Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (21) View all

Ernest Dickerman

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  • Ernest Dickerman of the Tennessee Valley Authority studies a steep field on Hills Creek, just outside the National Park about one-half mile from Emerts Cove. The right slope is 38 degrees. The estimated front slope is about 45 degrees. Cultivation of such steep fields quickly removed the soil from the hillsides. The photographer, Carlos C. Campbell (1892-1978), was a founding member of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club (est. 1924) and a charter member of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association (est. 1923). Campbell was an avid hiker and often assisted Jim Thompson with his camera equipment. When Campbell won a folding camera in 1935, he began his own photography journey, taking thousands of photographs and jotting down information about each one in small notebooks. His granddaughter, Rebecca Campbell Arrants, donated this collection of photographs and notebooks from 1934 - 1940 to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.