Current Research Project
In Progress
My current research explores the circulation and presentation of moving pictures within the context of environmental conservation initiatives in the United States from the late 1920s to the early 1940s.
But rather than analyzing films made to advocate for and promote conservation, this research examines the film distribution and exhibition infrastructure created to supply and screen films for conservation workers themselves as well as for the general public.
Specifically, my goal is to map and reconstruct the emplacement and use of moving pictures in nearly 3,000 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work relief camps as well as in thousands of nontheatrical traveling film shows presented by state and federal Forest Service agencies in concert with local sponsors.
Both initiatives were distinguished by their efforts to use film to seed conservation messages in the minds of audiences thought most in need of them, such as young CCC men recruited from cities with little experience of forests and wildlife, or rural populations in socially marginalized and/or geographically remote locations with limited access to electricity and education.
Gallery of a few images from the upcoming project that explores the CCC’s film distribution and exhibition efforts.
