Kenneth Dupee Swan (1887–1970), more commonly known as K.D. Swan, was an American
nature photographer
Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...
in the early part of the 20th century. During his career in the
USDA Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
(1911–1947) he took many picture of the
American Northwest. Swan captured the face of public lands, revealing its wildness and value to the American public. His messages of long ago still emanate from his images - the value of conserving public lands and the joy of living in magnificent wild places.
Early life
Swan first learned to love America's wilderness while rambling the hills of his native
Massachusetts
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. His "first love was a range of hills — the Blue Hills of Milton and Quincy — high points on the south rim of the Boston Basin." As he later described it, "This was my wilderness, easily reached from home by bicycle, trolley, or even on foot, and here I spent countless carefree hours in all seasons.... Here, too, was born a desire to become a forester ... a decision I have never regretted."
[Forest Images by K. D. Swan: Pictures Needed in the Telling , Montana: The Magazine of Western History]
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Career
He arrived in Missoula, Montana
Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...
in the summer of 1911. With a master's degree in Forestry from Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, he was among a cadre of young energetic foresters who joined the newly created Forest Service where he was appointed as a forest assistant.
He surveyed homestead sites, planted trees, and cruised timber in the Jefferson National Forest
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover of land in the Appalachian Mountai ...
(now Lewis and Clark), Sioux National Forest (now Custer), and Clearwater National Forest
Clearwater National Forest with headquarters on the Nez Perce Reservation at Kamiah is located in North Central Idaho in the northwestern United States. The forest is bounded on the east by the state of Montana, on the north by the Idaho Panha ...
. In 1913, the agency reassigned him to the Northern Region headquarters in Missoula
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
, where he began a seven-year stint as a topographic draftsman, an "assignment which brought... great satisfaction." He spent the remainder of his career working out of the regional office.
Forest education and photography
His work in forestry eventually led into the arena of public information and photography. In the 1920s, the Forest Service established the Information and Education Branch. Already recognized as a photographer, Swan was soon transferred to it. Through his pictures and many public presentations, Swan revealed the unique beauty of remote, wild areas in Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
, and the Dakotas.
Swan's images were used to illustrate a great variety of Forest Service publications, many of which he also authored. They also appeared in publications ranging from '' National Geographic'' to ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
''. Swan regularly toured the region giving lectures on forest conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
, illustrated by both still slides and moving pictures.
Late years
By Swan's retirement in 1947, his work had become art that transcended the mere recording of a place in time. Today, almost a century later, the photographs still engage and entrance viewers and tell a resounding story about public lands in the West. In 1968, he published ''Splendid Was the Trail'', a memoir that offered a detailed look at life and work in a remote, sparsely populated region during the formative years of the Forest Service.
Legacy
A collection of Swan's photographs is now in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
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, as well as in many exhibits throughout the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.Northern Region - Centennial
References
External links
* http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/centennial/swan.shtml
USDA Forest Service Biography
Project: Photographic Points
Kenneth D. Swan Photographs and Audio Tapes(University of Montana Archives)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Kenneth Dupee
1887 births
1970 deaths
20th-century American photographers
Artists from Missoula, Montana
Harvard University alumni
Forestry education