Yellow More: A Rephotography Classic RevisitedA semicentennial reissue of Donald Progulske's 1974 Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine, the pioneering project of Black Hills rephotography. Annotated, with crisp aligned images, new maps, chapters of extras, and a critical essay based on interviews with the authors.
Print edition $48. PDF in regular or jumbo resolution, $50 suggested donation to Maȟpíya Lúta. Plus online multimedia.
RSS LongaSubscribe now for a minute a week of (mostly) history and landscape. A free feed via email, web, or RSS, Thurssdays 10:30 Central.
Gobstoppers, Cents and Vaporware"If we are going to do mass rephotography— that is, if we are going to reconstruct the Earth's landscape through time at our native resolution— we need to learn many lessons about organizing those millions of photographs."
Online article with ground / aerial / satellite image demo, in peer review.
Old Main, 1887-2023In this symbolic heart of the campus, St. Olaf College used to form circles, holding hands and making these charming, democratic photos that curved as far as a Cirkut Camera could turn.
Photo web stitching and reshooting Prof. Ole Felland.
FramFrom: St. Olaf Drafting UpwardA rephotography cartography project by students in GIS, St. Olaf College, January 2023.
The KMZ file opens in Google Earth Pro (free here), and posters open in a browser. Photos are also posted as "compilations" at re.photos. Their main projects were maps on the themes of their choosing.
St. Mary's Hall, 1916-20221916 was the semicentennial of this school in Faribault, Minn. 2022 was the post-COVID all-class reunion of Shattuck-St. Mary's, its co-ed successor.
A moving two-date panorama; read the card for instructions.
A Field on Fire: The Future of Environmental History"These essays in honor of pioneer environmental historian Donald Worster are eye-openers." (Choice Reviews) Robb Campbell's chapter restarts environmental history with the fact that humans live in the sky.
Landstand: A Ground Remote Sensing ArchiveLandcover imagery from satellites went through the looking-glass from thousands of downloads to millions. Near-ground imagery is stuck in the mud. Here's how to fix it.
Two academic talks given at USGS EROS in 2008 and 2012, at YouTube.
Wishlist: Wilderness Endgame in the Black Hills National ForestTracking four roadless areas through the 1970s RARE II process for Wilderness designation. Which will make it?
Journal article, 2010, open access at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Digital Commons.
Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental ChangeIn 1996 I put the USGS's Historical Landsat Data Comparisons online as Earthshots. Before-and-after Landsat images of dramatic changes.
Website of articles, 8th edition here; current edition at eros.usgs.gov/earthshots.
WhereintheHills.comAn early draft of a ground-photo archive, funded by the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium. Lots of photos of the Black Hills.
The University of Kansas landscapeArticles in, for, and from This Week in KU History. "One Day In The Park With George," 2003. "The Vision Thing," 2003. "What We Need: A Long and Winding Road", 2005. Unbelievably the University had no map of the whole campus, so we made one.
A Haskell-Baker Bibliography"A Haskell-Baker Bibliography," a project of local environmental history researching two square miles of Lawrence, Kansas. Completed by the students of History 562, Environmental History of the 20th-Century U.S., University of Kansas, spring 2002.
South Dakota Vegetation Terms on MapsOnline article of maps repeating August Kuchler's study of Kansas, but two states up. 1997.
Google Earth
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Robb Campbell is an environmental historian. He worked for the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, and has taught at the University of Kansas, Black Hills State University, and St. Olaf College. CV