Branching out : the public history of trees / edited by Leah S. Glaser & Philip Levy.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Glaser, Leah S., editor.

Levy, Philip, 1963- editor.

Series:

Public history in historical perspective.

Public history in historical perspective series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forests and forestry--United States--History.

Forests and forestry.

Historic trees--United States.

Historic trees.

Public spaces--United States--History.

Public spaces.

United States--History.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 337 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Public history of trees

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Trees are not just natural resources; they are also cultural ones that present unique challenges and opportunities for public historians and local preservation activities. Trees can serve as important objects of memory, recalling past triumphs or tragedies. They can also be the last living witness to important events or community memories. But they are living entities and therefore defy the kind of preservation applicable to buildings and other inanimate historical objects. Their inherent organic fragility can also create significant problems for historical sites; storm and fire damage, intensified by climate-change, highlight the ways that trees-however historical or beloved-can become considerable threats. The fourteen new, previously unpublished essays in this fascinating volume explore the many ways that trees are an integral part of public history practice and sites. The authors draw on a range of approaches and historiographies to look at how memories of race-based hate, patriotic stories, community identities, and changed places all have centered on trees"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword: Tree Time / Sonja Dümpelmann

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Finding the Forest through the Trees / Leah S. Glaser, Philip Levy

Part One: Trees, Place, and Communities

Chapter One: Arboreal Memories: Recovering Historical Meaning in Neighborhood Trees / Andrew Hurley

Chapter Two: “The Most Useful Tree”: American Chestnut Stories and Species Restoration / Carolyn Barske Crawford

Chapter Three: An Island of Trees Called Old Hickory: History and Place in the Mississippi Delta / Brian Dempsey

Chapter Four: When a Tree Falls: Listening to and Managing Connecticut’s Historic Landscape / Leah S. Glaser

Chapter Five: The Trees of the South Mountain Cultural Landscape / Liz Sargent

Chapter Six: Mormon Women, Mulberry Trees, and Environmental Transformation in the American West / Sasha Coles

Part Two: Trees as Symbols and Interpreted Objects

Chapter Seven: George Washington’s Cherry Tree: Ferry Farm’s Prunus serotina and Historical Placemaking / Philip Levy

Chapter Eight: Sam Robinson’s Sycamore / Mariaelena DiBenigno

Chapter Nine: The Fox Oaks of Flushing, New York: Quaker Pulpit and Bowne Family Shrine / Evan Haefeli

Chapter Ten: Pine Trees and the Legacy of the Shingwauk Site / Krista McCracken

Chapter Eleven: Oaks of Ill Repute: Dark Tourism, Dissonant Heritage, and Savannah’s Hanging Trees / Alena Pirok

Chapter Twelve: Living Memory in Los Angeles: Cornelius Johnson’s 1936 Olympic Oak in Art, History, and Preservation; Christian Kosmas Mayer in Conversation with Alaina Scapicchio / Christian Kosmas Mayer, Alaina Scapicchio

Afterword: Branching Out Further / David Glassberg

Notes

Index Generated by AI.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

1-68575-103-2

OCLC:

1503844534