defined, or under-performed areas of publication responsibility. Jack Russell will assume and perform these roles to the best of his ability as long as they do not conflict with his obligations as a member of the FOA board and his responsibilities as the chair of the FOA Advocacy Committee and the Co-chair of the FOA ANP Centennial Task Force. I hope that you, David, are also comfortable with me serving in these roles. These may evolve, of course, if and as exploration of publication proceeds. Possible Near Next Steps Having taken some time to make my case, my clear vision extends forward only until June 28th, when we'll have a chance to discuss the prospect and I'll learn your initial response. If exploration extends beyond then, I assume some of the following will be 2013 milestones: 1) I communicate with Ron based on our 6/28 discussion. Obviously you may wish to as well; 2) I provide you and perhaps other FOA staff with as much of the manuscript as you wish to read; 3) If there is interest, the parties may then collaborate to make a rough determination of the full costs of the project and the division of labor and financial responsibility between the parties. If we get to this point, I expect that Ron would here declare what he is prepared to contribute financially to the publication effort; 4) If you are prepared to recommend publication, you will determine the level and timeline of board oversight of this prospect; and 5) Again, if we get there, and the board in some form approves, some document to express an agreement (Letter of Intent? Contract?) will presumably become necessary. Thank you, Friend David, for marching to the end of this long letter. I look forward to your perspectives on the 28th. Fraternally, Jack 6 July 2013 Mr. David R. MacDonald Friends of Acadia 43 Cottage Street P.O. Box 45 Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Dear David MacDonald: As a long-standing friend of Acadia, I encourage your consideration of a collaborative project to publish a seminal biography of the "Father of Acadia," George Bucknam Dorr. Beginning with my first visit to Mount Desert more than a quarter century ago, I have passionately desired to understand what motivated and sustained Mr. Dorr and his colleagues to create, develop, and situate privately donated property within the federal government. Through repeated visits to Mount Desert I discovered that the picturesque landscapes, salt air, trails, villages, and rocky shoreline and summits--so imbued with the culture and history of Maine-- awakened in me a need to understand how and why this preserved landscape became the first national park east of the Mississippi. As a professor of philosophy I asked residents historical questions about the park that more often than not went unanswered. With rare exceptions, I found it most striking that little was known-or thought worthy of knowing--about the first four decades of Dorr's life before the establishment of the Hancock County Trustees. Drawing upon my experience as scholarly journal managing editor and academic library administrator, I spent years researching primary sources contained in the NPS historical collections in the National Archives, state and local historical society collections, and the vast collections at Harvard University, Mr. Dorr's alma mater. Information from dozens of interviews were also integrated in a dozen published articles and presentations that resulted from these investigations. Friendships with Jack Russell, Bill Horner, park and FOA staff nourished the lengthy process of writing The Making of Acadia National Park. The manuscript has been read and edited by several hands and is ready for the pre-publication process. My central argument is that in developing Acadia, Mr.Dorr pioneered and embodied essential characteristics of the New England land conservation movement: an emphasis on self- determination, innovation, leadership by example, civic engagement, and an ethical commitment to land stewardship (an outline of this case is contained in the attached Table of Contents). Mount Desert became the setting wherein Dorr and Harvard president Charles W. Eliot applied both the accomplishments of landscape architect Charles Eliot, president Eliot's late son, and the practical lessons of the best of Boston Brahmin philanthropy. I have benefited from dialogue with the university presses that I approached about publishing my manuscript. In recent months I've come to realize, however, that since the Friends of Acadia clearly share my passion for and commitment to the Acadian legacy, a publishing arrangement with you would provided the best fit. Clearly, The Making of Acadia supports the pillars of the FOA strategic mission, helping your organization to realize its mission and provide the scholarly underpinnings for the history of land conservation that Friends of Acadia extends into the 21st century. I am prepared to make a significant financial contribution to the realization of this goal. These funds would underwrite the selection, digitization, and placement of appropriate illustrations; composition and design of content, scholarly apparatus, illustrations, and cover. Given my experience as an editorial officer with the Association of College and Research Libraries, I would outsource at my expense page proofing and indexing responsibilities to a Massachusetts editorial agency. Because of the relationships I've developed during my research, I will secure the necessary permissions. To that end, I have contacted my attorney about developing a disclaimer freeing FOA of any infringement concerns. I would forego royalties, making all income a gift to Friends of Acadia. As for marketing and distribution of the publication, I would suggest offering it on Amazon.com and the FOA web pages. An initial print run of one thousand-preferably in more affordable paperback--we find a receptive audience at the park concession outlets at the visitor center and Jordan Pond, not to mention island bookstores and their outlets. I would also suggest that several dozen gratis copies be directed to the media. Personal invitations to review the publication might yield endorsements in regional print and online newspaper and serial publications (e.g., Downeast, Yankee Magazine,). Acquisition by Maine public libraries, academic libraries (collecting in environmental conservation, philanthropy, biography, and American public policy), and the public would likely follow. Securing placement on the shelves of the L.L.Bean anchor store in Freeport would likely be a boon to sales. As a longstanding friend of Acadia please be assured that I will continue to be sensitive to the mission of FOA and the diverse responsibilities of FOA staff. I am excited at the opportunity that Jack Russell has put before you. But in the weeks ahead I will be limited in my ability to keep to my customary schedules since I am having my right knee replaced on July 26th. I do hope to travel to Mount Desert, however, before the first snow flies. From the early stages of my investigations, I have been driven by the desire to tell the fascinating story of Mr. Dorr and other park founders, relate them to the broader conservation movement, and publish a work worthy of being placed on the shelves of libraries, bookstores, historical societies, and private residences where the American conservation movement is represented. Acadia National Park is a living memorial to the vision and persistence of a man whose full life has yet to be told. I hope that we can partner in the telling this story. Most cordially, Ronald H. Epp, P.D. 532 Sassafras Dr. Lebanon, PA 17042 717-272-0801 Eppster2@comcast.net TABLE OF CONTENTS The Making of Acadia National Park Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 1. FIRST IMPRESSIONS Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the family discovers the bold landscape of Maine's Mount Desert Island where they acquire more than a hundred acres of Frenchman Bay shoreline to build a summer residence. The cultural, social, and family ancestry of George B. Dorr is set against his birth in Jamaica Pond, MA. 2. DR. ELIOT SAILS INTO FRENCHMAN BAY. Dorr's childhood in the rural summer landscapes of Canton and Lenox provide a rugged environment that contrasts with the urban culture of an upper-class Brahmin family. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, the Dorr's move to the Park Street, Boston home of George's maternal grandfather. 3. THE MOST IMPRESSIONABLE YEARS The Ward family relationships with Ralph Waldo Emerson, literary titan George Ticknor, educator Margaret Fuller, and social reformer Julia Ward Howe provide the backdrop for Dorr's entrance into the Harvard College preparatory school. The Ward and Dorr families become founding residents of Commonwealth Avenue. Dorr's entrance into Harvard College takes place in the second year of Charles W. Eliot's presidency. Concentrating his studies in history and foreign languages, Dorr's education is threatened by episodic blindness and recurring stuttering which plagued him since childhood. He is awarded his B.A. in 1874. 4. THE LONG ROAD TO MOUNT DESERT The Dorr family embarks on what will be a four-year odyssey around the British Isles and the Continent. Dorr's brother, trained as a legal assistant in New York City, is fatally struck down by typhoid fever. The family finds consolation in the hospitality offered at Naworth Castle by George and Rosalind Howard, the future Earl and Countess of Carlisle. Julia Ward Howe, the childhood friend of Dorr's mother whose son-in-law was later selected to design their Mount Desert residence, often travels with the family. President Eliot's eldest son, landscape architect Charles Eliot, guided fellow Harvard classmates on several summer natural history research studies on Mount Desert Island 5. RESTLESS INDECISION Charles Eliot recommends to his father (in 1881) the acquisition of a one hundred twenty acre site for their summer residence in Northeast Harbor. Several miles distant, the Dorr family showcases the splendid landscape from their "Oldfarm" estate. Despite George Dorr's continuing indecision about a career, he cultivates abiding friendships with professors Josiah Royce and William James. Following the death of his father, George Dorr enters the world of commerce. He launches his own business, the Mount Desert Nurseries, inspired by the horticultural exhibits of the Columbia World Exposition 6. NEW WANDERINGS Landscape architect Charles Eliot completes three landmark essays for Charles Sargent's Garden and Forest. These precede Eliot's founding of the Massachusetts Trustees of Public Reservations, the first state- wide land trust-six years before his death in 1897. His father publishes an essay on "The Forgotten Millions" that demonstrates-contrary to the prevailing social norm-that Mount Desert is organized in ways that reflect "the basal American society." In Cambridge, Dorr is selected by the Overseers to participate in 2 evaluating the quality of Harvard's philosophy department. Later, he leads the effort to erect a new facility in the Harvard Yard that would bear the name of a family friend--Emerson. 7. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PERFECTION Dorr retraces Henry David Thoreau's route into the northern Maine wilderness. Unlike the author of Walden, Dorr's daily hikes on Mount Desert Island follow the principle that "the Earth led the path.," and in turn he contributes to an Acadian style of trail architecture. After President Eliot familiarizes himself with the posthumous papers of his son, he realizes that the concept of a land trust must be applied to Mount Desert Island. 8. FIN DU SIECLE Charles Eliot Norton speaks of the death of Dorr's mother in 1901 as the loss of "almost the only one who had many familiar memories in common with me." Julia Ward Howe correctly interprets Mary Dorr's death as a new beginning for her son, George. As the sole surviving bachelor son, Dorr embraces this challenge. 9. The BIRTH OF THE TRUSTEES, THE ENTICEMENTS OF THE NATIONAL PARKS Under Eliot's leadership, the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations is formed to hold coastal Maine landscape for the perpetual use of the public. In Cambridge, Dorr's Emerson Hall fund raising is complicated by his alliance with Francis Appleton, Edward and Cameron Forbes to raise funds for a New Yard for Harvard. Dr. Eliot publishes his Right development of Mount Desert, providing a template for the conservation of Mount Desert landscapes. After offering horticultural advice to Edith Wharton in Lenox and another forestry consultation to George W. Vanderbilt at the Biltmore Estate, Dorr spends weeks on horseback in the western U.S. He experiences the landscapes of Yosemite, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia directly. 10. PROMOTERS OF MOUNT DESERT CULTURE Edward Waldo Emerson reminds all present at the December 1905 Emerson Hall dedication that his father was "a teacher-at-large for life [committed to] the theory and practice of Philosophy for the People." Behind the scenes, philosophy department chairman Hugo Munsterberg feuds with William James and only President Eliot's mediation wards off an academic calamity. On Mount Desert, Dorr persuades George W. Vanderbilt to contribute to the City Beautiful Movement by joining him and others in funding the construction of Guy Lowell's Building for the Arts. At the request of William James, Dorr becomes Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research and Dorr's interviews with medium Leonora Piper at Oldfarm are integrated into articles James published prior to his death in 1910. 11. TRUSTEE FIRST STEPS American Civic Association President J. Horace McFarland comes to the national forefront by publicizing the absence of a federal managerial agency overseeing national park expansion and development. A series of superb property donations to the Maine Trustees presents them with similar organizational issues. These seem to resolve when the State of Maine took the unprecedented step of agreeing with Dorr's arguments to grant the Hancock County Trustees the power of eminent domain. As the importance of creating a national park bureau gained attention, Charles W. Eliot and Dorr become increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of Trustee holdings to ever-changing political currents in Augusta. 12. MR. DORR GOES TO WASHINGTON Arriving in Washington on the heels of President Wilson's inauguration, Dorr champions federal protection as the only stable land protection solution. As houseguest of Gifford Pinchot, former head of the U.S. Forest Service, Dorr meets key leaders of the new government, including Interior Secretary Franklin Lane and Assistant Interior Secretary Stephen Mather. The paramount objective of Mather is the establishment of a national park bureau. Dorr's proposal offers an unprecedented challenge since historically 3 all national parks had been carved out of federal property. There is great political suspicion about any offer of public-inspired gifts. Several years of astute political maneuvering will be necessary for Dorr to establish a new federal precedent. 13. MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT Passage of the 1906 Antiquities Act enables national monuments to be created by Presidential executive order. As Dorr publicizes the merits of establishing Maine's national monument as a stepping stone to national park status, Mather and his allies build the necessary political support for the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS). Their efforts join and Mount Desert Island becomes the site of a national monument one month before the July 1916 establishment of the NPS. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. drafts its fundamental statement of purpose: conservation of the scenery, historic objects, and wildlife therein without impairment for future generations. 14. THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK WITHIN THE ORIGINAL UNITED STATES At a time when no national park exists East of the Mississippi River, the new custodian of the national monument in Maine-who else but Mr. Dorr--spends much of the year in Washington lobbying Congress for national park status. As Dorr secures additional land donations and the legal justifications for national park status, the NPS faces its first crisis. In the midst of World War I, Mather suffers a nervous breakdown and his assistant, Horace M. Albright, assumes responsibility for the fledgling service for nearly two years. As the nation mourned the death of Theodore Roosevelt, Dorr's goal is realized with the establishment of Lafayette National Park (renamed Acadia in 1929). He becomes its first superintendent, a role that will span a quarter- century. 15. THE PRINCE OF ALTRUISTS The initial absence of automobiles on Mount Desert factored heavily into John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s attraction to the Island. The pro-automobile policy of the NPS presents a new challenge to Dorr: how to encourage automobile based park visitation while protecting the privacy of Rockefeller's expanding carriage road system. Dorr and Mr. Rockefeller develop a deep relationship that results in a shared vision for park development. Because this national park is more thoroughly integrated with established population centers, local criticism appears in the press. Maine's national park is portrayed as being developed for the benefit of wealthy summer residents. 16. ATTACK MAY COME Local suspicions arise concerning Dorr's motives. These are articulated most forcefully by U.S. Senator George Pepper, a summer Mount Desert resident. He represents an enclave who argue against road development as destructive of the wilderness experience. They suggest that Dorr is an organizational rogue operating outside the constraints of the federal government. The road development issue escalates and in 1924 a public hearing-on the relationship between public access and the private agenda of Mr. Rockefeller's philanthropy--is scheduled in Washington before Interior Secretary Hubert Work. Dorr is awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from his alma mater. This tribute may reflect the Harvard-bred independence of spirit that his friend William James characterized two decades earlier when he affirmed that "our undisciplinables are our greatest product." 17. BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS A favorable 1924 road development decision permits Dorr to shift his energies to research initiatives on Mount Desert. The discovery of native American stone implements by physician Robert Abbe inspires the creation of the Lafayette National Park Museum of Stone Age Antiquities, where Dorr takes on the yeoman's responsibilities. He also donates land and provides civic leadership for the development of the Jackson Laboratories and the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratories. On the tenth anniversary of the formal celebration of the establishment of Maine's national monument, the most senior member of the Dorr-Eliot- Rockefeller triumvirate-Charles W. Eliot--dies in his Northeast Harbor home. 4 18.. DRIVING TO THE CADILLAC SUMMIT Dorr adopts a more intense form of land stewardship-anticipating F.D. Roosevelt's principle, "Action and action now!"-as he negotiates, buys, and transfers to Mr. Rockefeller several hundred properties which fit their shared vision for the Park. Less than a week after passage of the 1929 Acadia National Park Act (which expanded its boundaries and altered its name), the superintendent attends the funeral of NPS Director Mather. Horace M. Albright accepts the position and immediately travels for the first time to Acadia National Park. He is one of the first to ascend the nearly completed government funded motor road to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. 19. THE ELONGATED SHADOW OF A MAN Park growth is paralleled by an expansion of the NPS bureaucracy. No year rivals 1932 for the frequency of visitation by NPS officials, culminating in the dedication of the Cadillac Summit road. U.S. Congressman John E. Nelson likens Dorr to the former-NPS director: what Mather had been to the NPS, Dorr is to Acadia National Park. On the heels of this celebration, the first one hundred days of the Franklin Roosevelt administration commences. Nearing eighty years of age, Acadia's superintendent is on hand in Washington and immediately seizes the opportunity to make the case for several Civilian Conservation Corps camps on the Island. 20. THE MATHER ERA CLOSES The 1933 resignation of Horace M. Albright brings closure to the Mather era. From then until 1941, a steady supply of federally sponsored Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps human resources enables park staff to achieve conservation goals that the superintendent had thought were beyond their means. The rapidly expanded NPS landscape department prepares detailed project drawings that provide Mr. Rockefeller and Dorr with heightened aesthetic coherence throughout the Park. Much of this work is delegated to the man who would become Dorr's successor, Benjamin Hadley. Dorr's interests center on his magnum opus: convincing the federal government to accept his most cherished possession-his Oldfarm estate. Further debilitated by encroaching blindness, Dorr avoids public gatherings, including the Tercentenary of Harvard College, though his cousin Thomas Wren Ward was an honored guest. 21.. A FULL AND USEFUL LIFE As the United States ramps up for war, Dorr feels increased urgency to finalize the transfer of Oldfarm to the federal government. Former director Horace Albright repeatedly provides wise counsel, advocating for Mr. Dorr's interests. Described by a fellow superintendent as the patriarch of the NPS, Dorr finalizes the complex negotiations with Washington a week before his eighty-eighth birthday. Much relieved, the sightless superintendent turns his attention to updating his posthumously published Story of Acadia National Park. In early August 1944, Dorr dies of heart failure at Oldfarm and his ashes are scattered at the park's Beaver Pool. EPILOGUE The executors of Dorr's estate are presented with a daunting task, which became known in 2008 when the archives of his executor, Judge John A. Peters, were discovered. A legal morass challenges Dorr's trustees since many of his properties intended for addition to the Park are still mortgaged. Ultimately, the NPS takes the position to honor the conditions of Dorr's will related to the development of Oldfarm-yet to this day most legal requirements have not been realized. Tragically, many of his family, personal, and professional papers are disposed of in the Bar Harbor land fill. His trustees salvage artifacts and personal papers that were subsequently donated to historical and literary societies. Judge Peters champions the erection of a memorial at the park Sieur de Monts Spring beneath the Mount Desert mountain that now bears Dorr's name. 2011 The Making of Acadia National Park [Retitled C.A.N.P.] A Prospectus by Ronald Harry Epp, Ph.D. 532 Sassafras Dr., Lebanon, PA 17042. 717-272-0801 eppster2@comcast.net The Making of Acadia National Park focuses on the life and times of conservationist George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944). Celebrated as the founder of the first national park east of the Mississippi River, Dorr's seminal contributions to the American environmental movement have gone largely unacknowledged. Even in the present day, those who live on-or travel to-Maine's Mount Desert Island do not fully comprehend the scope of his achievements. This biography is the story of Dorr's pioneering role in the evolution of the land trust concept. In its Victorian Downeast Maine iteration, the landscape preservation idea--when rooted in the democratic principle of public accessibility--is inseparable from the life of George Bucknam Dorr. My own interest in the origin and early development of Acadia National Park results from experiencing Mount Desert over three decades and integrating that experience into my careers in university teaching, scholarly publishing, and academic library administration. Interviews and archival research at repositories from Maine to California yielded findings reported in a dozen published articles and presentations. The Making of Acadia National Park is directed at general readers, including the two million visitors who experience Acadia National Park annually as well as viewers of the recent Ken Burns PBS documentary on America's Best Idea, the National Park. As we approach the 1916 centennial of the establishment of the National Park Service and Acadia, interest in the origins of the land trust movement will grow. Park staff are developing strategies to promote Dorr's Oldfarm residence in Bar Harbor as the centerpiece of park celebrations. 2 The central argument is that in developing Acadia National Park, Dorr embodied key characteristics of the New England land conservation movement: an emphasis on self-determination, innovation, personal leadership, civic engagement, and an ethical commitment to landscape stewardship. Mount Desert Island became the setting for Dorr to apply the practical lessons of Brahmin philanthropy that tracked back to his maternal grandfather, banker and Harvard College Treasurer Thomas Wren Ward. On his grandfather's knee, Dorr learned of the tension between classes, the struggle between private and public interests, and the importance of philanthropy. Like the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dorr was born into a cosmopolitan community adjacent to the sea. Indeed, for more than six decades he lived adjacent to the Boston Public Garden and on Park Street at the foot of the Massachusetts State House. Some of Dorr's favorite haunts-the Boston Common, Beacon Hill, and Commonwealth Avenue-were close to the ocean. He never grew weary of revisiting these, nor of the mountain charms of the Berkshires where in the two decades before the Civil War, both sides of the Dorr family had been among the pioneering cottagers of Lenox. A bachelor preoccupied with "historical associations," Dorr desired to amplify the positive elements of his Brahmin inheritance. His decision in middle age to use a small island in Maine as a model to instruct subsequent generations about the importance of natural sanctuaries stamps Dorr's distinctiveness. For more than four decades, Dorr's physical energy, intellectual focus, and spiritual aspirations were directed at "this historic, mountainous and timeworn landscape" against the Atlantic coast. Dorr's success was achieved despite two lifelong disabilities: a visual impairment that would eventually rob him of his sight and a chronic speech impediment, the disfluency of the stammerer. 3 The few who seriously studied Dorr's life consulted only regional newspapers, Acadia National Park archives, and popular anecdotal lore for information. As a result, the secondary literature perpetuates misunderstandings of the man and his time. The archival record has been largely ignored and there has been no comprehensive account of his entire life. Significantly, Dorr's relationship with Harvard University, which this study contends is central to a full understanding of his motivations, has not been addressed. The influence of the Dorr family on the intellectual development of Harvard philosophy professors Josiah Royce and William James have gone unrecognized. Additionally, Harvard president Charles William Eliot tasked Dorr with securing the requisite funds to erect the first college campus building (i.e., Emerson Hall) devoted to American philosophy. Unfortunately, Mount Desert residents remain as uninformed about the role of Harvard in their history as those at Harvard about their influence on this Maine coastal island. Not content to remain idling in the realms of speculative philosophy, Dorr seized upon the challenges presented by Mount Desert Island in much the same way as Charles W. Eliot had accepted the daunting task of reforming Harvard when he accepted the mantle of its presidency (1869-1909). Just as Harvard's William James labored to marry philosophical doctrines to practical outcomes, Dorr sought to wed private philanthropy with the need to protect land as a public resource. During this effort and other alumni projects he developed the vital donor solicitation skills needed to assemble the hundreds of parcels of land donated for the establishment and growth of Acadia National Park The new movement in Maine to conserve nature was joined with the existing machinery of philanthropy when the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations was established in 1901, loosely modeled on the Massachusetts Trustees of Public Reservations which was created a decade earlier by the elder son of Charles W. Eliot. The better known conservation advocates during the first two decades of the twentieth- century were George B. Dorr, Charles W. Eliot, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Yet this new movement was 4 not dependent on summer residents "from away." Largely unrecognized are the contributions of Maine natives like John A. Peters, Leure B. Deasy, and A.H. Lynam, attorneys who advocated to state and federal authorities the unorthodox idea of donating land--for public use--to state and federal authorities. Yet it is the day-by-day personal relationships of the Dorr-Eliot-Rockefeller triumvirate that provide the substance of The Making of Acadia National Park. As the first land trust in Maine, Dorr was its chief executive who directed his energies and assets away from his horticultural business and towards the acquisition of contiguous island properties of exceptional natural character. Despite the hostility of Congressmen at that time to the idea that a sane citizen would freely give something of national value to the federal government, federal officials were finally persuaded to accept 5,000 acres of donated land as a public resource. Advice from a future Director of the National Park Service, Horace M. Albright, was crucial to Dorr's success in achieving National Monument status on the eve of the 1916 establishment of the National Park Service. Dorr's unpublished correspondence with John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960) and his less restrained letters to and from Harvard president C.W. Eliot (1834-1926) provide the key manuscript resources for this study. Other important administrative documents-including monthly reports to the National Park Service-are contained in the Sawtelle Research Center at Acadia National Park and National Archives and Records Administration facilities. Collections of Dorr manuscripts are preserved at the Bar Harbor Historical Society, the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society; within the last two years, the Ellsworth archival collection of Judge Peters as well as the Bar Harbor archives of attorneys Deasy and Lynam have been uncovered and researched. To better appreciate Dorr's historic context, dozens of interviews were completed with Rockefeller, Eliot, Dorr, and Ward family members as well as others whose thoughts bear on the themes of this biography. 5 In appraising the full range of Dorr's published work and thousands of pages of manuscript material, Dorr's published work was primarily descriptive. It covered the inception, development, and growth of the Park and emphasized the chronology of events-interpretation and evaluation was incidental. By contrast, The Making of Acadia National Park is attributive. It traces how he applied certain birthright attributes and shaped them to his own ends. This work further examines the development of Dorr's unique leadership skills from the behavioral models he observed and embraced as a descendant of powerful Brahmin families. Dorr's quest had four primary motivations: (1) a desire to set aside exceptionally scenic areas for unmediated aesthetic appreciation; (2) a concern to secure places for recreational use as a tonic to the increasing pressures of living in an industrialized society; (3) a wish to provide places of natural distinctiveness where research scientists could investigate (what we now term) ecosystems; (4) a hope to redefine the Brahmin philanthropy of the prior generation through the creation of an enduring natural legacy. His leadership style enabled him to successfully advance his conservation agenda in the halls of Congress and to be regarded as the most distinguished of the first generation of National Park Service superintendents. Dorr also wisely stood outside the constraints of the new National Park Service when his efforts to collaborate effectively with the private philanthropic ambitions of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. were thwarted by this new branch of the Department of the Interior. Dorr found in the landscape of Mount Desert Island his particular medium; a medium with which he could recapture the flavor of his childhood. As a boy, he had been content with a passive invitation to enjoyment generated by the salty ocean tang that had blown inland from Boston's wharfs. As an adult, 6 Dorr pursued the therapeutic power of that same ocean with active daily immersions (throughout all four seasons) in the waters of Frenchman Bay. When we think of Dorr-and of the men and women who established Acadia National Park-we must remain mindful that the landscape they sought to preserve was not limited to the island itself. Their vision of preservation extended to the islands peripheral waters, to its unique climate, and to the biological diversity and interplay that SO few understood a century ago. And like the sea itself, their legacy extends to us and our heirs. FRIENDS OF ACADIA 43 COTTAGE STREET P.O. BOX 45 BAR HARBOR MAINE 04609 207 288 3340 207 288 8938 fax friendsofacadia.org Memorandum of Understanding On January 29, 2014 Friends of Acadia ("FOA"), represented by President David R. MacDonald, hereby agrees to publish the tentatively titled The Making of Acadia National Park: A biography of founder George B. Dorr ("MANP"). Authored by historian Ronald H. Epp ("the author"), this title will be published in 2016 as part of a series of Mount Desert Island events celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service and the creation of Acadia National Park. This publishing partnership is funded in part by the author's charitable contributions, to be received in full prior to publication. The budget for MANP is under development; in good faith, the first five- thousand dollar ($5,000) donation from the author was received by FOA on November 17, 2013. The author will forego royalties; all revenue from this publication will be a charitable gift to FOA. These donations will underwrite in part the selection, digitization, composition and design of narrative content, scholarly apparatus, illustrations, book cover, printing, and distribution. The FOA Communications and Outreach Coordinator will manage this project with final decision-making resting with the publisher. The initial copyediting of the MANP manuscript will be outsourced at the author's expense to Last Look Editorial Services in Stoneham, MA ("Last Look") The author will provide an initial copyedited draft of the manuscript to FOA by September 1, 2014, after which final copyediting will be done "in-house" by the FOA Communications and Outreach Coordinator. A final version of the manuscript will be approved by both FOA and the author by April 30, 2015. Proofreading and indexing of page proofs will be outsourced to Last Look or another mutually-agreed-upon editorial professional. The author will secure the necessary permissions for content and illustrations under copyright protection; a disclaimer freeing FOA of infringement concerns has been drafted by the author's attorneys and been accepted by FOA. FRIENDS OF ACADIA 43 COTTAGE STREET P.O. BOX 45 BAR HARBOR MAINE 04609 207 288 3340 207 288 8938 fax friendsofacadia.org Both FOA and the author will manage the timely completion of this project. It is the intent of both parties that MANP shall be published no later than April 2016. It is also recognized that there are unforeseen circumstances. To that end, prior to publication the author has changed the primary beneficiary of a ten thousand dollar MetLife insurance policy to Friends of Acadia; this should cover copyediting, indexing, and permissions costs that are his responsibility. In good faith we attach our signatures to this dated document. foundH.Epp Ronald H. Epp Dain David R. MacDonald