About This Website

This website showcases themes and material available for further exploration in the John S. Apperson Jr. Papers and the Paul Schaefer Collection held at the Adirondack Research Library of the Kelly Adirondack Center at Union College in Schenectady, New York. The materials in these collections provide unique insights into 20th century citizen activism, grassroots environmental campaigns, daily life, and outdoor recreation in the Adirondack region of New York State. The materials were organized, selected for digitization, and cataloged during a two-year project at Union College, Grass Roots Activism and the American Wilderness: Pioneers in the Twentieth Century Adirondack Park Conservation Movement, which was funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Cataloging Hidden Collections program.

All images and resources used for the production of this website were drawn from the collections held at the Adirondack Research Library. Only a small portion of the materials available for study are exhibited here. The selected images and accompanying essays are intended to suggest the rich possibilities for research among the full range of the Apperson and Schaefer collections. Detailed Finding Aids for the two collections and a Digital Catalog of some 500 items that have been posted online via the New York Heritage website can be accessed through the links above.