Objective: Students will take a field trip to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to look at historic artifacts related to environmental movements. The Beinecke Library is open to the public for research and has an extensive catalogue to peruse (link here: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11).
Teaching Plan: Here is a list of potential items to view with students, yet more remains to be discovered. It is important to have some background familiarity with the individuals included in the list. Students are encouraged to use the object analysis framework when looking at the objects (printing out or shortening the Object Analysis Framework would be wise). The compelling question to discuss is “How do individuals convey their values through language, images and materials?”
List of items to potentially view:
- Rachel Carson Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. See: "A Buddhist Tribute to Rachel Carson", May 2, 1964. Call Number: YCAL MSS 46, Series III. Rachel Carson was a major environmental activist of the 1960s and 1970s, writing Silent Spring (1962) which brought attention to the negative effects of pesticide use to the wider public.
- Richard Erdoes Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. See: Posters, [circa 1970s-1980s], Part of Collection — Box: 191, Folder: 1221. Call Number: WA MSS S-2609, Series VIII. Also see: Water rights, environmental issues, 2003-2005. Part of Collection — Box: 271. Call Number: WA MSS S-2609, Series II. Richard Erdoes was an artist and author who advocated for Native American civil rights.
- Paul Kagan Utopian Communities Collection. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. See: The Farm, a Tennessee settlement of nonviolent vegans.
- Jon Lewis Photographs of the United Farm Workers Movement. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Call Number: WA Photos 466. A collection which includes photos documenting the California Grape Strike led by Cesar Chavez in 1966 against pesticide use.
- National Farm Workers Association Artwork And Related Material. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Call Number:WA MSS S-3675 (Oversize).
- Rat subterranean news. Published / Created: 1969-1971. Call Number: 2010 Folio S62. [Vol. 1, no. 1] (Mar. 4, 1968)-[v 3, no. 2] (March 20, [1970]. An underground leftist newspaper; pay attention to pages 37 and 38 for commentary on ecology, ecocide and Earth Day.
