William Thompson Howell, born in Newburgh, NY in 1873, was an avid hiker and photojournalist. He used his photography to sway political opinion toward environmental issues including the reforestation and preservation of the NY Highlands. In the late 1900s and 1910s, Howell spent a great deal of time hiking the area that is now Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks, photographing the countryside and working with the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) and others as they pushed for the creation of public parks across the region. His photographs can be found in multiple collections in the northeast, but the PIPC collection is among the largest.
Scope of Collection
This collection contains glass plate negatives taken during the time Howell spent in the Highlands. In total, there are approximately 400 scanned negatives in the collection.
