Chapter 1 -

Project: Photographic Points written by K.D. Swan, February, 1961

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"We know that in the course of events slight matters are often caught up by the imagination and enlarged to a size out of all proportion to their importance. Such was the case in the incident of the writer’s famous hat. In the early twenties this hat appeared in a picture of a group of white pine trunks, where it had been hung to indicate the size of the boles. Some twenty years later the same hat –a little battered perhaps by the vicissitudes of many years in the woods – was shown in the same spot in a follow up picture. The coincidence was mentioned casually in hearing of the editor of the Northern Region News, who being short of items at the time, gave heed to the incident and used it as a space filler."

 

Early Northern Region News header, ca. 1930.

 

 

Editors note: The Northern Region News or NRN is the Forest Service's regional newsletter.

 

Northern Region News header, 1932. Wings appear on the Forest Service Shield during World War II.

 

"The response from the field was immediate and hearty, even to offers of financial assistance in obtaining a new head piece.

And so this old stiff-brimmed Stetson, which had cost me $5.00 in the first place, probably did more to stimulate interest in Project Photographic Points than many a circular letter sent to the field by the regional office!"

 

Gifford Pinchot wearing a Stetson hat.

 

Advertisement for Stetson Hat, ca. 1917. courtesy of www.stetsonhat.com.

 

Photo of a modern-day remake of Swan's Stetson; courtesy of www.stetsonhat.com.