Retired chemist and friend of Lander John Barnes recently presented the university with a rare land use map created by his father during the Great Depression.
C.P. Barnes, an economist and soil scientist working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, produced the map in 1933 as part of a broad-based effort to discourage harmful land-use policies that would soon culminate in the Dust Bowl, which despoiled large areas of the Great Plains and displaced millions of people from their homes.
The map, titled "Natural Land Use Areas of the United States," is the only one of its kind known to exist in South Carolina, and one of only a few dozen known to exist anywhere.
According to the younger Barnes, the map, which was framed by Lander graduates Sandy and John McCord, has never been displayed. "It's been in my father's closet," he said.
Lander associate professor of environmental geology Dr. Daniel Pardieck described the map as "based on detailed soil surveys conducted nationwide. The map provides a beautiful, complete and still relevant picture of the entire country."
Pardieck added, "That I or other faculty can show this to students, tell the story, and describe the science behind it, is an enhancement of a small, but important, part of our mission as an institution of higher learning."
President Daniel Ball thanked the younger Barnes for his generosity to Lander. "John and his late wife, Robbie, have been part of the Lander family for many years, serving as charter docents, as avid supporters of our women's basketball program, and giving of their resources, including this rare document. Thanks to both of them, Lander University has been enriched," he said.