The Ernest M. Dickerman Papers, 1904-2005, contain a wide variety of materials that document Dickerman's efforts to obtain
Congressional designations of wilderness for various tracts of public land, primarily in Virginia. The collection also contains
papers of the Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), a grass roots conservation group that Dickerman led. Correspondence from
his time at Oberlin College and while serving in the Army is included.
The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collection Library.
For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this
collection.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], [box # folder #], Ernest M. Dickerman Papers, 1904-2005, SC 0143, Special Collections, Carrier Library,
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Ernest M. Dickerman in November 1994. After Dickerman's death in 1998, several additions of papers were donated
by his nephew and executor, C. Robert "Bob" Dickerman. Eleanor Dickerman, Ernest's half-sister, also donated an addition in
2019.
Processing Information
In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering
campaign in the spring of 2017. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 3085. The collection was minimally reprocessed in early 2018, at which time the finding aid to the Wilderness Society Papers at
the Denver Public Library was removed and added to the collection control file. Accessions from 2018 and 2019, comprising
primarily correspondence, were added to the collection in June 2022 at which time the finding aid was updated accordingly.
Brittle newspapers and clippings with limited research value were discarded.
Ernest M. Dickerman was born December 22, 1910 to Judson Charles Dickerman (1873-1967) and Adela Miller Dickerman (1874-1920)
in Austin, Illinois. His family moved to the Adirondacks in New York when Dickerman was three years old. When he was about
six years old, the family moved to Richmond, Virginia where his mother died of tuberculosis when Dickerman was nine. Sometime
later, the family moved to Roanoke. Dickerman attended Gettysburg Academy and Oberlin College (class of 1931). In 1934 he
began working for the newly created Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Immediately, he fell in love
with the Great Smoky Mountains, met conservationist Harvey Broome, and became deeply involved in the battles to preserve the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park from development. He was a 1936 charter member of The Wilderness Society and knew many
of the greatest conservationists of the day, including Bob Marshall, Sigurd Olson, Olaus Murie, and Howard Zahniser.
After a few years at TVA, Dickerman took a job with a plastics molding firm (apparently called the Patent Button Co. of Tennessee),
also in Knoxville. He retired from a position as production manager in 1966, and in 1969 moved to the headquarters office
of The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C. as a staff organizer. He traveled frequently to teach citizens how to identify,
map, and build support for wilderness areas throughout the East and Midwest. He also lobbied Congress on numerous wilderness
bills, wrestled with federal land managing agencies (Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service), and
was highly instrumental in passage of the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Bill. During the 1960s Dickerman also served as manager
for the Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund, as evidenced by a notebook of typed minutes from the first thirteen years of the
Fund (established by the will of Robert Marshall), 1940-1953, in which are inserted several 1968 letters to and from Dickerman.
When he retired from The Wilderness Society in 1976 and moved to his nephew's newly acquired mountain farm near Buffalo Gap
in Swoope, Augusta County, Virginia, he was almost immediately elected president of the Virginia Wilderness Committee. At
that time he inherited the organization's files prior to 1976. The Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC) had been founded in
Williamsburg at William & Mary College by a small group of private citizens in 1969 to promote the federal designation of
wilderness in Virginia according to the 1964 Wilderness Act. The VWC also became involved in various other issues relevant
to preservation of the natural landscape. VWC volunteers donate issues of the newsletter and occasional other VWC documents
to keep these current in Dickerman's papers.
Although he held an official position in the VWC only until 1979, Dickerman was the guiding spirit in the movement for Virginia
wilderness both before and long after those dates. He was widely renowned for his combination of optimism and canny strategizing,
his politeness in dealing with adversaries, his sense of humor, wit, and wordsmithery. He died on July 31, 1998. In 1999,
friends and colleagues produced a book of tributes titled Ernie Dickerman, 1910-1998: A Tribute .
The Ernest M. Dickerman Papers, 1904-2005, contain a wide variety of materials that document Dickerman's efforts to obtain
Congressional designations of wilderness for various tracts of public land, primarily in Virginia. The collection also contains
papers of the Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), a grass roots conservation group that Dickerman led. These papers include
correspondence, maps, field notes, reports, news clippings, wilderness proposals, minutes, financial statements, newsletters
and other materials, 1940 - current, with most materials dating 1962-1999. The collection documents Dickerman's activities
as a leader of the movement to designate wilderness areas on public lands in the eastern United States under the Wilderness
Act of 1964 and the Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975. Operating papers of the Virginia Wilderness Committee, a grass roots conservation
group of which Dickerman served as president for several years, are also included.
Papers from Dickerman's early life include correspondence from his time at Oberlin College and while serving in the Army.
Select correspondence and papers from immediate Dickerman family members are also included.
Wilderness Society Records, CoONS130, Conservation Collection, The Denver Pubilc Library.
Ernie Dickerman, interviewed by Dominic Pisciotta, 1994, Sd-Arch 6-3, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison
University, Harrisonburg, VA.
A duplicate copy of Elizabeth Murray's, ed. Ernie Dickerman, 1910-1998: A Tribute (The Wilderness Society, 1999) was removed from the collection and added to the Special Collections rare book holdings. A
copy is also retained in the collection.
"Grandad of the Eastern Wilderness," Sierra Magazine , Nov/Dec, 1986.
Bolgiano, Chris. The Appalachian Forest, A Search for Roots and Renewal . Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998.
Murray, Elizabeth, ed. Ernie Dickerman, 1910-1998: A Tribute . The Wilderness Society, 1999.
Series 1: Places and Policies, 1962-2001, contains maps, reports, conference agendas, environmental assessments, congressional
testimony, and some correspondence dealing with specific places, topical issues, and policies of public land agencies. The
Laurel Fork, Virginia folders hold the largest body of materials; Laurel Fork was Dickerman's favorite place in Virginia,
and he worked intensively (and successfully) against a proposed gas line through it.
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 1
Alaska-Pipeline, etc.
1971-1973
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 2
Assateague
1970-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 3
Assorted State Issues
1969-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 4
Back Creek-Pumped Storage Project
1973-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 5
Back Bay-Vehicular Access Flight
1970-1981
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 6
Back Bay-Wilderness Proposals
1974-1978
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 7
Big Levels/St. Marys
1972-1979
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 8
Bull Run Mountain
1973
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 9
Central Atlantic Environment Center
1972
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 10
Conservation Council of Virginia
1971-1975
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 11
Crawford Mountain
1973-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 12
Cumberland Gap
1967-1973
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 13
Dismal Swamp
1972-1975
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 14
Eastern Wilderness Bill-House
1973-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 15
Eastern Wilderness Bill-Senate
1973-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 16
Eastern Wilderness Bill-Senate Hearings
1973
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 16A
Eastern Wilderness Bill-Wilderness Areas
1975
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 16B
Eastern Wilderness Bill-Citizens For Eastern Wilderness Memoranda
1973-1975
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 17
Gathright
1972-1973
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 18
Hipes Dam
1967-1972
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 19
James River Face, Cave Mtn. Lake
1971-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 20
Laurel Fork
1962-1974
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 21
Laurel Fork-Gas Line Proposal
1975-1995
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 22
Laurel Fork-Gas Line Proposal
1975-1996
Mixed Materials [1000886591] box: 1 folder: 23
Laurel Fork-Environmental Assessment, Decision Notice and Responses
Series 2: Correspopndence and Personal Files, 1904-1999, includes carbon copies of Dickerman's outgoing letters, original
incoming letters, notebooks, texts for speeches, data sheets he composed about various issues, and other items. Select correspondence
and V-mail was written by Dickerman to his father while Dickerman was serving in the U.S. Army in the United States, England,
and France, etc. during World War II. Correspondence also dates to Dickerman's days as a student at Oberlin College as well
as his post-War years. He frequently mentions the books he's reading and searching for employment after graduation. Letters
exchanged between other Dickerman family memebrs are also included.
One folder contains personal Christmas messages, biographical articles, obituaries, and remembrances. Judson Dickerman and
Adele Miller Dickerman's wedding book includes photographs, lists of wedding invitees, and gifts received. A folder of family
photographs also includes photos of Charles M. Schwab and his wife Eurana Dinkey Schwab. Their connection to the Dickermans
is unclear.
Mixed Materials [1000886594] box: 4 folder: 7
Adela Miller Dickerman correspondence
1920
Mixed Materials [1000886594] box: 4 folder: 8
Virginia Dickerman Edmunds correspondence
1920-1958
Mixed Materials [1000886594] box: 4 folder: 9
Judson Dickerman correspondence
19201958
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 1
Correspondence
1930-1931
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 2
Christmas cards and celebratory greetings
1933-1935
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 3
Correspondence
1943
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 4
Correspondence
1944
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 5
Correspondence
1945
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 6
Correspondence
1952-1961
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 22
Correspondence
1962-1976
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 23
Correspondence
January-June 1977
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 24
Correspondence
July-December 1977
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 25
Correspondence
January-June 1978
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 26
Correspondence
July-December 1978
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 27
Correspondence
January-April 1979
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 28
Correspondence
May-August 1979
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 29
Correspondence
September-December 1979
Mixed Materials [1000886592] box: 2 folder: 30
Correspondence
1980
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 1
Correspondence
1981
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 2
Correspondence
1982
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 3
Correspondence
1983
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 4
Correspondence
1984
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 5
Correspondence
1985-1987
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 6
Correspondence
1988-1990
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 7
Correspondence
1991
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 8
Correspondence
1992-1995
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 9
Correspondence
1996-1998
Mixed Materials [1000898377] box: OV 1
Judson Dickerman and Adela Miller Dickerman wedding book
1904
Access Restrictions
The front and back covers of the Dickerman wedding book are suffering from red rot. Overall, the book is particularly fragile
and should be handled accordingly.
Mixed Materials [1000885713] box: 5 folder: 7
Dickerman family photographs
1914-1980
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 10
Master List of Basic Statements on Wilderness
1983-1997
Mixed Materials [1000886593] box: 3 folder: 11
Personal: obituaries, biography, Christmas cards, and photographs
Series 3: Virginia Wilderness Committee, 1969-2005, includes operational documents including minutes, financial reports, newsletters,
Virginia Wilderness coalition notes, the 1984 Virginia Wilderness Bill, and wilderness proposals.
Series 4: Maps, 1936-1991, contains 25 maps described at an item level in the container list.
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Maps 1-5, 7-9, 15-24
1936-1991, undated
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 1: Thornwood Gas, Inc.; Pipeline Gathering Route Location Map; Pocahontas, Pendleton and Randolph Counties, West Virginia;
Scale 1=2000
undated
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 2: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; George Washington National Forest; Virginia and West Virginia
1936
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 3: United States, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Vicinity; Tennessee
and North Carolina, Scale 1:125000
1949
Scope and Content
With lines probably indicating proposed wilderness.
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 4: Proposed Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area; Hightower Bald G.A.-N.C. and Dillard G.A.-N.C.
1946
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 5: United States, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; Tennessee Valley Authority, Maps and Surveys Branch;
Shooting Creek Quadrangle 159-SW, Rainbow Springs Quadrangle 159-SE, Prentiss Quadrangle 167-SW, North Carolina, 7.5 Minute
Series (Topographic)
undated
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 7: United States, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; Thornwood Quadrangle, Snow Mountain Quadrangle, WVA-VA
1969
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 8: United States, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; Commonwealth of Virginia; Snowden Quadrangle
1966
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 9a-9b: Proposed Whitetop Mountain Wilderness Area and Addition to the Lewis Fork Wilderness Area, Scale 1 = 200. 9b
undated
Scope and Content
Overlay with proposed wilderness boundaries.
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 15: Proposed Chattachoochee Wilderness Area, United States, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; Jacks Gap Quadrangle,
Tray Mountain Quadrangle, Georgia
19501957
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 16: United States Geological Survey; Shenandoah National Park (Central Section)
1969
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 17: United States Geological Survey; Shenandoah National Park (Southern Section)
1969
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 18: United States Geological Survey; Shenandoah National Park (Northern Section)
1969
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 19: Three Ridges Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Big Levels, Sherando, Massies
Mill, Horseshoe Mountain, Citizen Proposal compiled by James Madison University Geography Department
December 1990
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 20: Mount Pleasant Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Forks of Buffalo, Montebello,
Citizen Proposal compiled by James Madison University Geography Department
February 1991
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 21: Kelley Mountain-Big Levels Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Big Levels, Sherando,
Citizen Proposal compiled by James Madison University Geography Department
February 1991
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 22: Skidmore Fork Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Brandywine
February 1991
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 23: The Priest Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Massies Mill
May 1991
Mixed Materials [1000897712] Flat File: 1
Map 24: Ramsey's Draft Addition Proposed Wilderness Area, United States Geological Survey Quadrangles: Palo Alto, West Augusta,
McDowell
December 1990
Mixed Materials [1000898023] box: RS 1
Maps 6, 10-14, 25
1965-1984
Map 6: James River Face Wilderness and Vicinity
March 1976
Map 10: Beartown, Roadless and Undeveloped Area, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, Hutchinson Rock and Tazwell South Quads, Scale
1:24000
1977
Scope and Content
With attached information.
Map 11: Mountain Lake Wilderness Study Area, Virginia, Jefferson N.F., Scale 1:24000
1965
Map 12: Little Wilson and Thunder Ridge Roadless and Undeveloped Areas, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, Trout Dale Quad, Scale
1:24000
1977
Scope and Content
With attached information.
Map 13: Devils Fork and Roaring Branch Roadless and Undeveloped Areas, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, East Stone Gap Quad, Scale
1:24000; Roaring Branch, Roadless and Undeveloped Area, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, Appalachia & Big Stone Gap Quads, Scale
1:24000
1977
Scope and Content
With attached information.
Map 14: Little Dry Run and Lewis Fork Roadless and Undeveloped Areas, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, Speedwell, VA Quad, Scale
1:24000; Lewis Fork, Roadless and Undeveloped Area, Jefferson N.F. VA., 9/15/77, Whitetop Mtn. Quad, Scale 1:24000
1977
Scope and Content
With attached information.
Map 25: Rough Mountain and Rich Hole, George Washington N. F. Va., 1/25/1984, Scale 1:24000