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Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project Records, 1930-1999

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Huxley College of Environmental Studies
Title
Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project Records
Dates
1930-1999 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.5 linear feet
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0147nesset (collection)
Summary
The Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project records document a 1999 student project led by professors at Huxley College at Western Washington University.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for preparing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding the finding aid was awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project was compiled by Western Washington University Huxley College students in February-March 1999 for the "planning, documentation, education and interpretation" of the Nesset Farm and adjacent Overby/Goodyear-Nelson properties located in Whatcom County, Washington.

The Nesset family were the Norwegian relatives of the Sinnes family, who homesteaded the property in 1885. The Nessets arrived in the South Fork valley in 1902 and moved onto the property in 1905. The family included Lars and Anna Nesset and their son, Tom. Ingeborg and George Nesset were later born on the farm and all three children lived their entire lives on the property.

The Nesset farm site presently comprises 106 acres and the Overby/Goodyear Nelson portion is approximately 200 acres (a total of 306 acres of land along the South Fork of the Nooksack River) In an easement signed in 1989, Tom and Ingeborg Nesset willed that the property be transferred to the Whatcom Land Trust upon their death. The easement specifies that timber on the land be conserved in perpetuity. The conservation easement also protects the land from development, restricts deforestation, and permits the farm to be used as a public park so long as site buildings are restored and the site is used for educational and historical interpretation purposes. At the time the environmental stewardship project began, the property had recently been added to the Whatcom County Parks system and was destined to become a county park. The collection documents the environmental history as well as the ownership of the site.

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Content Description

The collection comprises student reports, photographic materials, and oral history interviews gathered by Huxley students during the course of their research. The reports contain maps, historical details and environmental data pertaining to Nesset Farm and the adjacent Overby/Goodyear-Nelson property, intended for use as a preliminary site plan for a county park along the South Fork of the Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington. The collection also contains a small number of undated photographic negatives and proof sheets depicting Nesset Farm, Nesset family members and area residents. Audio and VHS tapes include oral history interviews with Nesset family members and their neighbors.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project Records, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Nesset Farm Environmental Stewardship Project Records are organized in accordance with the following series and subseries arrangement:

  • Series I: Final Reports, 1999
  • Series II: Photographic materials, undated (circa 1930-1999)
  • Series III: Interviews and presentation recordings, 1999

Processing Note

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Acquisition Information

Collection materials were donated by Eric Henry in May 1999.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Conservation of natural resources--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--History--Sources
  • Environmental conditions--South Fork Regional Park (Whatcom County, Wash.)--History--Sources
  • Family farms--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--History--Sources
  • Frontier and pioneer life--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--History--Sources
  • Historic Farms--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--History--Sources
  • Oral history--History--Sources
  • Parks--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--History--Sources

Personal Names

  • Nesset, Ingeborg
  • Nesset, Tom

Family Names

  • Nesset Family

Geographical Names

  • Nooksack River (Wash.)--History--Sources
  • South Fork Regional Park (Whatcom County, Wash.)--History--Sources
  • Whatcom County (Wash.)--History--Sources

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names

    • Huxley College of Environmental Studies (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Megan Bezzo
2007

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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