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Story Bibliography
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Pennsylvanians and the Environment Bibliography
Further Reading

Black, Brian. Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom: Creating the North American Landscape. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

A rich history of the economic, social, and environmental transformations in Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek Valley during America’s first oil boom in the 1860s and 1870s. 

Black, Brian and Michael Chiarappa, ed.. Nature’s Entrepôt: Philadelphia’s Urban Sphere and Its Environmental Thresholds . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012.

This fascinating anthology includes 13 chapters, each written by a different author, on subjects related to the environmental history of Philadelphia.

Braun, Maurice. Hawks Aloft: The Story of Hawk Mountain. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000.

In this personal account, Broun tells the history of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the world's first refuge for birds of prey, and the struggles that he faced and discoveries he made as the Santuary’s first curator from 1934 to 1966.

Brooks, Paul. The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Brooks was Carson's editor, and his account is more personal than strictly historical, but it provides a unique overview of Carson's personal life.

Cahalan, James M. Edward Abbey: A Life. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2002.

A useful biography of one of the nation's most eloquent defenders of the American wilderness.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

This groundbreaking work alerted the public to the dangers of chemical insecticides and helped launch the modern environmental movement.

Clepper, Henry. "Forest Conservation in Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania History:48 (1981): 42-50.

This article offers a good, readable summary of the early conservation movement in Pennsylvania.

Cuff, David J. Atlas of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1989.

A terrific overview of the state, its natural resources, and its environmental history. Filled with large maps and useful charts and graphs.

De Coster, Lester A. The Legacy of Penn's Woods: A History of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, 1995.

A brief, but excellent, introduction to the history of Pennsylvania's forests and state efforts to conserve and restore them.

Fox, Stephen. The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and his Legacy. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.

Fox offers a good summary of the American conservation and preservation movements.

Frederick, Kenneth and Robert Sedjo, ed.. America's Renewable Resources: Historical Trends and Current Challenges. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 1991.

A comprehensive and detailed overview of the nation's natural renewable resources.

French, John C. The Passenger Pigeon in Pennsylvania. Altoona, Pa.: Altoona Tribune Co., 1919.

Available online: http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/books/1916pig1.htm. Fascinating range of materials on the passenger pigeon in Pennsylvania, including first hand accounts by hunters.

Frome, Michael. Battle for the Wilderness. New York: Praeger, 1974.

Frome provides an in-depth look at the battle to preserve wilderness areas from the early days of the conservation movement to the passage of the Wildlife Preservation Act in 1964.

Gerstell, Richard. American Shad in the Susquehanna River Basin. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 1998.

This very readable history of shad on the Susquehanna includes documents, photographs, and loads of useful information.

Hardy III, Charles. "Using the Environmental History of the Commonwealth to Enhance Pennsylvania and U.S. History Courses." Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 79:4 (Autumn 2012): 473-494.

An excellent introduction to Pennsylvania's environmental history and on how to use it to enchance student interest in and understanding of the history of the state and the nation.

Kastner, Joseph. A Species of Eternity. New York: Knopf, 1977.

Superb history of America's early botanists, including chapters on John and William Bartram, John James Audubon, and Charles Wilson Peale and his museum.

Kosack, Joe. The Pennsylvania Game Commission, 1895-1995: 100 Years of Wildlife Conservation. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Game Commission, 1995.

Useful, detailed account of state wildlife conservation efforts.

Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1997.

A lengthy and detailed biography.

McCullough, David. The Johnstown Flood. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.

A well-researched and well-written account of the great Johnstown Flood of 1889.

Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the Making of a Modern Environmentalist. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001.

A careful study of Pinchot's environmental ideas.

Sajna, Mike. Days on the Water: The Angling Tradition in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999.

Here, journalist Sadja provides an engaging history of sport fishing in Pennsylvania.

Sajna, Mike and Jim Schafer. The Allegheny River: Watershed of the Nation. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 1992.

Illustrated with many color photographs, this book provides an informative guide to the Allegheny River.

Sajna, Mike. Buck Fever: The Deer Hunting Tradition in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990.

Engaging history of deer and elk hunting in Pennsylvania that intermixes author's own hunting experiences with a well-researched history.

Schulz, Jr., William F. Conservation Law and Administration: A Case Study of Land and Resource Use in Pennsylvania. New York: Ronald Press, 1953.

In this comprehensive guide to legal changes in the state, Schulz provides a good history of several key legislative battles.

Sheppard, Muriel Earley. Cloud by Day: The Story of Coal and Coke People. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1947.

An engaging history of the lives and labor struggles of the people who worked in the Connellsville coke industry.

Shoemaker, Henry W. Pennsylvania Deer and their Horns. Reading, PA: Faust Publishing Co., 1915.

A fascinating history of deer and elk hunting in Pennsylvania written when deer were few in number and the memories of the great deer hunters of nineteenth century were still very much alive.

Smith, Thomas. John Saylor and the Preservation of America's Wilderness. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006.

Excellent biography of Johnstown Congressman John Saylor, one of the driving forces behind critical environmental legislation in the second half of the twentieth century.

Snyder, Lynne Page. "The Death-Dealing Smog over Donora, Pennsylvania: Industrial Air Polution, Public Health Policy, and the Politics of Expertise, 1948-1949." Environmental History Review (Spring 1994): 117-139.

Good introduction to the Donora smog, drawn from Snyder's Ph.D. dissertation on the same subject.

Stradling, David. Smokestacks and Progressives: Environmentalists, Engineers, and Air Quality, 1881-1951. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Excellent history of efforts to control air pollution in the United States.

Stranahan, Susan Q. Susquehanna: River of Dreams. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Terrific, comprehensive environmental history of the Susquehanna River.

Streshinsky, Shirley. Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness. New York: Villard Books, 1993.

Excellent recent biography of Audubon that includes a good deal on how his interest in ornithology developed during his residence at Mill Grove.

Stutz, Bruce. Natural Lives, Modern Times: People and Places of the Delaware River. New York: Crown Publishers, 1992.

An engaging environmental history of the Delaware River and Bay.

Tarr, Joel A, ed.. "Special Issue: The Pennsylvania Environment." Pennsylvania History 66:4 (Autumn 1999).

This special issue on the history of the Pennsylvania environment contains articles on John P. Saylor and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, shad and water pollution in the Delaware River, the Izaak Walton League, the crusade for federal water pollution laws, and more.

Tarr, Joel A, ed.. Devastation and Renewal: An Environmental History of Pittsburgh and Its Region. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.

This environmental history of Pittsburgh includes chapters on the city's natural and built environments, water and air pollution and abatement, acid mine drainage and slag heaps, the Donora air pollution disaster of 1948, and more.

Thorpe, R. R. The Crown Jewel of Pennsylvania: The State Forest System. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, 1997.

A brief history of the state forest system, followed by histories of each of Pennsylvania's 20 state forests.

Tome, Philip. Pioneer Life, or Thirty Years a Hunter. Harrisburg, PA: Aurand, 1928.

One of Pennsylvania's greatest hunters recounts his adventures in the woods.


Web Guide

“Philly H20: The History of Philadelphia's Watersheds and Sewers,” http://www.phillyh2o.org/

A wide range of written records and reports, paintings, drawings, maps, plans, photographs, surveys, and other materials documenting the history of Philadelphia’s water and water and sewer systems from the colonial era into the 20th century. 

Abbey's Web http://www.abbeyweb.net/

Contains extensive information on Abbey, mostly from a fan's perspective.

Library of Congress, "The Evolution of the Conservation Movement" http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/

Educational material, timeline and links to further information.

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/

Terrific site with sections for the State Bureau of Forests. Pennsylvania Scenic Rivers, State parks and natural areas, the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory, the state Biological Inventory, a history of the CCC in Pennsylvania and more.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/dep_home/5968...

Large website with great deal of material, including on-line educational materials and a timeline of the state's environmental laws from 1905-2000.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission http://www.fish.state.pa.us

Large site that includes reports on shad, trout streams, state records for largest fish and a host of other materials.

Pennsylvania's Environmental Heritage http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/environmental...

Website includes excellent short biographies of environmental leaders, a timeline of state environmental history and more.

RachelCarson.org http://www.rachelcarson.org

A website devoted to the life and legacy of Rachel Carson.

University of California, "Environmental History on the Internet" http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/eh-internet.html...

Key feature is a list of links to other environmental history sources.

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