Malabar Farm nature trail sign   Save
Friends of the Land Collection
Description: Printed primitive-style nature trail sign for Malabar Farm, under the care of the Friends of the Land organization, likely ca. 1957. Design features a block-print goose and reads "Malabar Nature Trail." After the death of prominent Ohio farmer and author Louis Bromfield, who built Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio, out of multiple "worn-out" farms in the 1930s through 1950s, the Friends of the Land conservation group purchased the property in hopes of establishing a thriving center for conservation and ecological research and education in keeping with Bromfield's vision. The Friends of the Land Collection (1930-1960) contains the papers of the Friends of the Land (1940-1959), a prominent national soil conservation education organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. FOTL produced an international literary arts quarterly, THE LAND (edited by New Deal agriculture writer Russell Lord) in addition to several members' only publications (LAND LETTER) and informational pamphlets. They also hosted annual conferences; ran conservation tours, teacher training labs, and workshops; and operated as a national clearinghouse for conservation information. Ohio farmer and novelist Louis Bromfield was active in the organization. Much of the collection reflects the career and interests of FOTL Executive Secretary Ollie Fink, who was a prominent conservation education pioneer in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS364_B13F08_01
Subjects: Conservation education; Bromfield, Louis (1896-1956); Agriculture; Soil science; Malabar Farm
Places: Mansfield (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)