Manuscript Collections:
Upper French Broad Defense Association Collection [M77.14.1] - Papers of the environmental grassroots association that confronted the TVA development of the Upper French Broad River and successfully stopped the development project and the damming of the river. Includes contributions from Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania county environmentalists, as well as materials from the grass-roots organizers and the UFBDA organization.
River Link Papers [M2017.03] - Administrative files, photographic and AV media, clippings and other documents from RiverLink, an environmental non-profit organization that works to preserve and develop the French Broad River in Asheville
MountainTrue Papers [M2018.04] - The oldest non-profit environmental group in Western North Carolina, MountainTrue was formed through a merger of The Environmental and Conservation Organization of Henderson County, founded in 1987, the Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance, founded in 2000, and the Western North Carolina Alliance, based in Buncombe County and founded in 1982. The collection contains a wide range of materials including various environmental projects and planning as well as correspondence and data associated with the projects.
Citizens Against Clearcutting the Asheville Watershed (CACAW) Papers [M2016.04} - Citizens Against Clearcutting the Asheville Watershed (CACAW) was a citizens group that worked to stop clearcutting in the Asheville watershed beginning in the late 1980s. The CACAW Papers contains correspondence, press releases, news clippings, and other materials that document the group's actions.
Sources for Indigenous Perspectives and History (Note: you might need to log into your library account to access these materials, particularly if you are off campus. Your login is your UNCA email and password)
Roots of our Renewal: Ethnobotany and Cherokee Environmental Governance - Cherokee nation member Clint Carroll examines Cherokee perspectives on ecology. While much of it deals with the Oklahoma Cherokee, Chapter 1 discusses "the political ecology of the early Cherokee state" in Appalachia. This is an ebook available through the library's online catalog.
Cherokees in Transition: A Study of Changing Culture and Environment Prior to 1775 - A study of pre-contact Cherokee land, settlements, fauna, and flora, published as a 1977 geography research paper by Gary C. Goodwin of the University of Chicago. This is an ebook available through the library's online catalog.
Where there are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians - A classic environmental history of the mountains by Donald E. Davis. Check out Chapter 4, "Kituah: Cherokee Appalachia." This is an ebook available through the library's online catalog.
"Shaping New Homelands: Environmental Production, Natural Resource Management, and the Dynamics of Indigenous State Practice in the Cherokee Nation" by Clint Carroll. Journal article from Ethnohistory, Winter 2014, Vol. 61, Issue 1, pp 124-147. Available online Ramsey Library subscription databases.
Other Resources
"Progress of Purchase of Eastern National Forests - Under Act of March 1, 1911 (The Weeks Law)"- National Forest Reservation Commission, January 1, 1920 (scanned document from the Walter Julious Damtoft Collection)
Guide to citing materials from archival collections: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/archival
Repository information for materials in Ramsey Library Special Collections:
[Information about letter, document, report, etc.] [Name of collection, e.g., MountainTrue Papers], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, Asheville, NC
Get Started on Ramsey Library's Search Page.
For Ramsey Library Special Collections start with the Search Box on the Special Collections webpage to locate books, journal articles, reference materials, collections, images, and primary sources at UNC Asheville's Special Collections.
Additional search engines for environmental research:
