October 31, 2024 | By:

Dave Saved Everything: Foreman Archives Join Conservation Collection at Denver Public Library

Boxes filled with Dave’s papers when they arrived at DPL. Now, they’re curated and ready for viewing and research. © Susan Morgan

Boxes filled with Dave Foreman’s papers when they arrived at DPL. Now, they’re curated and ready for viewing and research. © Susan Morgan

After Rewilding Institute founder and friend Dave Foreman passed away in September 2022, questions quickly arose about what to do with all his stuff. His sister Roxanne inherited Dave and Nancy’s Albuquerque house and property, which was full of books, papers, slides, household goods, backpacks, boats, and other outdoor gear (including a backyard boathouse), as well as two cats.

In his office and the garage were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of government documents, boxes of records, file cabinets covered with bumper stickers and full of slides and sundry research materials, manuscripts, articles, stacks of articles Dave intended to read (he loved the Web and copied abundant resources he didn’t want to read on the computer), badges from events where Dave had spoken, pictures of him standing near wilderness boundary signs, Wilderness plans, and a room full of maps and books. Dave referred to it all as his “groaning towers of conservation archives.” Those who knew him said he never threw anything away.

What to do? Christianne Hinks, Dave and Nancy’s long-time friend and former Rewilding assistant, offered to help. “It won’t take long,” she said, “to pack up files and take them wherever they should go.” Little did she know.

Soon after Dave’s passing, Jamie Seemiller, acquisitions archivist from the Denver Public Library emailed his sister Roxanne to offer condolences and explained they were eager to add Dave’s papers to their existing Conservation Collection of fourteen boxes he had given them earlier.

We emailed among ourselves about where the papers should be archived. John Miles said that it was his personal view that Dave’s archives “should go where they will get the best treatment and be the most accessible to historical researchers and writers. Undoubtedly Dave would like the records of his work to be where they would get the most attention and use, and I think that would be at DPL.” He continued, “I say this because I have worked on several occasions in the DPL Conservation History Collection and can attest that DPL does an outstanding job of conserving its collections, cataloguing them, and making them accessible to researchers. The Conservation Library at DPL goes back to the early 1960s, brainchild of famous Colorado conservationist Arthur Carhart, and was greatly upgraded in the early 1990s. The facility for researchers on the fifth floor of DPL, where researchers can work on material from the Conservation History Collection, the Western History Collection, and do genealogical research, is a first-class space, very professionally run. It invites and supports researchers.” John’s experience was that finding aids were excellent and accession by staff helpful and prompt.

So, it was decided, and we committed to doing a box-level inventory at a gathering in December at Dave and Nancy’s house in Albuquerque. We ordered banker’s boxes so we could take files out of cabinets and perform a gross inventory, noting box contents per Jaime’s instructions as we went. Christianne began collecting what was obvious recycling and hauling it to the recycling center. John and Susan joined her for three days in Albuquerque, sorting, inventorying, packing, and storing boxes in the garage. Dave had tried various methods, such as hot sauce and Clorox, to discourage the mice who were snacking on his materials in the garage but to no avail. In desperation he sometimes practiced catch and release as the cats looked on. Chewed boxes were stacked high and as John pulled them down mouse droppings went everywhere, sometimes onto his hat – he was masked since hantavirus was on everyone’s minds. We shook and vacuumed and hoped for the best and were able to re-box all materials. After we returned to Taos, Christianne continued what seemed an endless process. Not until early May were over 100 boxes of Dave’s papers safely moved and housed at the DPL who had generously paid the considerable transportation costs of moving all this heavy stuff to Denver.

Jamie hoped no mice would pop out of boxes when she opened them, and none did, but she is allergic to cats and was hit with a wild allergic reaction as she began to handle files. Undaunted, she emailed to ask if Dave had cats. Yes, he did, but she carried on.

Jamie and four archivists worked for over a year to put the Dave Foreman Papers in shape for researchers, and in April 2024 the library introduced his collection to the annual meeting of the American Society for Environmental History which was convened in Denver. The collection was open for business.

Thankfully Dave had saved much of historical importance and DPL was eager to add his “stuff” to their collection. Now scholars, researchers, and writers can easily access his work and ensure that his wild legacy will live on.

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