MF 120 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Acadia National Park

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 120 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Acadia National Park

Number of accessions: 29
Dates when interviews were conducted: summer 2000 and 2001
Time period covered: 1934-1947
Principal interviewers: Anu Dudley, James Moreira, Pamela Dean
Finding aides: indexes, transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: A series of interviews conducted by MFC staff with men who were enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corp. in the 1930s and served at one of the three camps run by ANP–the Eagle Lake or Bar Harbor camp (on the site of the current park headquarters), the Long Pond or Southwest Harbor camp (off Clark Point Road); and the Ellsworth camp (on the Buttermilk Road). Also included are interviews with women who married men from the camps and other local residents who remember the camps. Included are 226 photographs (P08475-P08701).

2624 Simon Caswell, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 16, 2000 and September 5, 2000. Caswell talks about his experiences in the CCC at Bar Harbor or Eagle Lake camp in Acadia National Park in 1940: camp life; work projects; crew structure; recreation; camp and town connections. Text: 42, 39 pp. transcript, 2 four pp. indexes. Recordings: C 1905 , C1906 3 hours.

2625 Wesley Gray, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 16, 2000 at Gray’s home in Orono, Maine. Gray talks about his experiences in the CCC at Southwest Harbor camp in Acadia National Park and Camden Hill camp, 1939-41: family background; camp life, work projects and crew structure, recreation, camp and town connections. Text: 52 pp. transcript, 4 pp. index. Recordings: C 1907 90 minutes.

2626 Ron Doughty, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 22, 2000, August 28, 2000, and June, 26 2001. Doughty talks about his experiences in the CCC in Acadia National Park: camp life; work projects and crew structure; recreation; camp and town connections. Text: 203 pp. transcript, 5 pp. index. Recordings: C 1908, C 1909, C 1940, C 1941 7 hours.

2627 Merrill Morang, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 22, 2000 at his home in Rockland. Morang, born in Lubec in 1918, talks about his experiences in the CCC in Acadia National Park: the effect of the Depression; CCC application process; first impressions of life in the CCC; description of camp accommodations; daily routine; camp structure; work crews; worked cleaning brush, making fire breaks, building roads, and fire fighting; education and training; camp and town connections; lasting impressions. Text: 59 pp. transcript, 3 pp. index. Recordings: C 1910 90 minutes.

2638 Linwood Robshaw, interviewed by James Moreira at Robshaw’s home in Orland, Maine, August 17, 2000, October 13, 2000 , and June 3, 2002. Robshaw talks about his work at the Bar Harbor or Eagle Lake camp of CCC from 1937 to 1940 as carpenter and wood worker: family background; camp life; relations with officers; work in carpentry shop; boxing; framing for concrete dam; carving signs; building and shingling Thunder Hole comfort station; high school shop training; wood working tools and techniques; supervisor; boatbuilding; education program at camp; wartime service; postwar service in Germany; work at Bucksport paper mill. Text: 87 pp. partial transcript. Recordings: C 1921, 1924, 1925, 1985. Photos: P 12923 – P 13030. “Content Report of Linwood Robshaw’s Photo Album”: 9 pp.

2639 Arthur Studer, interviewed by James Moreira on August 30, 2000 in Studer’s home in Mariaville, Maine. Studer talks about his experiences in the CCC at Gov. Brann camp in Ellsworth: family background; work as electrician and truck driver before joining CCC; camp life; work as truck driver; town-camp relations. Also present is E. Studer, relationship and first name not identified. Text: 60 pp. transcript, 6 pp. tape log. Recordings: C 1922 90 minutes.

2640 Lester Hartford, interviewed by James Moreira, August 18, 2000 and August 30, 2001, at Hartford’s home in Beach Hill, Mount Desert Island. In the 1st interview, Hartford talks about growing up in Leeds; family background; the Depression; applying for the CCC; being assigned to Southwest Harbor; adjusting to Army rule; memorabilia from the time; his first of assignments; becoming a carpenter; becoming leader of a crew; carpentry; Leaders Club; Beech Cliff Trail project; boss Pin Lurvy; forester Ben Worcester; carpenter forester Jess Atwood; barracks; camp food. In the 2nd interview, Hartford talks about the process of joining the CCC; first days in the CCC; Beech Cliff Trail project; Ladder Trail project; bos’n’s chairs; cleaning up Beach Mountain; carpentry; Atwood; uniforms; troublemakers; Henry Hinkley’s/Manset boat shop; his career; photographs. Text: 31 pp. and 71 pp. transcripts (.docx and .rtf), 3 pp. log for C 1923. Recording: C 1923 45 minutes, C 1957 85 minutes.

2641 Walter Woods, interviewed by James Moreira on August 17, 2000 at Southwest Harbor, Maine. Woods talks about his experiences in the CCC at Southwest Harbor camp: family and work background; camp life; officers; boxing; clearing brush. Text: 48 pp. transcript (RTF and .docx), 4 pp. tape log (Note: on the printed version incorrectly labeled cassette in both header and body. Header not continued through the whole document.) Recording: C 1939 80 minutes.

2644 This accession contains scanned copies of The Acadian a newsletter put out by the CCC. Issues included are 7/4, 7/18, 8/19, and 11/27 from 1934 and 1/11, 1/31, 2/20, 3/14, 4/5, 4/19, 5/10, 5/29, and 6/17 from 1935. Text: PDF and TIFF scans of 13 editions of The Acadian.

2646 John Parsons, interviewed by James Moreira, February 23, 2001. Parsons talks about his experiences in the CCC in Acadia National Park. Also included: 12 pp. photocopied documents (missing), 108 photographs. Text: 46 pp. transcript (.rtf and .docx) (Note: printed version 55 pp., NA number in header incorrect, and in header and body it says tape instead of cassette tape.) Recordings: C 1927 – C 1928. Photos: P 12805 – P 12922.

2647 Myron Zimmerman, interviewed by James Moreira on February 27, 2001 at his home on Bailey Island in Maine about his experiences in the CCC on Mount Desert Island. Text: C 1929 44 pp., C 1930 22 pp. transcript (66 total for the interview). Recordings: C 1929, C 1930.

2650 Francis Laverdier, interviewed by Anu Dudley on June 21, 2001 in his home in Waterville, Maine. Laverdier talks about his experiences in the CCC in Acadia National Park: family background; working as caddy at country club; father was a barber; helped father with construction projects; Works Progress Administration (renamed during 1939 as the Works Project Administration (WPA); road repair work; daily life in camp; work clearing brush; building trails, building log cabins on Long Pond; winter carnival in Bar Harbor; relations with town. Text: 28 pp. transcript, 6 pp. index. Recording: C 1931 88 minutes.

2651 Lurline Tuttle, interviewed by Pamela Dean, May 2, 2001 and July 26, 2001 at Tuttle’s home in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Tuttle talks about her family’s interaction with the men in the CCC camp, which was just down the road from her home; her marriage to a man she met there; family background; brothers who hung out at the camp; men from the camp visited in her home; played cards, music, board games; entertainment’s at camp she attended; getting rides to school with men from camp; mother did laundry for camp officers. Text: C 1932 35 pp. transcript, C 1945 34 pp. transcript. (Note: printed C 1945 is 37 pages.) Recordings: C 1932 76 minutes, C 1945 66 minutes.

2652 Thomas A. Desjardins, interviewed by Anu Dudley, June 25 and July 2, 2001, Lewiston, Maine. Desjardins discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; impact of the Depression on his family; joining the CCC in 1938; initial impressions of the Bar Harbor camp; hitchhiking home and back; barracks; trunks and storage space; cleaning and organizing the barracks; smokers; laundry; daily routine; meals; influence of military rules; educational opportunities; crew assignments; life guard training and duty; jobs he worked on; brush clearing; work in Otter Cove; finding a shell mound; surveying; painting gypsy moth eggs; building a comfort station at Sieur de Monts spring; later applicability of knowledge he gained in CCC; leisure activities; learning leatherworking; camp library; unfriendly attitude of local people and summer residents; leaving the CCC; and joining the Army in 1940. Text: 46 & 43 pp. transcript, plus first copy edited by Desjardins. (Note: paper copy is 51 & 47 pages respectively.) Recording: C 1933, C 1934 3 hours.

2653 Rene Provencher, interviewed by Anu Dudley, June 28, 2001, Biddeford, Maine. Provencher discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; his early life; joining the CCC in 1940; getting home to visit; camp buildings; daily routine; meals; military structure; uniforms; tension between Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor camps; projects he worked on; locations of work sites; firefighting; life lessons from the CCC; recreation; leaving the CCC; later jobs; practical jokes. Text: 48 pp. transcript, printed is 54 pp. transcript (Note: also some errors corrected by hand on printed pages). Recording: C 1935 79 minutes.

2654 Russell Olson, interviewed by Anu Dudley on June 28, 2001, North Windham, Maine. Olson discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; joining the CCC in 1937; arrival in Southwest Harbor; visiting home; barracks; pay grades; daily routine; basketball; meals; military structure; building campsites; surveying; educational opportunities at camp; and tension between CCC boys and local residents. Text: 33 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1936 90 minutes.

2655 John McLeod, interviewed by Anu Dudley on June 27, 2001, Portland, Maine. McLeod talks about the CCC in Acadia National Park; joining the CCC in October 1940; arrival in Camden; barracks; memorabilia and photos; job details; daily routine; meals; uniforms; command structure; duties in Camden; transfer to Bar Harbor; working as an orderly; beautifying Camden State Park; educational opportunities in the CCC; baseball and basketball teams; recreational opportunities in town; reading material in camp; and more photos. Text: 60 pp. transcript (C 1937 only). Recordings: C 1937, C 1941 / CD 2046, CD 2551.

2656 Harvey Ober, interviewed by Anu Dudley on July 18, 2001, at his home in Gouldsboro, Maine. Ober discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; impact of the Depression on his family; revolting over lack of food due to a dishonest mess chief; arrival in Bar Harbor in 1936; difficulty of hitchhiking in CCC uniform; camp pranks; working for the National Park Service; spraying to prevent pine blister rust; brush clearing; various jobs he did in the CCC; surveying and its benefit to him after the CCC; a leather wallet he made at camp; meeting his future wife; interactions with local people; his later jobs. Text: 41 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1942 65 minutes.

2657 Harris McLean, interviewed by Anu Dudley, July 18, 2001, Sullivan, Maine. McLean talks about the CCC in Acadia National Park; arrival of CCC [McLean’s timeline changes through interview]; Rockefeller’s involvement in Bar Harbor; CCC boys’ interaction with the community; relationships between CCC boys and local girls; CCC as work welfare. Text: 17 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1943 36 minutes.

2658 Vernon Wardwell, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 1, 2001, Bucksport, Maine. Wardwell discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; leaving home to work as a farmhand at 14; applying to the CCC in October 1938; military structure of the camp; expense of smoking; hitchhiking home to visit his mother; Franco-Americans in the CCC; boys who went to high school while in the CCC; daily routine; commissary; souvenir pillow cover he bought his mother; seniority and earning stripes; camp officials; carpentry projects; hip roof buildings; CCC classes; going into town; camp recreation; WWII service in the Marines; postwar jobs; benefits of the CCC. Text: 64 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1944 90 minutes.

2659 Ken Farrar, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 2, 2001, Bangor, Maine. Farrar discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; his childhood; ride from Bangor to Bar Harbor; camp barracks; firefighting; uniforms; carpentry work; social activities in town; camp baseball team; hitchhiking to Brockton, Mass., to work; his postwar photography career; 1990s CCC reunion. Text: 31 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1946 65 minutes.

2660 Webster Fox, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 8, 2001, Oakland, Maine. Fox discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; applying to the CCC; initial impressions of the camp in 1934; his daily routine; bad food due to a dishonest captain; military structure of camps; hauling gravel up Cadillac Mountain; improving roads; truck inspections; limited social activities; leaving the CCC after four months; driving a milk route; hauling logs; late Depression making hauling unprofitable; working as a welder 1940-45; vocational training after losing his leg; working as a vehicle mechanic; the value of the CCC. Text: 57 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1947 68 minutes.

2661 Ulysses “Ted” Morin, interviewed by James Moreira, August 9, 2001, East Hartford, Connecticut. Morin, with occasional comments from his wife, talks about the CCC in Acadia National Park; hardship during the Depression; working for farmers in the mid 1930s; moving to town during the winter to be closer to school; his mother hosting parties with chicken stew to earn money; entering the CCC in January 1937; road work for the CCC in Ellsworth; placing granite boulders on Cadillac Mountain; construction of roads in the woods; firefighting in Bar Harbor; jobs he did in Bar Harbor; use of the tractor; clearing brush; recreation; interaction with locals; his later careers; brief military experience in 1943; describes CCC camp photos; the house his mother bought with his CCC money; CCC reunion photos; 1990s newspaper articles about the CCC. Text: 91 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 1948, C 1949 132 minutes.

2662 Damien Blanchette, interviewed by James Moreira, August 13, 2001, Fort Kent, Maine. Blanchette discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; his childhood in Stockholm, Maine in the 1920s and 30s; receiving military surplus; applying to the CCC; CCC boot camp; accommodations at Southwest Harbor camp; wages; earning extra money by ironing; KP (kitchen police or patrol) duty; jobs related to building roads; CCC educational courses; using dynamite in road work; recreational activities, particularly music; transfer to Camden; working in the dispensary and as ambulance driver; serving as staff driver for the regional commander of CCC; jobs done in Camden; survey of photographs of the Camden and Southwest Harbor camps; Christmas Day menu; 1940 Camden roster; leaving the CCC when he got a job; joining the Navy when US entered WWII; career as a Navy baker; serving on ships around Bikini Atoll during atomic bomb tests. Text: 83 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 1950, C 1951 146 minutes.

2663 Roy Doak, interviewed by James Moreira, August 14, 2001, at the home of Roy Doak in Caribou, Maine. Doak talks about the CCC in Acadia National Park; applying to the CCC for lack of other work; camp accommodations and buildings; daily routine; building a sewer line; carpentry; working at the dispensary; the camp baseball team; leaving the CCC for the Army; interactions with local residents; dwindling number of CCC workers 1940-41; domestic military service 1942-1945; CCC experience easing adaptation to military life; awareness of nature he developed in Acadia. Text: 25 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 1952 62 minutes.

2664 Eleanor Raynes, interviewed by Anu Dudley, August 14, 2001, at the home of Eleanor Raynes in Bar Harbor, Maine. Raynes discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; growing up during the Depression, CCC boys in Bar Harbor; locals’ reactions to CCC workers; socializing with CCC boys; her husband’s duties and training; CCC preparing her husband for a surveying career; recreational activities; contributions of CCC workers to the community; Bar Harbor before it was a tourist destination; the fire of 1947; lack of CCC in local knowledge by 2001; location of CCC camp and work sites; local supervisors; financial need. Text: 19 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1953 45 minutes.

2665 Joseph and Priscilla Trafton, interviewed by Anu Dudley on August 14, 2001, at their home in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The Traftons discuss the CCC in Acadia National Park; minimal impact the Depression had on his young adult life; joining the CCC; camp officers; working as a crew boss; jobs he was involved with; brush clearing; putting in culverts; working with the Bar Harbor CCC camp; building park lawns; camp recreation; his later jobs; minimal impact of Depression on her childhood/young adulthood; standing fireplace from CCC camp; her one visit to the camp; monthly pay; CCC workers considered good boys by locals; being introduced to each other by another CCC worker; social activities where CCC boys and locals mingled. Text: 40 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1954 72 minutes.

2666 Claude Beaupre, interviewed by James Moreira on August 22, 2001 at his home in Rockport, Maine. Beaupre discusses the CCC in Acadia National Park; positive impact of CCC; sledding; his father signing him up for CCC; practical jokes in the camp; his travels; CCC work in Millinocket; loneliness at camp; driving a crawler at the CCC camp in Ellsworth; planting trees out of the Bar Harbor camp; lumbering as a teenager; meeting Rockefeller’s son; responsibility for his assigned crawler; projects he worked on in Bar Harbor; CCC equipment; placing granite boulders along roads; spraying to prevent pine blister rust; CCC punishing park visitors for damaging trees; clear chains of command; the Ellsworth roller skating rink; an unpopular lieutenant; returning to Bar Harbor after leaving the CCC; his later jobs; how the CCC changed his life. Text: 52 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 1955, C 1956 102 minutes.

3323 Thomas Thornton, interviewed by James Moreira, June 28, 2004, at the Harborside Hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine. Also present: Ann Haley. Thornton, born in 1914 in Massachusetts, talks about his experiences with the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Ellsworth Camp; his family’s survival during the Depression; his joining the CCC against his parents’ objections; tells stories about life in the camp; saving the barracks from burning down; boxing matches on rainy days; playing poker; worked cleaning out the forest in the winter; cut down marked trees; drinking alcohol; boys became men; changes in Ellsworth and Bar Harbor; getting back his stolen jacket; riprapping; sent money home to his parents; what he did after he left the CCC; joined the Army in spite of his allergies. Text: 30 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2462, C 2463, CD 1017 70 minutes.