“From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters, This Land is made from Trees”

Jake Sanner, “From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters, This Land is Made from Trees”

Description

I will explore the Coastal Redwoods of California. Specifically, the formation of the Save the Redwoods League in 1918 brought a 20th century era of photographs and literature in recognition of the ancient sequoias. I will reference the work of Richard Powers, Simon Schama, Barry A. Vann, among other conservationist, geographic, or philosophical writing on the redwoods. I will also use photographs of the redwoods shared by the League, such as Yosemite Valley taken in 1866 by Carleton Watkins. Through a combination of shared literature and photographs, I wish to explore the methods the Save the Redwoods League used in drawing forth a national appeal towards preserving the coastal redwoods from roughly 1918-1930.

Biography

Jake Sanner is a student at UW Milwaukee in his final semester of a six-year journey towards receiving a degree in History Education. In 2018, Jake left school for a year and a half to reflect on his well-being, identity, and future. After his hiatus, Jake found a new devotion towards learning and retelling history after meeting his professor Chris Cantwell for the first time in History 152. For Jake, Cantwell stood a virtuoso in the art of storytelling. Inspired by great teachers, Jake found new meaning in what it meant to be a historian. On a warm evening in Spring, Jake wrote in his journal “To be a historian is to be the narrator.”