"The Evolution of an Acadian Biography" Southbury Public Library. Southbury, CT REPP September 22, 2016 Southbury Public Library Page 4 of 11 Author Talk with Dr. Ronald Epp Thursday, September 22nd at 7pm in the Dr. Ronald Epp will talk about his recently published Kingsley Room biography, Creating Acadia National Park: the Biography of George Bucknam Dorr. A book signing will follow the program. Ronald's biography is the first one ever written about George Bucknam Dorr and is based on extensive research in the United States and abroad, including federal, state and private archives. His book will appeal to anyone who is interested in knowing more about the philanthropic roots of the land conservation movement in the early decades of the 20th Century CREATING ACADIA NATIONAL PARK RONALD and anyone who knows and love Acadia National Park. Ronald is a historian, professor of philosophy, librarian and editor with a background in scholarly publishing and academic library leadership. His research into the Massachusetts families that influenced the development conservation philanthropy has resulted in many talks and publications for Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island Historical Society and many other organizations. He served as a consultant for Ken Burns' documentary America's Best Ideas; the National Parks and uncovered and inventoried hidden collections of documents relating to the history of Acadia National Park. Lincoln Center Local: New York Philharmonic with Yo-Yo Ma This is a pre-recorded screening of the New York Philharmonic with Yo-Yo Ma which was performed at Avery Fisher Hall Friday, September 23rd at 1pm in the on September 25, 2013. Kingsley Room The New York Philharmonic's opening gala concert features music director Alan Gilbert and special guest cello soloist Yo-Yo Ma. The concert features dance-inspired orchestral works, including Azul by Osvaldo Golijov, a cello concerto written for Ma; the world premiere of an arrangement of Astor Piazzolla's La serie del Ángel by Octavio Brunetti, commissioned by http://southburylibrary.org/adult-services/programs/ 9/19/2016 Southbury Public Library Page 4 of 9 Registration is required for all events unless otherwise noted. Please call us at 203-262-0626 ext. 130 or stop by the Reference Desk. Iraq: Creation of Colonialism with Professor Mark British Iraq, Part I Albertson Traces British infiltration into and eventual aggrandizement of this area that will be later known as Iraq. Beginning in 1763 with the British East Tuesday, March India Company, a roster of events will be traced, events which will change 15th from 2-4pm in the Kingsley Room the course of history: The Lansdowne Declaration, 1903; the Damascus Protocol, 1914; the Sykes/Picot Agreement, 1916; the Balfour Declaration, 1917; San Remo Conference, 1920; the Treaty of Sevres, 1920 and the Treaty of Lausanne, 1923. All of which will reveal the sordid and perfidious betrayal of the Arabs by the colonial powers. Beatrix Farrand: Rediscovered Friday, March 18th at 2pm in the Kingsley Room Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) was America's first female landscape architect and a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Though overlooked for decades, her work is being rediscovered. Many of her gardens, such as Bellefield in Hyde Park, NY; Hill-Stead in Farmington, CT and Garland Farm in Bar Harbor, ME, have been restored. This talk is a dramatic, first person presentation of the life, times and work of this distinguished "landscape gardener", presented by Colleen Plimpton. Colleen is a garden author, lecturer, instructor and coach. She is a member of Garden Writers Association, the Federated Garden Clubs of America, and many other groups. Her award-winning one-acre ornamental garden was on numerous tours, and serves as a living classroom laboratory where she teaches gardening classes. Her essays, memoir pieces and feature articles appeared in publications such as Fine Gardening, GreenPrints, Connecticut Gardener and Toastmaster. Her most recent book is a gardening http://southburylibrary.org/adult-services/programs 3/14/2016 The Evolution of an Acadian Biography Southbury Public Library September 22, 2016 Good evening. I'm delighted to be speaking here. I appreciate the most thoughtful efforts of Shirley Thorson in arranging this event. I also wish to thank two Southbury residents, my dear friends Penny and Ralph Holibaugh, for their hospitality during my many trips from Pennsylvania to Maine. But let us begin with a question: by a show of hands, indicate if you have not visited Mount Desert Island, the location of Acadia National Park. Since there are several, a brief lesson in context. MDI is situated in the Gulf of Maine, roughly 200 miles northeast of Boston. Its 110 square miles of soaring landscapes are barely detached from the indented Maine coastline. A short causeway connects the two. Glaciation and the constant power of the Atlantic Ocean produced the most prominent feature of the island: a range of granite mountains extending across its southern half. Seen from above the eastern half of the isle is separated from the western half by a five-mile-long, very deep inlet known as Somes Sound. Warm summer sunshine envelopes the spruce-fir and northern hardwood forests that lie beneath the rugged prominence of Cadillac Mountain, the highest mountain on the eastern seaboard between Newfoundland and Rio de Janeiro. A mobile community of native American hunters, fishers, and gatherers seasonally came to this area before the arrival of 2. Samuel de Champlain in 1604. Despite Old World attempts by the French and English to colonize the area, as late as the beginning of the 19th-century Mount Desert remained remote and inaccessible. Nature writers and artists in the first half of the 19th- century generated popular interest in its dramatic scenic beauty and with railroad expansion after the Civil War, affluent seasonal visitors accustomed to the fineries of Newport and Saratoga traveled north from Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. Two prominent Boston families prove central to our story. Charles and Mary Dorr began raising their family in Jamaica Plain, a Boston suburb. Just prior to the onset of the Civil War this Boston merchant purchased a new elite townhouse being built on Commonwealth Avenue, a real estate benefit of filling in the Back Bay. Several blocks east across the Boston Common resided the Charles W. Eliot family. This son of the former Treasurer of Harvard University and Mayor of Boston, C.W. was a chemistry professor at MIT and Harvard College who would soon occupy-in 1869--the office of President of Harvard College. Inspired by Mount Desert, both families began journeying there and by 1880 each had acquired land and had summer homes erected, the Dorrs in Bar Harbor and the Eliots ten miles southeast in Northeast Harbor. The word spread and soon much of the shoreline and some mountainsides were being developed, the common land being privatized. These early estate owners were known as Rusticators. By the beginning of the 20th-century, summer people began to feel that the cherished landscape was being lost. Harvard's president would step forward and apply the principles that had worked well in Massachusetts to the shores of Maine-the creation of a land trust whereby--through gift and purchase-the most admired raw lands of Mount Desert would be set aside for permanent public use. This was a first step in trying 3. to preserve what had first attracted those from away to the island, those from away who were also in flight from a variety of misfortunes that increasingly afflicted growing cities: unsightly housing, immigrant overcrowding, sanitation threats, industrial processes and their attendant wastes, and the oppressive heat of summer. Where might one escape the restrictive impact of these infirmities? This distinctive place that drew the Dorrs and Eliots prompted visits by my family beginning in 1972. Career development often kept us distant along the Mississippi River, but memory sustained my interest in the origin and early development of Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island. With no family connections to Maine, my wife and I journeyed there annually from southern New England beginning in 1985, each visit compounding our joy at the spectacular landscape and the warmth of those not "from away." Yet as a historian of ideas, local explanations for the origin of the park concept proved elusive and unsatisfying. Folklore was too often mixed with misinformation as I probed deeper in to the stories about the twentieth-century park founders. Regional historical societies, libraries, and the park archives were consulted with increasing vigor. Yet contemporary residents appeared to know little about the lives "off Island" of the nineteenth- century "rusticators" who brought the land trust concept to Mount Desert Island. The keystone figure, George Bucknam Dorr, was rightly lauded but about his origins little was known-and the same was true for Harvard president, Charles W. Eliot. It became clear that my talents would best serve this special place through a thorough analysis of the historical records. Could I uncover sufficient evidence to demonstrate connections between the historically-rich experiences of the founders off the island and their contributions on Mount Desert Island to the founding and initial administration of the park. If I achieved this goal, what they accomplished could be better understood by successive generations. 4. My experience as a university educator, managing editor of an Association of College and Research Libraries serial publication, and academic library administrator were assets for the research challenges ahead. Interviews and archival research at repositories from Maine to California yielded findings reported over the last decade in a dozen published articles and presentations. I also recognized that the 1916 centennial of the establishment of the National Park Service and Acadia National Park would generate national and local celebrations that would spirit my completion of Dorr's biography since it was clear now that the story of the development of the park and the establishment of the National Park Service-realized within seven weeks of one another-would be intertwined within my book. Moreover, since conservation histories made light of Acadia National Park, I would have to conceptually situate the importance of this federalized land trust movement within the history of New England conservation history. What began as an inquiry that would answer my initial questions soon became organized thematically-as the questions, methods, and findings were grouped into public talks and subsequent publications. Roughly three years into my research it became clear that both the depth and range of my research and findings would support the writing of Dorr's biography which would include his associates on MDI as well as those in Washington DC who lobbied for the establishment of a National Patk Service within the Department of the Interior. 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. There is a well-known descriptor for the three-fold union of philanthropist Rockefeller, educator Eliot, and park creator Dorr: "The Acadian Trimvirate." For it is only through their relationships with one another that Acadia National Park come into being. The Sawtelle Research Center at Acadia National Park, the National Archives, the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society were the key archives for Dorr; Harvard University Archives provides the bulk of documentation for Dr. Eliot; and the Rockefeller Archive Center in Tarrytown served the philanthropist well. 5 Supplementing this institutional foundation, dozens of interviews were completed with Rockefeller and Eliot family members as well as others whose thoughts would bear on the themes of this biography. Let me be emphatically clear on this matter. Mr. Dorr's environmental legacy was a tabula rasa, a largely blank slate. With one exception (e.g., Harvard senior year forecasting note), none of his writings prior to his fortieth year survive. Without a first hand account of his college years, what might I say. Through comparison of surviving documents of his classmates I located at the Crane Estate in Ipswich The Trustees manuscripts of Francis Randall Appleton, who entered Harvard the year after Dorr. Following a family tradition, he documented the most minute details of daily life (as would JDR Jr.) -and cautious extrapolations to Dorr were now defensible. Dorr was almost entirely ignored by both academics and popularizers. Two book-length publications in the years immediately after his death in 1944 relied heavily on anecdotal sources and treated as a character in a larger drama; a contemporary historian rightly placed Dorr within the context of his relationships with Dr. Eliot and Mr. Rockefeller but myopically saw the Acadia story as a class struggle issue. Dorr's memorabilia in a fragmented state went unprocessed and subsequently ignored in the Bar Harbor Historical Society. No graduate student was encouraged to pursue Dorr as a subject worthy of a thesis or dissertation. Only one interview was ever undertaken; subsequently published in a little read serial, Maine Highways, its author, B. Morton Havey, argues that "this man [should] receive the fullest credit for his accomplishment. However, Mr. Dorr throughout the interview did "not feel it necessary or expedient to associate his own personality with Acadia National Park." Dorr was highly adept at "courteously, but efficiently, [avoiding] my 6 direct questioning." Only as recently as the 1990's did NPS historian Richard Quin publish an account of Dorr's contributions to the Park (i.e. ANP Roads and Bridges, 1994-1997). Compounding the problem was the communication gap between Cambridge and Mount Desert. As the late Harvard theologian, the Rev. Peter Gomes, pointed out in 2007: to this day many Mount Desert residents know little about Harvard's president Eliot; likewise, "few Harvard people know much about the Mount desert Eliot." ("The Preservation Legacy of Charles William Eliot") Residents and island visitors will quickly credit much to Mr. Rockefeller, neglecting the earlier and more formative contributions of Dorr and Eliot. Cynics might explain this paucity of research by claiming that Dorr's achievements did not warrant more than what had been entered into the published records. A few days, however, in College Park Maryland at the National Archives will correct this misperception. Tens of thousands of NPS official documents relative to Acadia National Park detail the park's first three decades, place Dorr's achievements within the context of NPS policies and the larger political climate, and offer abundant evidence of the conservation principles guiding Dorr's governance. Most fascinating are hundreds of monthly superintendent reports submitted by Dorr to the NPS, each containing insights into Dorr's intentions and behavior-exactly what I had been looking for! The "Father of Acadia" became more interesting because of his humanity is so abundantly revealed in the surviving primary sources. As I began this inquiry with solely the thought of resolving troubling questions about the origins of the park and the character of its founders, it became increasingly clear that a thoughtful inquiry into the cultural influences of Dorr's era would 7 help scholars and the public better understand the emerging conservation values of the 20th century. My experience as a philosopher teaching environmental ethics certainly brought me in touch with the major thinkers. But what I found lacking was attention to the conservation efforts of New Englanders-with only passing references to David Thoreau and George Perkins Marsh who argued that "Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of natured are turned to discord." The historical facts that I uncovered in archival records contributed to my appreciation for the distinctive New England approach to land conservation, one unlike other regions of America. These themes so well-articulated by Charles H.W. Foster are (1) a commitment to self-determination, (2) emphasis on innovation, (3) a reliance on individual leadership "as a first resort," (4) a strong investment in place, (5) a long history of civic engagement, and lastly, (6) deep ethical concerns for the environment (20th-Century New England Land Conservation, HUP, 2009). I began by asking whether the seeds of his conservation ethic were nourished through his familiarity with the generational histories of his family tree? Was his Harvard education in the liberal arts the basis of the strong aesthetic language that runs through nearly every paragraph of his writing. Who were the key Bar Harbor and MDI acquaintances, friends, and foes who influenced and shared in his decision-making? Did Dorr's interactions with the "cottagers"-J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, the Vanderbilts, the Carnegies, the Astors-contribute to the development of his conservation ethos? Why did someone so well connected not cultivate opportunities for commercial or political success beyond the shoreline of Maine? How did Mr. 8 Dorr's later blindness both thwart and motivate his earnest efforts to foster public awareness of ANP's natural resources? What qualities enabled Dorr to achieve success in the inner circles of Washington politics? Historical societies, museums, and libraries continue to be repositories of the archival materials germane to these types of questions. As I continued by research and writing I was repeatedly impressed by new online references that would have made my inquiry more efficient and accurate if only they had been available earlier in the process (e.g., Massachusetts Horticultural Society Proceedings). Moreover, the scope of research is necessarily connected to what the researcher knows at a given moment. That is, one often examines a range of archival documents based on what you believe at that time to be relevant (e.g. The Ward Family Papers at MHS). Quite unlike the Gilded Age of Mr. Dorr, we live in a culture where nearly everything is conveniently delivered to meet our needs. There seems to be a telecommunication or postal solution for any commodity that is sought. However, most of the documents and images that I require will not be mailed or transmitted to me electronically. The researcher must visit the archival repository to access the resource. Why? The risk of loss is too great, the materials too fragile, the surviving copies too few in number to risk the security provided by their "final resting place." The economics of digitization will not make inroads into these geographically restrictive resources. To access books, photographs, postcards, deeds, sound recordings, moving images, and other cultural artifacts requires legwork--not keystrokes-- to travel to where these "treasures" are stored. 9. Let us not presume that the historic record is complete. Presently I am involved in tracking down five publications that Dorr edited and authored as part of the 23 publications that form the series of Sieur de Monts Publications which Dorr edited. There are only ten repositories worldwide where this series has been cataloged. No library has a complete run. The missing publications may be in a personal collection or uncataloged in the vaults of a historical society--or surprisingly, in an attorney's office files. Often it is only through personal contact and the cultivation of trust that will result in the disclosure of an intellectual resource. Briefly, two examples come to mind, opportunities to dramatically add to the historical record that occurred after I had completed the Creating Acadia National Park. Pursuit of George Dorr yields poignant moments that may not be disclosed in the biography that I am developing-but may interest be of interest to this audience. The delight in discovering at the National Archives, two mangled pieces of cardboard enveloping more than a dozen black and white eight by ten inch photographs of the exterior and interior of Old Farm prior to its demolition. These misfiled images are nowhere acknowledged in the historical record. They offer us a rare-and possibly unique-view into the private physical space that he could no longer visually appreciate. The manuscripts attest to the fact that Dorr's script gradually increased in size as his blindness progressed- - until fewer than a dozen words would fill an entire page. For those of us who access such original documents there is no comparable alternative. Neither microfilm nor a digital copy can hold a candle to the experience of paging though manuscripts that may have last been held by the author. At a time when much written communication is created and deleted within minutes, the kind of legacy left to us by John and Abigale Adams is increasingly rare. Whether they be Dorr's letters requesting books from the Old Globe Bookstore in Boston or a letter to President Roosevelt, 10. touching the original is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying. Southbury_talk_9.16 3/21/2016 XFINITY Connect XFINITY Connect eppster2@comcast.net + Font Size = RE: Southbury Public Library Talk From : Shirley Thorson Mon, Mar 21, 2016 04:37 PM Subject : RE: Southbury Public Library Talk To : 'Ronald Epp' Cc : 'Ralph Holibaugh' , 'Katherine Mostacero" , 'Emily Oumano' Dear Dr. Epp, I have been delayed in responding to you. The library has the evenings of Tuesday, September 20 and Thursday September 22 open for programs. Does that work at all with your schedule? I also want to work with Leslie Kane at Audubon as well. Best regards, Shirley Shirley Thorson Head Librarian Southbury Public Library 100 Poverty Rd. Southbury, CT 06488 203-262-0626 ext. 140 www.southburylibrary.org E-mail correspondence is maintained in accordance with applicable provisions of State law and may be considered public records. Public disclosure of your communication may be required. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify your system manager or delete the email immediately. From: Ronald Epp [mailto:eppster2@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 5:07 PM To: Shirley Thorson Cc: Ralph Holibaugh Subject: Re: Southbury Public Library Talk Dear Shirley, Thank you for your speedy reply. I am pleased to hear of your interest in the program. Since there are issues of program room conflicts and staffing in the many dates I suggested, let me follow your lead and ask what dates are presently open in September? I'm currently scheduling talks that month and think it best to determine what dates are feasible now rather than later. I assume that July is full. https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=360189&tz=America/New_York&xim=1 1/4 10/6/2016 XFINITY Connect XFINITY Connect eppster2@comcast.net + Font Size RE: IMPORTANT RE: Southbury Public Library Talk (Epp) From : Shirley Thorson Thu, Oct 06, 2016 04:01 PM Subject : RE: IMPORTANT RE: Southbury Public Library Talk (Epp) To : 'Ronald Epp' Dear Ron, I am sorry about not thanking you before you thanked me! I am so pleased that your tour went well. We thoroughly enjoyed your talk. I especially enjoyed hearing you speak about your investigative process. I started out as a Reference Librarian many years ago. I wish you the best with your future book talks. Warmest regards, Shirley Shirley Thorson Head Librarian Southbury Public Library 100 Poverty Rd. Southbury, CT 06488 203-262-0626 ext. 140 www.southburylibrary.org E-mail correspondence is maintained in accordance with applicable provisions of State law and may be considered public records. Public disclosure of your communication may be required. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify your system manager or delete the email immediately. From: Ronald Epp [mailto:eppster2@comcast.net] Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2016 3:52 PM To: Thorson, Shirley Subject: Re: IMPORTANT RE: Southbury Public Library Talk (Epp) Dear Shirley, I arrived home on Thursday after a nine-day book tour that took me on to Buffalo where my talk at the Theodore Roosevelt National Historic Inaugural site went over very well for the "progressive" audience. https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=391803&tz=America/New_York&xim= 1/11