[Profusely-Annotated Vernacular Photograph Album Documenting the Activities of Joseph Accurio, a Young Italian American Serving in Soil Conservation Service Company 297]

[Various locations in New York and Oregon, 1937. Very good.. [25] leaves, illustrated with 176 vernacular photographs, between 2 x 2.5 inches and 3.5 x 5.5 inches, in mounting corners, plus a few ephemeral items, all artfully arranged and profusely annotated in white ink. Oblong folio. Contemporary light brown cloth with decorative blind-stamping and front cover stamped in silver, "Photographs," string tied. Moderate rubbing and edge wear. Light wear to contents. An excellent primary source providing an intimate look at a New York unit of the Soil Conservation Service in training and service in the mid-1930s through the eyes of a young Italian-American from New York named Joseph Accurio. At the time, the S.C.S. and C.C.C. worked closely together in the west, with the former group providing engineering and supervision for the latter, working on erosion control and other issues related to soil conservation. The young compiler of the present album, Joseph Accurio is identified in several photographs and the album includes a meal coupon issued to him. The annotation on the inside front cover reads, "N.Y. Picture Album of Co. 297 S.C.S. at Kanona, New York," with a photograph of Accurio and a friend posed with an S.C.S. truck. Company 297 began at Camp Kanona and later moved to Heppner, Oregon in late-1936. The present album documents both aspects of the unit's service, as well as the interim period while the unit was moving; the images here picture stopovers in Denver and Boone, Colorado. For most of the album, the annotations often identify both subjects (often with names and/or nicknames) and locations. The images feature Accurio and his fellow corps members in camp, traveling by train, at work and play, posed in front of trucks and camp buildings, laying dams and bridges, cutting wood, digging rocks, preparing meals, posed with their "company pets," and more. Most of the album features the company in Oregon, though a healthy percentage shows the company in New York and along the way. In addition to the images of the subjects, the photos feature the campsite they worked in, with a few excellent shots of the camp at Heppner, Oregon. Other photographs out west feature Heppner High School, American Falls in Idaho, Boone High School in Colorado, and other locations. An unusually well-conceived and captioned C.C.C. album documenting a significant period in a single company's history.