A Manufactured Wilderness

Abstract

Since they were first established in the 1880s, children’s summer camps have touched the lives of millions of people. Why were summer camps created? What concerns and ideals motivated their founders? Whom did they serve? How did they change over time? What factors influenced their design? To answer these and many other questions, this book looks at the most visible and evocative aspect of camp life: its landscape and architecture. It argues that summer camps delivered much more than a simple encounter with the natural world. Instead, it suggests, camps provided a man-made version of wilderness, shaped by middle-class anxieties about gender roles, class tensions, race relations, and modernity and its impact on the lives of children. Following a fascinating history of summer camps and a wide-ranging overview of the factors that led to their creation, the book examines the intersections of the natural landscape with human-built forms and social activities. In particular, it addresses changing attitudes toward such subjects as children’s health, sanitation, play, relationships between the sexes, Native American culture, and evolving ideas about childhood.