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Earth Day beginnings on the 1970s campus of Fredonia as seen in the Leader


As environmental activists the world over prepare to mark the 47th Earth Day this Saturday (first observed on April 22, 1970), Reed Library Archives & Special Collections, located in the Carnahan-Jackson Center, invites you to peruse past issues of the University's campus newspaper, the Leader, to get a glimpse of political activism as it manifested on Fredonia’s campus during that time.

As this cover image from the April 16, 1970 issue shows, the environment was making headlines in very similar ways to the present. Pressing global concerns such as DDT, air pollution, overpopulation and reliance on fossil fuels were featured prominently alongside more locally focused issues like the contamination of Canadaway Creek, showing that while much has changed, many of these problems are still with us.

Bound issues of the Leader are available for use in the Archives reading room (current semester hours: 1:00-4:00 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). Microfilm copies of the Leader are available in the microforms room of Reed Library during the Library’s open hours.

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