Gregory Baker Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection contains glass plate negatives, photographs and cellulose negatives of various logging and lumbering projects as well as a small group of photographs of railroad construction. The photographer for the early images is not identified; Baker himself took the images from the Diamond Match Company projects. Most images have his annotations and descriptions of the projects depicted.
Dates
- 1902-1973
- Majority of material found within 1902-1933
Creator
- Baker, Gregory (Person)
Access Restrictions
Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
Use Restrictions
Information on literary rights available in the repository.
Biographical Note
Gregory Baker was born in Moscow, Maine, in 1902. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1924 with a bachelor's degree in forestry and received a master's degree in forestry from Yale in 1939. He joined the faculty at the University of Maine in 1935 and was a professor of forestry there until his retirement in 1967. Professor Baker taught courses in wood identification, wood preservation and other areas of wood utilization. In 1943 he also became a member of the faculty of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, doing research there in the field of wood utilization. As a member of the executive committee of the Northeast Technical Forestry Committee, his projects included work on the impact strength of woods and the longevity of wood for posts.
Before coming to the University of Maine, Professor Baker worked as a forester for Finch, Pruyn & Co., Glen Falls, New York, from 1924 to 1929, doing timber cruising and mapping. He also worked as a forester for the Diamond Match Company, 1929-1933, supervising woods and sawmill operations, cruising and purchase of timber. He was manager and secretary-treasurer of Provincial Wood Products Company, Ltd., 1933-1935, and worked for Berst-Forster-Dixfield from January to June, 1935, doing cruising and mapping. Gregory Baker died on July 2, 1989.
Extent
3 cubic feet (6 document boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection contains Gregory Baker's photographs and negatives of logging and lumbering operations and railroad construction in northern Maine in the early part of the 20th century. The collection contains glass plate negatives, photographs and cellulose negatives.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically by project: the Mansfield Woods drive, believed to be in the town of Garland, Maine, 1902-1903; the construction of the Somerset Branch of the Maine Central Railroad in Moscow, Maine, ca. 1905; and photographs of various logging operations and construction projects of the Diamond Match Company in several northern Maine locations, 1931-1935.
A descriptive list of the subjects depicted in the glass plate negatives arrived with the collection and makes up the first part of this finding aid. If a modern print has been made of a glass negative, this is also indicated in the list.
The small photographs of Diamond Match Company activities are arranged by the number assigned them by the company, perhaps a job or project number. The corresponding cellulose negatives for these photographs, also arranged by photograph number, follow the folders of photographs. A small group of unnumbered negatives without corresponding photographs is also found in the collection and is listed last in the Box List.
The envelopes in which the cellulose negatives were originally housed have been retained in the collection because of information they provide about the date and time of each photograph, the type of camera, light, exposure, etc.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift from Gregory Baker.
- Diamond International Corporation
- Forests and forestry Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Forests and forestry -- Maine Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Garland (Me.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Logging -- Maine -- Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Lumbering -- Maine -- Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Maine Central Railroad Company
- Negatives (photographic) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Railroads -- Photographs -- Maine Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Sawmills -- Maine -- Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Gregory Baker Papers
- Status
- Box And Folder List Available
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for uncoded script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207-581-1686
