Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania

by Allen Dieterich-Ward

A long-term goal of the Conservation Heritage Project has come to the fruition with the publication of a new comprehensive study of Pennsylvania’s environmental history.

The story starts with forester Ralph Brock at the dawn of the conservation era and continues through the eras of energy production using coal, oil, natural gas, and other resources. Allen Dieterich-Ward also investigates how the non-human world shapes the history of the commonwealth and examines the impact of pollution.

Cradle of Conservation moves across time and place, from the Haudenosaunee people of the Susquehanna Valley, to the iron furnaces of nineteenth-century Pittsburgh, to the diesel trucks on the twentieth-century Pennsylvania Turnpike. In addition, Dieterich-Ward explores the histories of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River and the state’s anthracite region and traces the environmental movements and crises that have led to public policy changes in the face of climate change.

Cradle of Conservation deepens our understanding of how Pennsylvanians have conserved and consumed.


Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward is a professor of history and director of The Graduate School at Shippensburg University.  His first book, Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America won the 2016 Arline Custer Memorial Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference. His second book, Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania is now available from Temple University Press. He is the past president of the Pennsylvania Historical Association, former editor of the Pennsylvania History Series, and a board member of PA Humanities.

This book is part of the Pennsylvania History series, edited by David Witwer, designed to make high-quality scholarship accessible for students, advances the mission of the Pennsylvania Historical Association by engaging with key social, political, and cultural issues in the history of the state and region.


Cradle of Conservation is available for order now.

Praise for the Book

“In this sweeping yet succinct account, Allen Dieterich-Ward brings to life Pennsylvania’s environmental history—from the birth of the conservation movement in the nineteenth century to the impacts of climate change we’re experiencing right now. This groundbreaking book is a crucial resource for anyone seeking to understand the people, places, and policies that have shaped—and continue to shape—life in the Keystone State and beyond.”—Cindy Adams Dunn, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
 
“Despite its brevity, Cradle of Conservation contains great breadth—from the ‘spiritually rich and actively managed working landscape’ of the Haudenosaunee and Lenape to the postindustrial heritage preservation movement. Allen Dieterich-Ward has enriched the narrative with details from the lives of many Pennsylvanians, some as well-known as Rachel Carson, and some who will be new to most readers, including Ralph Brock, the nation’s first Black forester. This is a concise and powerful history of one of the nation’s great energy states.”—David Stradling, Zane L. Miller Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati, and author of The Nature of New York: An Environmental History of the Empire State

Watch – Lackawanna Past Times: Cradle of Conservation

Explore Pennsylvania’s environmental history with Shippensburg University professor Allen Dieterich-Ward! Tune in to learn more about the state’s “working landscapes” and the birth of environmental conservation with cameos from local favorite Gifford Pinchot and more!