Inventory of the Thomas Harvey Gill Papers, 1912 - 1972
What is this document?
This document, which is called a "finding aid," describes an archival collection.
In the course of daily life, individuals, families, organizations, and businesses create and keep information about their
activities. When such records are no longer needed on a day-to-day basis, a portion judged to possess enduring historical
value may be preserved and maintained as archival collections. Archival records take many forms, including correspondence,
diaries, financial and legal documents, photographs, and sound recordings. Archival materials may also include maps, scientific
data, artifacts, and electronic records such as emails or databases.
Prepared by archival staff, finding aids provide a history of the person or organization that produced the collection, an
overview of the collection, and a detailed list of the collection's contents.
Finding aids are used by researchers to determine whether materials within a collection may be relevant to their research.
While not exhaustive, finding aids help researchers identify the particular boxes or folders that may hold items of interest.
Descriptive Summary
| Abstract: |
Thomas Harvey Gill (1891-1972) was a leader in international and American forestry and prolific author. Gill served as a forester
with the U.S. Forest Service (1915-1925), the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation (1926-1960), and the Food and Agriculture
Organization and was a founder of the International Society of Tropical Foresters.
|
| |
The collection includes personal and professional correspondence; published and draft articles; photographs; printed materials,
including books; excerpts from travel diaries (1924-1929); directors' minutes of the Charles Lathrop Pack Forest Education
Board (1930-1940). Among the prominent correspondents are Ralph S. Hosmer, Adalbert Ebner, Randolph G. Pack, Arthur N. Pack,
the Tropical Plant Research Foundation, Gifford Pinchot, Carl Alwin Schenck, and Ferdinand A. Silcox.
|
| Title: |
Thomas Harvey Gill Papers, 1912 - 1972 |
| Creator: |
Gill, Thomas, 1891-1972 |
| Repository: |
Forest History Society Library and Archives |
| Call Number: |
3311 |
| Language of Material: |
Material in English |
| Extent: |
6 linear feet
(11 archival boxes)
|
Biographical Note
Thomas Harvey Gill (1891-1972) was a leader in international and American forestry and prolific author. Gill served as a forester
with the U.S. Forest Service (1915-1925), the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation (1926-1960), and the Food and Agriculture
Organization and was a founder of the International Society of Tropical Foresters.
Tom Gill was born in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1913 from the University of Pennsylvania with a major
in languages. Throughout his life, Gill developed proficiency in Spanish, French, and German in addition to his native English.
In 1915, Gill graduated from Yale University with the degree Master of Forestry. Following graduation, he went to work for
the U.S. Forest Service as a forest ranger in Fort Collins, Colorado. During World War I, Gill served as a a pilot and instructor
in the Army Air Service. After WWI, he returned to the Forest Service as forest supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest
at Deadwood, South Dakota.
In 1922, Gill transferred to Washington, D.C., where he was in charge of information for the Branch of Public Relations. In
January of 1925, the American Forestry Association, Washington, D.C. appointed him associate editor of American Forests and Forest Life. A year later he became executive director and foresters of the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation in Washington, D.C.,
a position he held until the Foundation's liquidation in 1960.
Tom Gill authored many popular and academic works. His fiction centered on stories of adventure involving cowboys, forest
rangers, and frontier characters. His 12 books of fiction included Guardians of the Desert, Death Rides the Mesa, North to Danger, The Gay Bandit of the Border, and No Place for Women.
In addition to his fiction, Gill wrote numerous short stories and serials which were published in leading magazines of the
day, such as Saturday Evening Post, American Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and Reader's Digest. Several of his novels were made into movies.
Gill authored numerous articles on forestry and natural resources. His books include Forests and Mankind, 1930 (co-author with Charles Lathrop Pack); the widely distributed Forest Facts for Schools; a definitive work titled Tropical Forests of the Caribbean, 1931; and The Forestry Directory (coeditor), 1943. In 1951, Gill wrote Land Hunger in Mexico.
Tom Gill was one of the leading drafters of the report establishing the forestry division of the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations. He established, financed, and directed the activities of the International Society of Tropical
Foresters as its president and founder. He served as executice director of International Union of Societies of Forestries.
In 1954, Gill won the Sir William Schlich Memorial Medal in 1954, and he participated in the first six World Forestry Congresses.
Among his other awards, Gill received the Bernhard E. Fernow Award by the American Forestry Association; Distinguished Service
Cross of Germany; France's Chevalier, Merite Agricole; and the Merito Civico Forestal of Mexico.
Tom Gill died in 1972.
Collection Overview
The collection includes personal and professional correspondence; published and draft articles; photographs; printed materials,
including books; excerpts from travel diaries (1924-1929); directors' minutes of the Charles Lathrop Pack Forest Education
Board (1930-1940). Among the prominent correspondents are Ralph S. Hosmer, Adalbert Ebner, Randolph G. Pack, Arthur N. Pack,
the Tropical Plant Research Foundation, Gifford Pinchot, Carl Alwin Schenck, and Ferdinand A. Silcox.
Collection Arrangement
Where possible, original folder titles have been retained.
1. Correspondence, Travel Diaries, Meeting Minutes, Publications, and Printed Materials, 1912-1972
Subject Headings
- Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation
- Ebner, Adalbert
- Gill, Thomas Harvey, (1891-1972)
- Hosmer, Ralph S. (Ralph Sheldon), 1874-1963
- Journal of forest history.
- Pack, Randolph G.
- Pack, Charles Lathrop, 1857-1937
- Pinchot, Gifford
- Silcox, F. A. (Ferdinand Augustus), 1882-1939
- Tropical Plant Research Foundation
- United States. Forest Service
Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Correspondence, Travel Diaries, Meeting Minutes, Publications, and Printed Materials, 1912-1972.
Box 1Excerpts from Tom Gill's Diaries, 1925-1961
Includes accounts of various trips made while Tom Gill was a forester for the Pack Foundation and later the Tropical Plant
Research Foundation.
Box 1Personal: Agents
Box 1Personal: American Magazine, 1941-1959
Box 1Personal: Saturday Evening Post Correspondence, 1942-1945
Box 1Duke Tropical Symposium: Background Material, Papers, Etc., April 21-26, 1965
Box 1Pesticide Committee: Article on Spraying Operations, 1961
Includes correspondence, memoranda, and photographs of aerial pesticide spraying and ground operations and of a Caribou trip.
Box 1Pack Foundation: Article, Miscellaneous Material, 1929-1960
Box 1American Magazine, 1932-1940
Box 1Society of American Foresters: General Correspondence, 1940-1971
Box 1Pack Foundation, 1948-1968
Box 2Correspondence: G. P. Putnum's & Sons, 1940-1959
Box 2Correspondence: Curis Brown, 1930-1938
Box 2Correspondence: Farrar & Riinhart, Inc., 1931-1939
Box 2Correspondence: Cosmopolitan Magazine: Correspondence, 1932-1936
Box 2Correspondence: R. L. Giffen, 1932-1937
Box 2Correspondence: Venezeula, 1952-1957
Box 2National Academy of Sciences Tropical Forestry Committee: Background Material and General Correspondence,
Box 2National Academy of Sciences Tropical Forestry Committee: Committee Members and Correspondence with Foundations
Box 2Freedom from Hunger Foundation: Membership and General Correspondence
Box 3Japan: Travel Orders, 1951 Mission, Legislative Booklet, and Other Materials
Box 3Correspondence: Ralph S. Hosmer
Box 3Sir Herbert Howard, ISTF
Box 3Duke Tropical Symposium: Correspondence
Box 3University of Florida Subcommittee
Box 3United Nations Conference, Geneva, February 1963: Information and Correspondence
Box 3Reference Material
Box 4Lantern Slide Labeled "T. A. Gill on Mt. Evans Road. Pike National Forest, Colorado. (Taken by H. N. Wheeler - 1923)"
Box 4Tropical Plant Research Foundation: General Correspondence, 1928-1942
Box 4Arthur N. Pack: Correspondence, 1928-1940
Box 4Randolph G. Pack, 1952-1956
Box 4Dr. Adalbert Ebner: Correspondence, 1950-1967
Box 4Pack Foundation, American Tree Association: Articles of Incorporation, Social Security and Taxes, and Old Security Lists,
1932-1963
Box 5Commonwealth Forestry Institute Library, University of Oxford, 1962-1967
Box 5Arthur N. Pack: Correspondence, 1957-1961
Box 5Randolph G. Pack, 1954-1955
Box 5Pack Foundation: Secretary's Annual Reports, Tom Gill, 1958-1961 and undated
Box 5Pack Foundation: Jim O'Hearn, 1957-1964
Box 5H. R. Josephson: Application for Fellowship in Forestry (1937-1938), 1937-1941
Box 5Charles Lanthrop Pack Forestry Foundation, 1934-1971
Box 6Loose Materials
Includes correspondence and draft of "An Evaluation of the Effects of Fire on Watershed Values of Ponderosa Pine and Chaparral Lands of the Salt River Watershed."
Box 6Excerpt from Diaries Made During Trips of Tom Gill and Other Materials, 1924-1961
Box 6Correspondence: National Conservation Memorial Commission, 1956
Box 6Tropical Forests of the Carribean, 1931-1954
Box 6Oberlander Trust, 1942
Box 6"Virgin Islands National Park" by Tom Gill and Related Correspondence, 1964-1965
Box 6Forest History Society, 1952-1972
Box 6Correspondence with Persons Who Have Died, 1932-1933 and undated
Box 7Publications (Loose)
Box 7American Forestry Association, 1961-1971
Box 7American Forestry Association: Fernow Award Committee, 1970
Box 7Manuscripts: "Thirsty Wonderlands"
Box 7Comments Regarding Land Hunger in Mexico and Other Writings, 1951-1952
Box 7American Forestry Association: Forest History Committee, 1971-1972
Box 7Certificate of Nomination as Society of American Foresters Fellow
Box 8Miscellaneous Articles by Tom Gill, 1936-1966
Box 8Speeches, Radio Talks, Etc. by Tom Gill
Box 8Timber Conservation Board
Box 8Correspondence: Hugh M. Curran, 1950-1952
Box 8Correspondence: Franz Heske, 1937
Box 8Correspondence: Ward Shepard, 1934-1946
Box 8Correspondence: W. I. Hutchinson, 1950
Box 8Correspondence: Gifford Pinchot and Cornelia Bryce Pinchot, 1945-1953
Box 8Correspondence: Carl A. Schenck, 1939-1950
Box 8Correspondence: Ferdinand A. Silcox, 1934-1947
Box 8Correspondence: Professor E. P. Stebbing, 1946-1952
Box 8Correspondence: Egon Glesinger, 1941-1955
Box 8Charles Lanthrop Pack Forestry Fellowship Fund, undated
Box 9Loose Materials, 1972 and undated
Includes photographs, negatives, excerpts from Tom Gill's diaries (see elsewhere in the collection), and an news release/obituatry
issued on the occassion of Tom Gill's death.
Box 9Correspondence, Contract, and Other Materials Related to Book Publication, 1938-1946
Box 9Loose Materials, 1952-1968
Includes correspondence and related materials concerning Arthur C. Ringland, A. J. Riker, and Lawrence Rakestraw.
Box 9Confidential Papers, 1949-1954
Box 9Reprints from Journal of Forestry
Box 9"Forestry Proposals for the Philippines" by Tom Gill
Box 9Dead File - Publishers
Box 9Forestry in Japan
Box 9Tribes and Temples
Box 9Miscellaneous Papers
Box 9Head Shots of Tom Gill
Box 9Photographs in which Tom Gill Appears, 1924
Box 9Assorted Photographs, 1912-1967
Includes U.S. Forest Service photographs and others featuring foresters, rangers, Smokey Bear cub, and a smoke jumper.
Box 9Assorted Photographs and Portraits of Tom Gill, 1936-1963 and earlier (undated)
Box 9Charles Lanthrop Pack Forest Education Board, 1930-1940
Box 10Daily Journals, 1915-1916
Box 10Enlistment, Discharge, and Other Military Papers, 1917-1945
Box 10Loose Papers
Box 10Society of American Foresters: 60th Anniversary Banquet
Box 10Awards: German Federal Cross of Merit and Sir William Memorial Medal, 1954-1961
Box 10Society of American Foresters: Notes for Chapter on America and World Forestry for the First 60 Years
Box 10State Forestry Suverys: General, 1944-1953
Box 10Vivian Gill: Certificate of Merit, American Theatre Wing War Service, Inc., Stage Door Canteen of Washington
Box 11Tom Gill Articles, 1925-1943
Includes mostly serialized fictional adventure stories written by Tom Gill.
"Madonna of the Pueblos: A Love of Story of Old New Mexico." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 79:4 (October 1925): 74-77, 149-150, 152.
"In the Mexican Quarter: The Romance of a Tenderfoot." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 88:6 (June 1930): 83-85, 145-146, 148-150.
"The Gay Bandit of the Border: A Novel of the West by a Real Westerner." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 89:6 (December 1930): 20-25, 184-188, 191-194.
"The Gay Bandit of the Border: A Romance of the Southwest." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 90:2 (February 1931): 38-41, 178-184, 186-190.
"The Gay Bandit of the Border: A Thrilling Story of the West by a Real Westerner." Pearson's Magazine (June 1931): 638-655.
"Jungle War." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 92:1 (January 1932): 66-67.
"The Long Run." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 96:4 (April 1934): 60-63, 96, 98, 101.
"Dude Ranch." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 97:3 (September 1934): 40-41.
"No Other White Man." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 98:5 (May 1935): 27-30, 125-126, 128-129.
"No Other White Man." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 98:6 (June 1935): 48-49, 142-145.
"Lady Guest." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 99:3 (September 1935): 62-64, 106, 108, 110.
"Before Dawn." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 99:5 (November 1935): 68-71, 124-125.
"Firebrand." American Magazine 126:3 (September 1938): 9-13, 132-138.
"Whether the Break is Good or Bad It's Worth Something." American Magazine 114:2 (August 1932): 58, 74, 76.
"Guardians of the Desert." American Magazine 115:1 (January 1933): 48-52, 93-97.
"Guardians of the Desert." American Magazine 115:2 (February 1933): 52-56, 125-129.
"Death Rides the Mesa." American Magazine 116:3 (September 1933): 11-15, 123-134.
"Death Rides the Mesa." American Magazine 116:4 (October 1933): 30-33, 125-131.
"Death Rides the Mesa." American Magazine 116:5 (November 1933): 60-63, 128-133.
"Death Rides the Mesa." American Magazine 116:6 (December 1933): 62-66, 129-133.
"Death Rides the Mesa." American Magazine 117:2 (February 1934): 46-49, 138-143.
"Starlight Pass." American Magazine 118:6 (December 1934): 12-15, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106.
"Starlight Pass." American Magazine 119:1 (January 1935): 22-25, 103-110.
"Starlight Pass." American Magazine 119:2 (February 1935): 40-43, 114-122.
"Starlight Pass." American Magazine 119:3 (March 1935): 66-69, 113-118.
"Starlight Pass." American Magazine 119:4 (April 1935): 40-43, 144-145, 148-153.
"Heartwood." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 102:6 (June 1937): 26-31, 188-196.
"Heartwood." Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan 103:1 (July 1937): 53-55, 179-188.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 122:2 (August 1936): 12-15, 90-98.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 122:3 (September 1936): 28-31, 130-137.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 122:4 (October 1936): 50-53, 111-118.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 122:5 (November 1936): 42-45, 122-129.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 122:6 (December 1936): 32-35, 142-150.
"Red Earth." American Magazine 123:1 (January 1937): 50-52, 76-82.
"You've Got To Go After It." American Magazine 128:3 (September 1939): 32-33, 90-91.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 128:4 (October 1939): 9-13, 106-109, 111-113.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 128:5 (November 1939): 30-33, 111-119.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 128:6 (December 1939): 30-33, 85-94.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 129:1 (January 1940): 30-33, 109-115.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 129:2 (February 1940): 28-31, 102-105.
"Gentleman of the Jungle." American Magazine 129:3 (March 1940): 36-38, 132-135, 137-138.
"Cactus Biglo's Cat: The Story of a Strange Friendship." McClure's 60:5 (May 1928): 64-68, 77.
"Earth's Oldest Art: From Remotest Ages Man Has Expressed in Wood Carving His Yearning for Beauty." American Forests and Forest Life 35:12 (December 1929): 749-753.
"Jungle Orphan." Nature Magazine 19:1 (January 1932): 11-15.
"Angel of the Christmas Tree." Nature Magazine 10:6 (December 1927): 382-385.
"A Flight to the Unknown." Scribner's Magazine 82:1 (July 1927): 60-69.
"Jungle Harvest." Saturday Evening Post 215:35 (February 27, 1943): 28-29, 64, 66, 68-69, 71-72.
"Jungle Harvest." Saturday Evening Post 215:36 (March 6, 1943): 32, 35, 48, 53-54, 56.
"Jungle Harvest." Saturday Evening Post 215:37 (March 13, 1943): 32, 35, 70, 72, 74, 76.
"Jungle Harvest." Saturday Evening Post 215:38 (March 20, 1943): 32, 35, 50, 53, 55, 58.
Oversize Paper Folder 1Miscellaneous
7.5 x 9.5 inch black and white photograph of Enrique Beltran pasted onto 11" x 14" poster board with handwritten inscription
in Spanish dated 1964. English translation of inscription: "To my dear and admired friend and colleague Dr. Tom Gill with sincere friendship and true appreciation."
11.5 x 15.5 inch honorary diploma presented to Tom Gill on 26 July 1965 by El Instituto Mexicano de Recursos Naturales Renovables.
12.5 x 17 inch award presented to Tom Gill in recognition of his forest conservation activities and conferring to him honorary
membership in the Sociedad Forestal Mexicana as of 25 March 1955.
12 x 18.5 certificate of honorary membership in La Asociacion Mexicana de Proteccion a la Naturaleza presented to Tom Gill
on 6 March 1952.
12 x 18.5 inch certificate of honorary membership in La Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural presented to Tom Gill on 29
February 1952.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright Notice
The nature of the Forest History Society's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions
may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Forest History Society claims only physical
ownership of most archival materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright
law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of
copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be
fully credited with the source.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Thomas Harvey Gill Papers, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Received with and removed from the November 1997 addition to the Society of American Foresters Records.
Processing Information
Processed by Staff and Amanda Ross, January 2009
Encoded by Amanda Ross, January 2009
Funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission supported the encoding of this finding aid. Support
for digitization and outreach provided by the Alvin J. Huss Endowment.
