Broward County Libraries Division’s

 

Bienes Museum of the Modern Book: The Dianne and Michael Bienes Special Collections and Rare Book Library (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

 

is proud to announce:

 

An exhibit about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a Depression-Era public works program that put unemployed men to work improving the nation’s natural resources, is on display now until March 9 in the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book: The Dianne and Michael Bienes Special Collections and Rare Book Library, at the Broward County Main Library, 100 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.

 

Created by an Act of Congress in 1933, this New Deal project was designed to furnish employment, vocational training and educational opportunities for unemployed youth, to enable young men to provide aid for their dependent families, and to advance a nationwide conservation program on forests, parks and farm lands.

 

From 1933 to 1942, more than three million men, ages 17 to 23, lived in conservation camps where they learned to plant trees, aid wildlife, control soil erosion and protect forests. More than three billion trees were planted through this program, an accomplishment which earned the CCC the nickname “Roosevelt’s Tree Army.”

 

Participants in the Corps restored national historic sites, built national park facilities, assisted in fighting forest fires and undertook reforestation efforts.

 

More than 4,000 camps were established in all 48 states, the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

 

The library exhibit, “CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942): The New Deal’s Depression-Era Ecological Movement,” includes 52 items from the Bienes Museum collection. Informational newsletters, pamphlets, and books, along with photographs, souvenir pillows and postcards are among the items displayed. A typical hat and badges worn by CCC members are also on exhibit.

 

A lecture about the Civilian Conservation Corps and a reception will be held beginning at 7 p.m. on February 15 at the library.

 

The program is cosponsored by the Fontaneda Society: Book Collectors of South Florida.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

James (Jim) A. Findlay

Bienes Museum of the Modern Book

The Dianne and Michael Bienes Special Collections and Rare Book Library     

Broward County Main Library

100 S. Andrews Ave.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

 

954-357-8692 (office)

954-357-6762 (fax)

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www.broward.org/library/bienes_about.htm

 

 

Current Exhibition:

CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1943): The New Deal's Depression-Era Ecological Movement

January 15-March 9, 2007