The Conservation Movement
Between 1850 and 1920, concern for the natural world emerged as a complex and broadly popular political and cultural movement in the United States. Newly urbanized Americans were becomingly increasingly aware of the importance of nature as an economic, aesthetic, and spiritual resource, especially as they became convinced that nature's resources were imperiled by industrialization. This movement led to unprecedented public and private initiatives to ensure the conservation of natural resources and the preservation of wildlife and of land. By the turn of the twentieth century, Wisconsin had become a center of conservation thinking and activity in the United States.... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
| Recollections of John Muir in Prairie du Chien, 1860-61. |
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| Madison boasts the nation's first fish hatchery |
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| Increase Lapham surveys Wisconsin's trees, 1858 |
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| The CCC tackles forest fires in Northern Wisconsin, 1934 |
| A Guide to CCC Camps in Wisconsin, 1937 |
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| Wisconsin's earliest forest conservation plea, 1867 |
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| The Forestry Commission urges the creation of a state forest system, 1898
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| Constitution of the Wisconsin Game Protective Association, 1900 |
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| A Lake Geneva home becomes a refuge for native plants and birds |
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| John Nolen drafts a plan for a state park system in 1909 |
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| A conservation education camp opens in Eagle River |
| The Killing of Chief Joe White (Gishkitawag), 1894 |
| Pictures of John Muir |
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| Increase Lapham examining a meteorite, ca. 1868 |
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| Pictures of the cutover lands in northern Wisconsin |
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| Birdseye view of the first Wisconsin Fish Hatchery |
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| Smokey Bear visits Milwaukee in 1954 |
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| A CCC recruitment poster, 1939 |
| John Muir's younger brother recalls their boyhood. |
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| A visit to John Muir in his dorm room, ca. 1862. |
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| 30 original manuscript letters of John Muir, 1861-1914 |
Primary Sources Available Elsewhere
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| La Crosse citizens unite to save Grandad Bluff |
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| Aldo Leopold evaluates compulsory conservation education, 1937 |
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| Wisconsin Blue Books |
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| John Nolen outlines the La Crosse park system in 1911 |
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| John Muir's letters to his Wisconsin mentor |
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| Excerpt from the first conservation textbook, 1910 |
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| John Muir describes his youth and early scientific curiosity |
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| The first textbook on conservation in the United States, 1910 |
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| Art work of the Mississippi Valley in 1899 |
Related Links
 Discover classroom resources available from our Office of School Services
Search our catalogs for materials on this topic that aren't yet available online.
Borrow books about this topic through our interlibrary loan service
Borrow manuscripts about this topic through our Area Research Center network.
Learn about other topics from our new book, Wisconsin History Highlights
A history of Wisconsin's State Parks
All John Muir's books online, from the Sierra Club
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