A recent magazine article that I wrote featured a C.C.C. Mother pillow, owned by a retired professor who lent it to us for the purpose of photography. You ask, “What is the C.C.C.?” The Civilian Conservation Corps was an organization for young men during the Great Depression. They accomplished all kinds of feats such as planting trees, pruning and maintaining tree plantations, building bridges, roads, and buildings, and doing much more.
This was a “make work” type of program under the FDR administration, designed to provide employment. Men had to meet certain qualifications and be of good moral character to join. They were paid, but most of their allotment was sent home, leaving them with a small amount for personal spending in the camp store.
In the state of New Hampshire, there were quite a few C.C.C. camps. I was thrilled to visit the museum associated with one of them at what is now called Bear Brook State Park. My association with the park goes back to when I was three years old. In the family album, there are photos of my brother and I, and my sister and I, on the public beach there. Later, I served as an assistant cook at summer 4-H camp, when I was in high school, and another year, I was a Camp Counselor. In high school, I camped with my parents in another area of the park, and when I was very small, I climbed the Fire Tower at the Park, with my Dad.
I recently learned that the main public pond at Bear Brook was excavated by C.C.C. members with picks and axes. If one swims in the water in a bathing suit with a white lining, that lining will turn red. This can be attributed to the underlying tree roots at the bottom of the man-made, spring fed pond. They leach tannic acid, a harmless ingredient (to humans) also found in tea.
The beautiful bathhouse there was built with granite stones, quarried in nearby Hooksett, and set together by the C.C.C.
Lately, learning more about the C.C.C. has been of great interest to me. When I received more photos of “Mother” pillows, etc. from an Interpretive Specialist for the National Parks Service, I was even more intrigued. You can see photos and descriptions of those textile on our website.
Whenever I mention the initials “C.C.C.” to anyone my age, no one knows what I mean. I have to explain. This was a Depression Era, stop-gap measure, to counteract the effects of poverty.
Yesterday, in speaking to an international conference, President Bush stated that if something is not done about the economy, we could go into a Depression greater than the Great Depression. That is an upsetting thought, and I think that most of us feel at the mercy of those who have the majority of wealth in America. We want those individuals to figure out a problem that “the little guy” did not cause.
Sometimes, we have to look back before we can look ahead. History is so important, and learning from the past is doubly so, because if no meaningful connections are made, then we have not gained anything. We will just keep repeating wrong decisions that cost lives, money, and quality of existence, again and again.
The C.C.C. tells a great story of America. We always rise to the cause and do what needs to be done, in good times and bad. With the right attitudes and some elbow grease, we will get through the current economic crisis. The young men of the C.C.C. may not be recognized today, in a society who has forgotten the hardship lessons of America’s past, in the wake of prosperity. The work of these young, unmarried men was vital to feeding their families of origin, at the time. The organization lasted from the early 1930s to 1942, and many of the men went off to serve in World War II, having been given confidence and self-discipline by their experiences in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a para-militaristic organization. When we look to the early twentieth century, we see many who sacrificed, again and again. We could all take a lesson.
With best wishes,
Patricia Cummings
