Dirk Van Hart
July 28, 2022

Camps and Campsites of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in New Mexico 1933-1943

Dirk Van Hart earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in geology and began a professional career as a petroleum geologist in 1965. During the next two decades a gypsy life took him and his family to residences in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Guatemala, and Ecuador. In 1986 a career change brought him to Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the next seventeen years he worked as a geologist in Italy and Belize, and also for a short while as a student high-school teacher in Albuquerque, and as a contractor to Sandia National Laboratories working on characterization of the geology of Kirtland Air Force base. After semi-retirement in 2003 he worked for five years as a geological consultant until final retirement. In 1998 he began his twenty-year affiliation with New Mexico's only alumni chapter of ex-CCC boys (as they were called) and was the chapter's president for the last fifteen years. He learned firsthand about the CCC, its achievements, its men, and its enormous impact on the Greatest Generation. The boys are now all gone. This book is his tribute to them.

Books mentioned in this video
Camps and Campsites of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in New Mexico 1933-1943 - Dirk Van Hart

Coming of Age in the Great Depression: The Civilian Conservation Corps in New Mexico, 1933-1942 – Richard Melzer

Interned: Internment of the SS Columbus crew at Fort Stanton, New Mexico 1941-1945 - by James J McBride

The Greatest Generation - Tom Brokaw

Websites
https://ccclegacy.org

NNDPA HISTORY
The NNDPA was created in 1998 thanks to individuals from various Secretary of State offices representing various states nationwide who came together in Santa Fe to discuss all the New Deal accomplishments that were still serving Americans in their individual states and concern that all of those sites needed to be preserved, conserved or restored. Some of those present ended up as part of the first Board of Directors of the newly formed non-profit organization and the current Boards of our groups continue to work hard to carry out the established mission.

The National New Deal Preservation ASSOCIATION (NNDPA) and its New Mexico Chapter are non-profit, tax-exempt 501-c-3 organizations devoted to preserving the country’s New Deal legacy through the identification, documentation, preservation and public education about the New Deal and its profound impact on Americans in the Great Depression—specifically through the visual and performing arts, literature, crafts, structures, and environmental projects.

Another NNDPA chapter is in Colorado Springs, CO. Our national organization is always ready to help other chapters get started and the current board has a number of members that specialize their knowledge in the various ND projects. Since NNDPA started, four other “sister organizations” with similar New Deal goals exist in California, Maine, NY City and Chicago. All are in communication with the Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY.

Learn more

Our National website: https://nndpa.org/ or at https://newdeallegacy.org/

The New Mexico Chapter website: https://nndpanewmexicochapter.org/

Please consider becoming joining as a member of our organizations and we always appreciate donations. This helps us further our missions.

We have also received generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New Mexico Humanities Council. These grants continue to help us with our out-reach programs.

For links to other Organizational Partners: https://nndpanewmexicochapter.org/about