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Title
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Photographs of American Elms at Dartmouth College
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Caption
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These photographs depict the large stands of American Elm trees that once towered above Dartmouth’s campus as well as their removal in the 1950s and 1960s when the trees began dying following the accidental introduction of Dutch Elm Disease (DED). Prior to the introduction of DED, American Elm trees were so plentiful around Hanover that Dartmouth was known as the “campus of a thousand elms.” As shown in these photographs, massive American elm trees once encircled the College Green, providing shade to students as they passed in front of Webster Hall (now home to Rauner Library). Until Dutch elm disease made its appearance, the life expectancy of an American elm was approximately 400 years (to see a photograph of a famous "old elm" which stood in front of famous Dartmouth alumni Daniel Webster's home in the late 1800s, see the fifth image in the attached PDF file). Today, American elms rarely live to reach 100 years old. Originally native to Asia, DED came to America in the 1920s when shipments of logs cut in the Netherlands brought with them fungus-carrying bark beetles. Since the arrival of these beetles, DED has devastated native elms without resistance to the disease. Of the estimated 77 million elm trees in North America in 1930, over 75% had been lost by 1989. While there may not be a thousand, Dartmouth's campus is still home to a few surviving elm trees, thanks to the help of periodic anti-fungal treatments and their isolation from one another; they stand as solemn testaments to the forests of years past. Today, the World Conservation Union estimates that globally, introduced invasive species like Dutch elm fungus may be as damaging on a global scale as habitat loss.
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Containing Publication
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Dartmouth Photographic Files, Folder: Icon 1647-1883 "Trees"
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Place of Publication
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Hanover, New Hampshire
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Rights
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Copyright Undertermined
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Bibliographic Citation
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Photographs of Dartmouth College elm trees, Iconography, Icon1647-1883-0000076A, Icon1647-1883-0000069A, Icon1647-1883-0000051A, Icon1647-1883-0000083A, Icon1647-1883-0000059A, Dartmouth Photographic Files, Rauner Special Collections Library.
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Filename
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Icon1647-1883_Dartmouth_elms.pdf
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Case Number
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Causes and Consequences of Extinction
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Item Number
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9
