Research Guide

Collections

• Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Archives at Connecticut College
  Holds the Lear/Carson Collection. The collection consists of Linda Lear's archive of materials used for her biography, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature and the anthology, Lost Woods, as well as personal papers given to Lear by Carson's colleagues and friends. Benjamin Panciera, Director of Special Collections & Archives 860-439-2654.
• The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
  The Rachel Carson Papers, given by the estate of Rachel Carson in 1965, are included in The Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, PO Box 208240, New Haven CT 06520, 203-432-2962.
• The Ladd Library at Bates College
  The custodian of the Dorothy Freeman Collection, letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman. Special Collections, Ladd Library, Bates College, Lewiston ME 04240, 207-786-6272.
• The Ferdinand Hamburger Archives, Milton Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University
  A collection of manuscripts related to Carson's graduate studies in zoology at the university during the early 1930's. Archivist James Stimpert, Archivist, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21218, 410-516-8323.
• Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, A Book That Changed the World
  This virtual exhibition presents the global reception and impact of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring as well as the book’s legacy in popular culture, music, literature, and the arts. Read chronologically starting with the overview, or go directly to a specific chapter that interests you by clicking on the navigation slider below.
• Photographs: The Estate of Rachel Carson has put most non-copyrighted photographs in the public domain. All the research institutions listed above, plus several of the named organizations listed below, hold some photographs. Format, cost, and availability depend on the institution, as well as courtesy permission. Captions and name of photographer, if known, should be verified from the loaning institution. Commercial photographs are available from Magnum Photo, 212-929-6000, and Corbis Images at 800-260-0444. The Martin Luther King Library Photograph Department in Washington, DC has press photographs as does AP Wire Service and World Wide Photo.

Online Exhibitions

• RACHEL CARSON'S SILENT SPRING, A BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
  Mark Stoll
  Rachel Carson's Silent Spring: A Book that Changed the World This virtual exhibition presents the global reception and impact of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring as well as the book’s legacy in popular culture, music, literature, and the arts.

Organizations

• Rachel Carson Homestead
  The Rachel Carson Homestead Association was formed in 1975 to preserve and restore Rachel Carson's birthplace this National Register Historic Site and to offer education programs which advance Rachel Carson's environmental ethic. Visit and experience first-hand the surroundings that made Rachel Carson a fierce and poetic defender of the natural world.
• Chatham University
  School of Sustainability and the Environment
  Rachel Carson Institute,
  Sustaining Earth’s life support system – clean air, pure water and fertile soil – through research, education and outreach.
  
  The Rachel Carson Institute was established in 1989 to honor the legacy of Chatham’s most famous alumna, Rachel Carson. The Rachel Carson Institute within the School of Sustainability and the Environment is an internationally focused center for research, education and outreach around the principles of systems thinking and multidisciplinary investigation that marked Rachel Carson’s work. The Rachel Carson Institute will be located on the new eco- centered Eden Hall Campus of Chatham University.
  
  Mission:
  To promote and extend the legacy of Rachel Carson;
  To build on her commitment to publicly accessible science; and
  To share her vision of people as part of a sustainable web of life.
  
  Goals:
  1. Extend Rachel Carson’s principles on sustainability and environment into the broadest possible community of interest in complementary action with the academic pursuits of the School of Sustainability and the Environment.
  2. Promote, provide and disseminate high quality issue analysis.
  3. Convene and connect among the range of organizations and individuals that participate in sustainability decisions.
  • Linda Lear, Ph.D. presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters
  • Linda Lear, Keynote address
• National Conservation Training Center
  The US Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of Interior also maintains a collection of Carson's articles and publications which she edited during her tenure as a biologist and editor-in-chief. The US Fish an Wildlife Service Training Center has information on a wide variety of environmental topics. Dr Mark Madison, Historian.
• Rachel Carson Center
  Rachel Carson Center is a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum. Generously supported by the German Ministry for Research and Education, its goal is to further research and discussion in the field of international environmental studies and to strengthen the role of the humanities in the current political and scientific debates about the environment.
• Rachel Caron Council
  The Rachel Carson Council, an Association for the integrity of the environment, founded in 1965 to continue the work of Rachel Carson, seeks to inform and advise the public about the effects of pesticides that threaten the health, welfare, and survival of living organisms and biological systems. The Council promotes alternative, environmentally benign pest management strategies to encourage healthier, sustainable living.
• COPA
  The Coalition Opposed to PCB Ash in Monroe County, has extensive links to PCB and dioxin information.
• Environmental Working Group
  The mission of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. EWG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles.
• Society for Environmental Journalists
  The Society of Environmental Journalists is the only North-American membership association of professional journalists dedicated to more and better coverage of environment-related issues. SEJ’s mission is to strengthen the quality, reach and viability of journalism across all media to advance public understanding of environmental issues.
• American Society for Environmental History
  The American Society for Environmental History (ASEH), founded in 1977, seeks to promote scholarship and teaching in environmental history, to support the professional needs of its members, and to connect its undertakings with larger communities.
• Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
  A dynamic community of teachers, writers, students, artists and environmentalists interested in the natural world and its meanings and representations in language and culture.
• New-Cue
  NEW-CUE, Inc. is a non-profit, environmental education organization founded primarily to assist writers and educators who are dedicated to enhancing the public's awareness of environmental issues.

Articles

• "Rachel Carson and the legacy of Silent Spring"
  The Guardian, May 26, 2012
• "Was Rachel Carson right?"
  The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Summer 2012
• "50 Years of Silent Spring"
  The Sag Harbor Express, April 25, 2012.
• "The Canon: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson"
  Times Higher Education, August 5, 2010.