Special Collections: Guide to the Henry O. Trask Papers

Arranged and described by Desirée Butterfield-Nagy
May 2011

Collection title: Henry O. Trask Papers
Provenance: Manuscript materials were given to the University of Maine by Henry O. Trask's daughter, Rosalind Sumner, in 2004. The vegetation and topographic maps were transferred from Fogler Library’s Science and Engineering Center to Special Collections in 2001.
Collection number: MS 1691
Dates of collection: 1917-1970 (inclusive); 1926-1936 (bulk)
Size of collection: 1 record carton and one oversize folder
Conservation note: Materials transferred to acid-free storage containers.
Preferred citation: Henry O. Trask Papers, MS 1691, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine.
Restrictions on access and use: Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.

Biography

Henry “Chick” Orville Trask was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1903 and graduated from the University of Maine in 1927 with a bachelor’s degree in forestry. As an undergraduate student, he participated in a number of campus activities including the student senate, Prism yearbook board, freshman football team, track team, and served as editor-in-chief of the Forestry Club’s annual publication, Maine Forester.  Trask continued his education at the Yale School of Forestry in New Haven, Connecticut, completing a master’s degree in 1933. He went on to serve as District Supervisor for Northeastern Timber Salvage Administration at Athol, Massachusetts, to serve in World War II as a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and later held a number of forestry positions within the state of California. He retired in 1971 after 38 years of service as a silviculturist with the United States Forest Service. He died November 13, 1998 at his residence in Redding, California.

Scope and Content Note

Items in this collection include Trask’s class assignments and a number of items related to campus life at the University of Maine. Trask saved several programs from campus activities including the Swarthmore Chautauqua Festival in 1925, Winter Carnivals from 1925-1926 and theater productions of the Maine Masque Club from 1925-1927.

Many of the charts, graphs, and reports were submitted as assignments for undergraduate courses. Several reports focus on operations of various manufacturing companies in Maine and New Hampshire and typically include information about the location of the facility, a floor plan, and an explanation of the workings and products of the company. Other assignments were prepared on general scientific topics and reflect the curriculum of courses in civil engineering, entomology, and forestry. These include daily temperature, wind velocity, and last frost dates for Orono, Maine; a draft survey of the area between Stillwater Avenue and the campus bicycle path; and lumber cut in the United States from 1850 to 1925.

Also included are writings and publications related to Trask’s career in forestry.

Folder List

Charts, Graphs and Maps

1 Climate / weather related, 1926
2 Forestry related, 1926
Oversize Vegetation type and topographic maps, 1925-1926

Reference Resources

3 American Forests, American Forest Association 60th anniversary issue, Sep 1935
4 Field and Office Tables, 1920
5 Fire Problem, 1934
6 Forest History, April 1970
7 Guidebook for the Identification of Woods Used for Ties and Timbers, 1917
8 Harvard Forest Models, 1936, 1941
9 Hercules in the Woods, n.d.
10 Laboratory Outline in Plant Histology, n.d.
11 Maine Forester, May 1927
12 Manual for Northern Woodsmen, 1925
13 Observations on Thinning and Management of Eastern White Pine in Southern New Hampshire, 1936
14 Outline of Course in Plant Ecology, 1933
15 Photograph, natural pruning, poplar and spruce stand, n.d.
16 Site Factors in Interpretation of Forest Vegetation, 1930

Reports

17 American Thread Company, Milo, Me., 1926
18 Cascade Paper Mill, Gorham, N.H., 1926
19 College Avenue [Orono, Me.] Tree Survey, 1925
20 E.M. White Company, Old Town, Me., 1926
21 Forest pathology, 1927
22 Great Northern Paper Company Operations, Grindstone, Me., 1927
23 I.M. Pierce Manufacturing Company, Orono, Me., 1926
24 Jordan Lumber Company, Milford, Me., 1926
25 Jordan Lumber Company, Old Town, Me., 1926
26 Laboratory Notes and Drawings in Entomology, 1925
27 Leaf Diseases and Injuries, 1926
28 Pacific Coast Saw Mill, 1926
29 Shaw and Tenney Paddle Factory, Orono, Me., 1926
30 Small Tract Woodlot, Northeast Portion of the College Woodlot, 1926
31 Stillwater [Me.] Rock Ravine, 1925
32 West Orono [Me.] Area, 1926
33 Wood Identification, 1927

University of Maine related items

34 Campus Activities, 1923-27
35 Commencement, 1927
36 Track and Field Events, 1925-32

Yale School of Forestry, Writings

37 Forest Succession in the Douglas Fir Region of the Pacific Northwest, n.d.
38 Study of the Application on Indian Township, Maine, of Cover Type Classification, 1933
39 Wood Preservation: the Preservation of Mine Timbers, 1933

Finding Aids for selected manuscript collections in the Special Collections Department at Fogler Library are accessible online in URSUS, in a browsable Guide to Manuscript Collections. Please contact Special Collections at spc@umit.maine.edu or (207) 581-1686 for further information.

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Special Collections Staff: spc@umit.maine.edu | Revised: 01/17/2013