Robert Marshall collection

Biographical History

Robert Marshall was born in 1901 in New York City. He was the son of Louis and Florence Lowenstein Marshall and spent most summers at his family's camp "Knollwood," in Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks Mountains of New York State. Marshall received his Bachelor Science degree in Forestry from the New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y. in 1924, his Master of Science in Forestry from Harvard University in 1925, and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Plant Physiology in 1934. He was a staff member at the Northern Rocky Mountain Fores Experiment Station, Missoula, Montana (1925-1928), Director of Forestry for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (1933-1937), and Chief of the Division of Recreation and Lands, United States Forest Service (1937-1939). Between 1929 and 1939, Marshall made four exploration trips to the Central Brooks Range of Alaska. From these experiences, he published the book "Arctic Village." He also published "The People's Forests" in 1933, in which he wrote about current management practices in American forests. He authored articles on wilderness preservation, society's impact o the wilderness, public policy and land development, and the federal regulation of forestry. Some of his articles include "The Forest for Recreation"; "The Problem of the Wilderness"; "The Universe of the Wilderness is Vanishing"; and "Priorities in Forest Recreation." In 1935, he co-founded the Wilderness Society, a not-for-profit organization that works to promote the preservation of wild lands. He was a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club, t Explorer's Club, the Society of American Foresters, and The Wilderness Society. Marshall travele often throughout his career, but made frequent trips to New York City to visit his family. Marshall never married and he died in 1939. In his will, Marshall left one-half of his entire estate to aid trade unionism and the "promotion and advancement of an economic system based upon the theory of productio for use and not for profit." He designated the other half for the establishment of two trusts: The Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust, devoted, in the words of his will, to the "safeguarding and advancement of the cause of civil liberties in the United States of America" and the Robert Marsh Wilderness Fund, dedicated to "the preservation of wilderness conditions in outdoor America, including, but not limited to, the preservation of areas embracing primitive conditions of transportation, vegetation and fauna." In 1941, the U.S. Forest Service dedicated the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Flathead and Lewis & Clark National Forests in Montana in recognition of his "work i development of its system of wilderness areas." In addition, there are three other geographic poin in the United States named in his honor: Marshall Lake in the Brooks Range, Alaska; Mount Marshall the Adirondack Mountains; and the Bob Marshall Recreation Camp in the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota.