Collection ID: MS 21-011

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Carroll, Tom
Abstract:
Collection of oral history interviews and accompanying documents, fieldnotes, slides and photographs assembled by folklorist Tom Carroll for his “Hunting Traditions in the Adirondacks” project in 1997. Carroll’s goal was to “gain insights into the history and significance of hunting in the region, and to connecting hunting activity to other pressing concerns of Adirondack residents” and in addition to chronicling hunting and hunting camps, his reports detail a complicated relationship between native Adirondackers, the land and private/state interests in the region.
Extent:
.4 linear feet and 1 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

“Hunting Traditions in the Adirondacks” Oral History Collection, MS 21-011, Adirondack Experience Library

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection contains oral history interviews as well as documents – project reports and release forms – related to the “Hunting Traditions in the Adirondacks” project from 1997-1998. It also contains tape logs describing the topics discussed in each interview, slides of photographs taken by Carroll when conducting the interviews accompanied by a photo log describing them as well as slides of photographs relating to the interview subjects and topics discussed. The Adirondack Experience will be referred to by its name at the time of creation, the Adirondack Museum, but both names refer to the same entity.

Biographical / Historical:

This project built on folklorist Tom Carroll’s earlier oral history project, “Living Traditions in the Adirondacks” (see MS 21-010), changing the focus of his interviews from women’s lives in the Adirondacks to the history and current state of hunting in the Adirondacks, partly to assist in the interpretation of the newly-acquired Virkler-Yoncey hunting camp. An initial report in May of 1997 based off of several of his “Living Traditions” interviews, many unrecorded interviews with locals and secondary source material sought to “gain insights into the history and significance of hunting in the region, and to connecting hunting activity to other pressing concerns of Adirondack residents” and establish a history of hunting in the region. Carroll returned to the Adirondacks in July of 1997 to conduct additional interviews, including seven recorded interviews included in this collection, and visit and photo-document 12 hunting camps. Among the themes he explores are the relationship of hunting and logging, hunting as “a means of gaining access to the woods, to the outdoors,” the tension between publicly and privately-owned land, hunting philosophy, conservation issues surrounding hunting activity, ecological awareness and forest management and the relationships between residents of the park and others who use or lay claims on the Adirondacks.

Custodial history:

Digital files were produced from the original cassette tapes in 2017 through a grant from the New York State Education Department, New York State Library, Division of Library Development, and New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials. Materials were arranged into a collection by Anthony Morgano in September of 2021.

Arrangement:

Series 1: Project Documentation, 1997. This series contains documentation of the “Hunting Traditions in the Adirondacks” oral history collection, including two copies of Carroll’s Preliminary Report submitted in May of 1997 after some initial fieldwork and research, but before conducting his taped interviews, an inter-office memorandum from the Adirondack Museum, release agreements from interviewees and Carroll’s report written after he conducted the recorded interviews in July of 1997.

Series 2: Fieldwork, 1997. Typed field notes adapted from originals recorded in spiral notebooks during two field trips to the Adirondacks in April and July of 1997. Contains notes broken up by interview subject and contains information gleaned from non-recorded as well as recorded interviews.

Series 3: Tape Logs. Carroll’s tape logs summarizing the recorded information of each oral history interview arranged by interview subject.

Series 4: Photo Logs. Carroll’s logs describing the slides containing pictures of interview subjects and their homes and towns he took when conducting his interviews.

Series 5: Slides. This series consists of 267 slides containing pictures of interview subjects, hunting camps and grounds, etc. taken by Carroll when conducting his interviews and field research.

Series 6: Interview Recordings Recordings of the seven interviews (on nine tapes) conducted by Carroll in July of 1997, available on the original cassettes and in digital recordings at the repository.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Indexed Terms

Subjects:
Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.)
Adirondack Mountain Reserve (N.Y.)
Adirondack Forest Preserve (N.Y.)
New York (State)--History, Local
Community life--United States
Bears
Cooking
Conservation
Coyote
Deer
Hunting
Hunting customs
Deer hunters
Logging
Deer hunting
Oral history
Hunting lodges
Hunting stories
Hunting guns
Hunting guides
Anecdotes
Land use
Land use--Government policy--United States
Loggers
Trapping
Paper mills
Wolves--Control
Bliss 101 Club (N.Y.)
Broken K Camp (N.Y.)
Buck-A-Year Club (N.Y.)
Camp Bear Claw (N.Y.)
Cranberry Lake Club (N.Y.)
Deer Valley Club (N.Y.)
Jakes Pond Club (N.Y.)
Lead Pond Club (N.Y.)
Newton Falls Rod and Gun Club (N.Y.)
River Ridge Hunting Club (N.Y.)
Springhill Hunting Club (N.Y.)
Waukesha Club (N.Y.)
Morcy, Edith
Moulton, Marion
Moulton, Rodney
Nason, Richard
Novosel, Emelia
Novosel, Tom
Oathout, David
Perkins, Randy
Pommerville, Ed
Roberts, Dorothy
Roberts, Ovilla
Savage, Mike
Snyder, Al
Oral histories
Interviews
Names:
Adirondack Experience
Adirondack Museum
Adirondack Museum Library
Thompson, Bill
Virkler, Hilda Y.
Wood, Larry
Yousey, Jim
Adams, Gil
Allen, Daisy, Rev.
Arndt, Bernard
Amell, Dick
Aubin, Mark
Blanchard, Ann
Bourdeau, Irene
Brown, Ray
Burnett, Jim
Carpenter, Ed
Charland, Don
Chartier, Scott
Cheney, Basil
Cox, Ralph
Dechene, Bob
Denis, Larry
Dewyea, David
D’Onofrio, Rollo
Fraser, Pete
Gardner, Ben
Hayes, Budd
Lavigne, Mark
Littlefield, Kevin
Martin, Wanda
Miller, Mavis
Places:
Bakers Mills (N.Y)
Big Moose (N.Y.)
Blue Mountain Lake (N.Y.)
Fourth Lake (N.Y.)
Newton Falls (N.Y.)
Raquette Lake (N.Y.)
Sodom (N.Y.)
Warrensburg (N.Y.)

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

There are no restrictions regarding access to this collection.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Fair use copy permitted for research, study, or investigational purposes citing the Adirondack Experience. Any other use requires written permission.

PREFERRED CITATION:

“Hunting Traditions in the Adirondacks” Oral History Collection, MS 21-011, Adirondack Experience Library

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
PO Box 99
Blue Mountain Lake, NY 12812, United States
CONTACT:
(518) 352-7311
igocker@theadkx.org