In late 2013, I was approached by my friend Keith Bagwell, who asked me if I would be interested in working with a couple of people he knew who wanted to work on an exhibition in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wilderness Act. Those two people turned out to be Meg Weesner, formerly of the National Park Service, and Kevin Dahl, executive director of the Tucson Audubon Society. They knew we housed the papers of the Udall brothers as well as those of Edward Abbey, and they were very eager to share their knowledge of conservation and environmental issues with me and to work with me to design an exhibition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the passage of the Wilderness Act. It was a real pleasure working with them. Meg, in particular, put in a lot of time and effort into this project. She led the way.

“This new exhibit showcases how, 50 years after becoming law, the Wilderness Act continues to benefit the American people by ensuring millions of acres of public land are available for recreation, exploration and inspiration. “The Wilderness Act” features original material from Special Collections including maps, books, archival documents and photographs from the collections of Edward Abbey and Stewart and Morris Udall.”

Read former student assistant Jarrod Mingus’s article about the exhibition here.

Listen to highlights of the opening program, courtesy of KXCI, here.