Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission Photographs collection, 1913.

This collection documents the effects that chestnut blight, also known as chestnut tree bark disease, had on chestnut trees throughout Pennsylvania. Introduced in the United States in the early 20th century, the first signs of the fungus were discovered in New York City in 1904, and by 1912 it was observed in points as far apart as eastern Massachusetts and northern Virginia. Concern over the destruction of trees and subsequent effects to state and local economies led to a conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that was held on February 20 and 21, 1912, and was called by John K. Tener (1863-1946), who was governor of Pennsylvania from 1911 to 1915. Chestnut trees were used to make tannic acid (used in tanning), telegraph and telephone poles, and railroad ties, and chestnuts themselves were harvested for consumption, so a shortage of the trees was not insignificant.

The Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission, also known as the Pennsylvania Chestnut Blight Commission, was commissioned by Tener to stop the spread of chestnut blight and eradicate the disease in the western part of the state (approximately 6.5 million acres of woodland). With the June 1911 bill that established the commission, he committed $275,000 to its efforts to stop the blight from moving west. Mark Alfred Carlton managed the project, sending two hundred field agents to inspect trees in western counties; in eastern counties, tree surgeons advised homeowners on ways to save their ornamental chestnut trees from blight. In the west, over 50,000 infected trees were destroyed. In the east, the diseased portions of trees were removed and the resulting wounds covered with creosote. The commission disbanded in August of 1913 after requests for another $275,000 were denied.

Winthrop Sargent (August 18, 1853-March 29, 1932) served as chairman of the commission during its brief existence. A cousin of Arnold Arboretum director Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927) and painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), he was a Pennsylvania native. During his lifetime he was involved in various industries, including the railroad, paint, cement, and coal. While he helped lead the effort to save Pennsylvania’s chestnut trees, he was concerned with other forms of preservation as well; Sargent was instrumental in preserving an ancestor’s Revolutionary War-era home in Gloucester, MA, and he published Epes Sargent of Gloucester and His Descendants, an extensive family genealogy, in 1923.