Collection Database

Search the U.S. Forest Service History Collection Database

Forest Service historian David Clary began organizing this collection in the Washington Office in 1976. Forest Service staff used the collection for reference purposes until 1998, when the Washington Office transferred the Headquarters History Collection to the Forest History Society in Durham, North Carolina. Materials are continuing to be added from a variety of sources.

The Forest History Society is taking the lead in a partnership project to inventory, care for, and respond to questions based on the collection. This database encompasses the 5400 published items and manuscript files cataloged to date.

The collection is useful for researchers and Forest Service employees interested in the administrative history of the agency and the broader histories of forestry, conservation, and land use. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, legislation, books, periodicals, articles, pamphlets, oral histories, and photographs. The collection is not comprehensive and should be used in conjunction with materials at the National Archives, federal records centers, and other libraries.

Search the U.S. Forest Service History Collection Database

List of subject headings (Note: This document is approximately 53 pages long (123K).)

Biographical index -- list of over 2000 names of Forest Service personnel and others involved in forestry for whom information is available.