The following is a list, by no means comprehensive, of archival collections relating to environmental history that are held in Manuscripts and Archives.

Click on collection titles below to link to the Archives at Yale finding aid for each collection.

Rachel Carson Papers (YCAL MSS 46): Beinecke Library. Manuscripts, notebooks, letters, newspaper clippings, photos, and printed material relating to the research and publications of Rachel Carson, noted biologist, environmentalist, and author of the influential and controversial Silent Spring.

Coalition to Stop Trident Records (MS 1696): ​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Administrative records, correspondence, publications, subject files, and photographs documenting the history, structure, philosophies, and activities of the Coalition to Stop Trident as well as other groups working to stop the production and deployment of Trident submarines and missiles in Connecticut and New England. There are also subject files that place the local activities of these Connecticut groups into the context of the national and international disarmament movement.

Peter B. Cooper Papers (MS 1649): Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, notes, and background material which document Peter Cooper’s legal work to preserve the quality of the environment in the New Haven area and on Long Island Sound.

Asa Fish Papers (MS 963): Manuscripts & Archives. Letters from family, friends, and business associates of Asa Fish chiefly relating to ocean going trade, whaling, and sealing around the Cape of Good Hope and marine insurance.

Arthur William Galston Papers (MS 1712): Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, course materials, writings, and photographs documenting Galston's career as a plant physiologist and a professor at Yale University. The papers highlight Galston's concern over the ecological harm done by herbicides and his efforts to end the use of Agent Orange, which was sprayed as a defoliant in Vietnam by the United States military. The papers also document Galston's visit to the People's Republic of China in 1971.

Henry Solon Graves Papers (MS 249): Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, writings, diaries, notes, photographs, and other papers relating to the personal life and professional career of Henry Solon Graves. The collection documents Graves’ academic and administrative career, his professional writings and activities, and his service during World War I as a forestry engineer in France.

George Bird Grinnell Papers (MS 1388): Manuscripts & Archives. Letterbooks, correspondence, and subject files, including photographs and writings, document Grinnell's leading role in the American conservation movement. 

John Dennett Guthrie Papers (MS 1121): Manuscripts & Archives. Materials document half a century of forestry and conservation organization and activity in America. The collection is especially rich in materials concerning the formation and work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); other organizations represented include the United States Forest Service, the Society of American Foresters, the American Forestry Association, and the Yale Forest School.

Austin Foster Hawes Papers (MS 637): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, photographs, and newspaper clippings, which document Austin Hawes’s student life, his career as state forester of Connecticut, his controversial retirement from that position, and his travels in Central and South America. Correspondents include Henry Graves and Gifford Pinchot.

William Kent Family Papers (MS 309): Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, writings, topical files, biographical files, scrapbooks, and other material relating to William Kent’s businesses, political activities, and family, including his activities as a municipal reformer in Chicago and Northern California and his interests in conservation, recreation, and public control of water power.

Landmarks Foundation Records (GEN MSS 2106): Beinecke Library. Correspondence, printed material, photographs, research materials, computer files, and other materials relating to the foundation and its work across the world. The Landmarks Foundation was a non-profit organization founded in 1997 by Samuel Adams Green to conserve sacred sites and landscapes around the world. 

Charles Augustus Lindbergh Papers (MS 326): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Primarily the materials in Series IV. Conservation, 1945-1975. From the Series description: “ The materials in this section document Lindbergh’s intense commitment to conservation and provide a vivid picture of developments in the international conservation field during the 1960s and early 1970s. Lindbergh’s correspondence with conservation leaders and political figures in many countries and with such important organizations as the Citizens Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy, The Oceanic Foundation, and the World Wildlife Fund illuminates the objectives, successes, and failures of the conservation movement in its political and economic contexts.”

David Townsend Mason Papers (MS 545): Manuscripts & Archives. Diaries and travel journals spanning the years 1907-1973. The sixty-eight volumes of diaries deal chiefly with forestry and give considerable attention to the formulation of national policy on forests in the 1930s. The fifteen travel diaries (1950-1972) record Mason's almost annual trips to Europe and the Far East and are also largely devoted to technical subjects.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Records (MS 1965):  ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. The records of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an American environmental action organization founded in 1970, consist of correspondence; legal files; meeting minutes; press clippings; technical reports; photographs; and publications, including annual reports, magazines, and newsletters; documenting NRDC’s administration and programs. Note that while much of the NRDC records are open for research, some Accessions include material that is restricted until a specified future date (the restriction is based on stipulations in the deed of gift signed between NRDC and Yale). You’ll find any restrictions noted in each Accession-level record in Archives at Yale, in a note with the heading “Conditions Governing Access.” Make sure you pay attention to this note as you browse the contents of each Accession.

Anne Nelson-Black Papers (MS 1444): Manuscripts & Archives. Notes, newspapers and news clippings and photocopies, propaganda, reports, government information, and other print ephemera collected by Nelson-Black as part of her work as a journalist in Central American, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, chiefly during the 1980s.

Frances Griffith Newlands Papers (MS 371): Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, speeches, reports, scrapbooks, and other material documenting the political career of Francis G. Newlands. The papers highlight Nevada Democratic and Silver Party politics and focus on Newlands's legislative programs on transportation, particularly railroads and inland waterways, interstate commerce, irrigation, flood control, land reclamation, currency and silver, conservation and forests, and tariffs.

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, Photographs of Events, Activities, and Individuals (RU 748): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Photographs and glass negatives documenting student life and activities at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (called the School of Forestry prior to 1972), including classroom activities, field trips, summer camps, and alumni events.

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, Records (RU 41): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Class materials and student papers from courses taught at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (School of Forestry prior to 1972) by Edward A. Bowers, Herman H. Chapman, B. E. Fernow, Henry Solon Graves, Gifford Pinchot, and Charles A. Walker. Also included are clippings, biographical notes, letters, publications, and photographs concerning the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and its faculty.

Paul Bigelow Sears Papers (MS 663): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence; writings; topical research files; minutes, agendas, and other organizational papers and teaching files documenting Sear’s career as an educator, conservationist, author, and spokesman for the environment.

Ward Shepard Papers (MS 746): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence, writings and a few essays by others on ecology, Indians, and Darwinism. The main portion of the correspondence (1943-1958) is with John Collier on he subject of Shepard’s last book, The Living Whole. His writings reflect interests in the environment and related scientific subjects, and the papers include both published and unpublished works.

James Gustave Speth Papers (MS 2068): Manuscripts & Archives. The papers document Speth’s professional career as a lawyer, activist, author, and advocate for the environment from 1977 to 2000 and cover the bulk of his career in environmental law, as well as his service as a fellow in research and innovation organizations.

Russell E. Train Correspondence with Charles A. Lindbergh Regarding Conservation Issues (MS 1951): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Correspondence of Russell E. Train with Charles A. Lindbergh and others regarding efforts to ban whaling of certain species and other political concerns relating to the World Wildlife Fund, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and other conservation efforts. Newspaper clippings and Train’s privately published memoir are included in the collection.

Whaling Logs Collection (MS 540): ​​​​​​​Manuscripts & Archives. Collection of eleven logs of whalers mostly sailing from New London and Norwich, Connecticut. Also two from Massachusetts (New Bedford and Provincetown) and one from Sag Harbor, Long Island. Also in the collection are newspaper clippings relating to whaling vessels.

Terry Tempest Williams Papers (WA MSS S-2700): Beinecke Library. Correspondence, writings, including manuscripts and proofs, journals, notebooks, day books, research files, photographs, printed materials, awards, artwork, and audiovisual materials related to the life and work of Terry Tempest Williams, an American writer, poet, naturalist, and environmental and social activist. Her writings link environmental causes with social justice and women's health, art, politics, and spirituality.