Faculty
member writes book about Harrisburg reformer, conservationist
A
soon-to-be published book by a Shippensburg University faculty member details
the life of Mira Lloyd Dock of Harrisburg who was a Progressive Era reformer, a
college-educated botanist and the first woman to serve on the Pennsylvania
State Forestry Commission.
The book,
to be published in December, is written by Dr. Susan Rimby, a professor of
history/philosophy who is serving as interim associate dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences at Shippensburg.
Rimby is
the first author to write about the life and work of Dock. Her book, Mira Lloyd Dock and the Progressive Era
Conservation Movement, will be published by Penn State University Press.
“She fought
hard for conservation, municipal clean-up and women’s rights throughout her
lifetime,” said Rimby. “She wove these causes together through her work with
both the forestry commission and women’s clubs affiliated with the General
Federation of Women’s Clubs.”
Dock, who lived from 1853 to 1945, was a
contemporary and colleague of Gifford Pinchot, U.S. chief forester and later governor
of Pennsylvania, and Joseph Trimble Rothrock, Pennsylvania’s first forest commissioner.
According
to Rimby, “The book shows the ways in which committed citizenry, both concerned
women and politically powerful men, joined forces to preserve and conserve
forests and watersheds, improve the quality of urban life, and secure equitable
educational, professional and political rights for women.”
Rimby will talk
about her book as keynote speaker for the Midtown Scholar’s Annual Book
Festival. That presentation is 7 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Midtown Scholar bookstore at
1302 North 3rd Street in Harrisburg.
“The
bookstore is in the center of the city where Dock lived and engaged in her professional
and volunteer work,” Rimby said. “The Midtown Scholar’s owners do a great job
of engaging Harrisburg and Southcentral Pennsylvania citizens in discussing the
issues of the day. As such, it’s a worthy successor to the organizations
founded and promoted by Dock.”
11.2.12