A tree planter's vivid story of a unique subculture and the magical life of the forest.
Charlotte Gill spent twenty years working as a tree planter in the forests of Canada. During her million-tree career, she encountered hundreds of clearcuts, each one a collision site between human civilization and the natural world, a complicated landscape presenting geographic evidence of our appetites. Charged with sowing the new forest in these clearcuts, tree planters are a tribe caught between the stumps and the virgin timber, between environmentalists and loggers.
In Eating Dirt, Gill offers up a slice of tree planting life in all of its soggy, gritty exuberance, while questioning the ability of conifer plantations to replace original forests that evolved over millennia into complex ecosystems. She looks at logging's environmental impact and its boom-and-bust history, and touches on the versatility of wood, from which we have devised countless creations as diverse as textiles and airplane parts.
Eating Dirt also eloquently evokes the wonder of trees, which grow from tiny seeds into one of the world's largest organisms, our slowest-growing ""renewable"" resource. Most of all, the book joyously celebrates the priceless value of forests and the ancient, ever-changing relationship between humans and trees.
(From publisher's website)
Contents
The last place on Earth -- A kind of tribe -- Rookie Years -- Green fluorescent protein -- A furious way of being -- The town that logging made -- At the end of the reach -- Extremophiles -- Sunset -- Exit lines.
Notes
Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.
Cover title: The Exshaw Cement plant 100 years : foundations for the future. Includes DVD in pocket on back cover "It is what we built : 100 years of the Exshaw Cement Plant". Pertains to Western Canada Cement and Coal Company, Canada Cement Company, Lafarge Canada
File consists of 42 photographs depicting friends and members of the Kidney and Woodworth families, and local events in and around Banff. Content pertains to hiking and social events in the Canadian Rockies; other trips including a boat cruise; a Jubilee celebration; installation events for the Spr…
Some photographs produced by R.A. Bird [Central Photo Studio, Calgary], Ted MacAulay and Steve Nemeth
Date Range
1946
1948
[ca. 1950 - ca. 1960]
1951
1956
1958
1964 - 1965
Physical Description
42 photographs : b&w prints ; 21.5 x 28 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 42 photographs depicting friends and members of the Kidney and Woodworth families, and local events in and around Banff. Content pertains to hiking and social events in the Canadian Rockies; other trips including a boat cruise; a Jubilee celebration; installation events for the Spray Valley chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star; portraits of unidentified children; the construction of the Mt. Norquay chairlift in 1948; and Jim Deegan working and hiking in Snow Creek Pass in 1958.
Notes
Two of photographs are printed copies [paper]
Some dates are estimates provided by the Processing Archivist
File consists of one album containing 28 colorized postcard print images, 227 black and white prints and one annotated hand-drawn diagram on paper. Content pertains to a boat cruise attended by Eleanor Luxton to Hawaii, Japan and China [1937]. Includes images of the interior and exterior of the cru…
1 album (255 b&w and col. prints ; 13.5 x 19.5 cm or smaller -- 1 diagram ; 6 x 4 cm)
Scope & Content
File consists of one album containing 28 colorized postcard print images, 227 black and white prints and one annotated hand-drawn diagram on paper. Content pertains to a boat cruise attended by Eleanor Luxton to Hawaii, Japan and China [1937]. Includes images of the interior and exterior of the cruise ship, as well as cruise staff members and on-board entertainment; landscapes, monuments and buildings; surfing; historic sites; dockyard scenes with unidentified workers; local individuals and families; and fishing and harvesting. Album also includes small tissue-like paper sheet with hand-drawn diagram of mechanical parts and measurements with annotations [possibly belonging to Eleanor Luxton, n.d.]
Notes
Most photographs are annotated on the lower front in white text with contextual information - location, name of landmark, etc.
Date provided is based on dating of similar items pertaining to cruise to Hawaii, Japan and China collected by Eleanor Luxton. Photographs are likely from the same trip, but not confirmed.
Fonds consists of personal, professional and legal documents and photographs pertaining to Maud and Forest Kidney, Jack MacAulay, Kidney and Woodworth family members, friends and the Banff community. Items are organized by subject and date ranges.
Fonds consists of six series:
Series I - Maud (Wo…
66 cm of textual records -- ca. 963 photographs : 870 prints, 62 postcards, 30 negatives, 1 tintype (31.5 x 37 cm or smaller) -- 7 photograph albums (26 x 33.5 cm or smaller)
History / Biographical
Ella Maud [Woodworth] Kidney (1894-1977) was born in Banff as the fourth of 11 siblings. Her parents were Benjamin Woodworth and Elizabeth [McIntire] Woodworth. Growing up, Maud worked briefly for the Alberta Hotel and the Bottling Works company in Banff. Maud was married to John A. MacAulay in 1917, and widowed later that year. Her twin sons, John A. [Jack] and Thomas A. [Ted] MacAulay, were born in 1918. Maud married Forest H. "Pop" Kidney (1889-1979) on February 14, 1923, and the new family settled into the Kidney home on Wolf and Muskrat Street. The Kidney residence was originally located in Bankhead, but was moved to Banff and sold following the town's closure in 1922.
Maud and Forest operated several local businesses including Banff Grocery, Quaker Coffee Shop, Pop's Bakery and Kidney Kabins. The Kidneys were also active in community affairs throughout their lives. Maud Kidney was a long-time member of the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club in Banff [and the club's president for over a decade spanning across the 1940's], as well as the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire [I.O.D.E.] and Rebekah Lodge, and she was matron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Banff in 1950. Forest Kidney was involved in the Banff Shriners Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Independent Order of Oddfellows and the Canadian Restaurants Association [CRA], among other groups; in the early 1960's, Forest also served as the President of the Calgary branch of the CRA.
Jack and Ted MacAulay grew up together in Banff, where they were involved in Banff's Boy Scouts program and local hockey teams. Jack in particular was an avid hockey player, until an accident in 1940 caused damage to his right eye which kept him from competing. From 1943 to 1945, Jack worked for Boeing Aircraft of Canada Ltd., and in 1946 he was appointed as the Chief Inspector of War Assets for Alberta and the Yukon Territories. Jack married Karin Wallensteen in 1946, and the couple had 6 children together: sons Herb and John, and daughters Karen, Shelley, Jodi and Julie-Ann. Jack served as a coach for the Banff Minor Hockey League for 46 years. Jack also took on several other positions within the Bow Valley community, including working as a volunteer with the Banff Figure Skating Club, a co-founder of the Banff Recreation Board, and a member of the Banff Advisory Council, the Banff Hospital Board and the Banff School Board.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of personal, professional and legal documents and photographs pertaining to Maud and Forest Kidney, Jack MacAulay, Kidney and Woodworth family members, friends and the Banff community. Items are organized by subject and date ranges.
Fonds consists of six series:
Series I - Maud (Woodworth) Kidney records: contains 3 sub-series [ A) 1894 - 1920, B) 1921 - 1950, C) 1951 - 1977 ]
Series II - Forest Kidney records: contains 3 sub-series [ A) 1889 - 1920, B) 1921 - 1950, C) 1951 - 2008 ]
Series III - Jack MacAulay records: contains 3 sub-series [A) 1920 - 1945, B) 1946 - 1980, C) 1981 - 2000 ]
Series IV - Family, friends and community records: contains 5 sub-series [ A) 1886 - 1920, B) 1921 - 1945, C) 1946 - 1970, D) 1970 - 2013, E) Maude Kidney Collection ]
Series V - Legal and business records : contains 3 sub-series [ A) 1894 - 1920, B) 1921 - 1950, C) 1951 - 1980 ]
Series VI - Collected materials
Series I content pertains to Maud Woodworth Kidney. Includes scrapbooks, photographs of Maud and her siblings and parents, trips to Calgary and local activities with family and friends, Maud working for the Alberta Hotel and the Banff Bottling Factory [ca. 1905 - 1915], and local clubs and societies which Maud was involved in between 1930 - 1977 including the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club, the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, the Senior Friends Club of Banff, Rebekah Lodge and the Order of the Eastern Star.
Series II content pertains to Forest Kidney during his World War I military service in Petawawa, Ontario; swimming with friends at the Cave and Basin and other social activities; travelling with family; local newspaper clippings noting Forest's achievements and community involvement; and Forest participating in events as a member of the Banff Shriners Club and the Canadian Restaurant Association.
Series III content pertains to Jack MacAulay at the Kidney family home with his twin brother, Ted; coaching for the Banff Minor Hockey League; participating in other community meetings and programs; personal, professional and medical correspondence [1940 - 1992]; Jack's wife, Karin MacAulay, and their children; and Jack's awards and achievements.
Series IV content pertains to extended family and friends of the Kidneys and the wider Banff community.
Includes sports and outdoor activities [including swimming, hiking, trail riding, camping, snowshoeing, skiing, and track and field]; early Banff [including businesses, Banff Elementary School and Banff High School, the Woodworth family residence, and construction of the Icefields Parkway]; family friends of the Woodworths and Kidneys [including the Brett family, the Stafford family and the Simpson family]; personal correspondence pertaining to Fred "Ty" Cobb (1931 - 1933); clubs and societies [including the Independent Order of Oddfellows, the Senior Friends Club, and the Order of the Eastern Star]; community events [including dances, meetings, dinners and award ceremonies]; weddings and anniversaries; a visit to Num-Ti-Jah Lodge in 1964; and biographical and genealogical information about Maud Kidney, Forest Kidney and the Woodworth family.
Series V content pertains to businesses owned and operated by the Kidney family [ca. 1930 - 1970], including Kidney Kabins, Quaker Coffee Shop and Pop's Bakery; mortgage agreements and property contracts; and government documents. Includes receipts, log books and financial records, photographs of Kidney Kabins and Quaker Coffee Shop, and receipts for land purchased by Forest Kidney, George Noble and others.
Series VI contains commercial postcards collected by the Kidney family. Postcards mostly produced by Byron Harmon, and some by G & W Fear and other photographers, and mostly pertain to Banff and the surrounding area [winter sports, wildlife, Banff Zoo, Banff Avenue, scenic views and mountain landscapes, etc].
Notes
Contains duplicate photographs
Duplicate commercial postcards have been kept in separate folder within file box containing other commercial postcards [V324 / IV / E / PG - 1 to 20 and V324 / VI / PG - 1 to 42]
Sub-series IV / E : Maude Kidney Collection was donated with existing numbering system [Items 1 to 47] prior to processing; original order and corresponding annotations have been transferred to database entries from original handwritten notes
File consists of 6 photograph prints [one on matboard] pertaining to the Luxton Museum. Includes images of Red Cathcart wearing a wig and posing with Indigenous mannequins in the Luxton Museum workshop; Norman Luxton and friends at the museum’s entrance; and images of a “Red River Cart” previously …
6 photographs : b&w and col. prints ; 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 6 photograph prints [one on matboard] pertaining to the Luxton Museum. Includes images of Red Cathcart wearing a wig and posing with Indigenous mannequins in the Luxton Museum workshop; Norman Luxton and friends at the museum’s entrance; and images of a “Red River Cart” previously owned by David McDougall which was put on display in the museum.
Notes
Item LUX/I/D3e/PA-84 believed by Processing Archivist to be a more recent copy [early 1950s?] of an older photograph; annotations on back are similar handwriting style and format as other items in file from this time period.
File consists of 78 photographs pertaining to the Luxton Museum and its displays, including the museum’s construction and the interior views of the museum and its displays. Some photographs depict Indigenous individuals [including John Hunter and unidentified Cree and Stoney Nakoda men] posing as m…
Photographs LUX/I/D3e/PA-74 and 76 produced by Bruno Engler; LUX/I/D3e/PA -77 and 78 produced by Ernest Kehr
Date Range
1951-1957
Physical Description
78 photographs : b&w prints ; 17.5 x 12.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 78 photographs pertaining to the Luxton Museum and its displays, including the museum’s construction and the interior views of the museum and its displays. Some photographs depict Indigenous individuals [including John Hunter and unidentified Cree and Stoney Nakoda men] posing as models for display mannequins used in the Luxton Museum.
Notes
First three items in file signed on reverse side by “Roy”[?] [Ray?]; individual not further identified
File contains some duplicates
Material Details
Items LUX/I/D3e/PA-4 to 16 labelled as “Polaroid” photographs on back. Same items have folded paper attached to left side partly covering images