75TH Anniversary Civilian Conservation Corps Tribute

Michigan based author Bill Jamerson will present a music and storytelling program about the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Menasha Public Library on Wednesday, July 16 at 6:30 pm. The hour-long program includes showing a short clip from his award winning PBS film on the CCC, Camp Forgotten, reading excerpts from his novel BIG SHOULDERS and also playing original songs about the CCC with his guitar. Bill has presented his program at numerous CCC reunions around the country. The CCC celebrated its 75th Anniversary in April.

His book, BIG SHOULDERS is an adult novel that follows a year in the life of a seventeen-year-old youth from Detroit who enlists in the CCC in 1937. The enrollee joins two hundred other young men at Camp Raco, a work camp in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula run by reserve army officers. It is a coming-of-age story of an angry teenager who faces the rigors of hard work, learning to cope with a difficult sergeant and facing off with a bully.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal works program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in the heart of The Great Depression. During its ten year run from 1933-1942, a hundred sixty five thousand young men between the ages of 17 and 25 years of age enlisted in Wisconsin and lived in 128 camps that held 200 men in each. The enrollees planted 268 million trees, fought forest fires, built state parks and hundreds of miles of county roads. The camps not only revitalized Wisconsin's natural resources but also turned the boys into men by giving them discipline and teaching them work skills.

In his talk, Bill will discuss his research methods, some of the interesting CCC boys he has met over the years and the projects the CCC did in Wisconsin. He will be available to
sign books after his talk. Former CCC'ers are encouraged to attend. For more information about the program, please contact the library at 920-967-3690 or visit Bill's website at:
www.billjamerson.com.

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