CRF Museum talk focuses on history of Civilian Conservation Corps work in Mohican Forest

LOUDONVILLE – The Cleo Redd Fisher (CRF) Museum in Loudonville will close out their Speaker Series with a look at the history and legacy of Camp Mohican and the Civilian Conservation Corps' effort in Mohican State Forest. The program is slated for Monday at 7 p.m.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. Considered by many to be one of the most successful of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, the CCC planted more than three billion trees and constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks nationwide during its nine years of existence. The CCC helped to shape the modern national and state park systems we enjoy today.

Among the first camps established was Camp Mohican, enabling CCC workers to help develop forestry projects in Mohican State Forest. Despite uncertainty surrounding the future of the camp and the CCC as a whole, the project would prove to be worth funding and in the end was a staple of Mohican for nearly a decade. Kenny Libben, curator of the CRF Museum, will build off last year's look at the greater role the CCC played across the state and the nation, and delve into the history of the CCC specifically in the Mohican area. With the help of original documents, photographs and interviews from camp residents, Libben will explore the establishment of the camp, the lives of those who lived and worked there and ultimately the work they completed and legacy left behind.

Libben has been the curator at the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum for 12 years, having received national recognition from both the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History. He is a 2015 recipient of the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from the Ohio Local History Alliance and serves as an officer on the board of the International Council of Museum’s Committee for Regional Museums.

This program is free and open to the public. The event will be held in the lecture hall of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum, located at 203 E. Main St. in Loudonville. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., while the event begins at 7 p.m. For more information, visit CRFMuseum.com or call the museum at 419-994-4050.