Prologue: Pieces of History

Although we were greatly amused by the suggestions of dam building, weather predictions, and rodent chili recipes, we eventually decided on Amy’s caption, which  combined the history of the Cilivian Conservation Corps with the Depression and managed to be funny!

Amy, check your email for your code for 15% off in our eStore!

So…are these Rodents of Unusual Size, groundhogs, or guinea pigs? Actually, they’re beavers. The tail of the beaver on the far left is being held up by a man wearing gloves. The caption for this photo reads: “Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho, Salmon National Forest: Camp F-167, ‘CCC boys… ready to transplant Beaver from a ranch location where they were damaging crops to a Forest watershed location where they will help to conserve the water supply…’, ca. 1938.”

(Our own Archivist of the United States just blogged about his start at MIT, a school whose mascot is the beaver: “Nature’s Engineer”!)

There are no animals in this week’s photo…but something strange seems to be in the air. Tell us what’s going on in the comments below!… [ Read all ]

On this day in 1916, the National Park Service was formed within the Department of Interior.

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