The ''White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs'', subtitled "A Bi-Monthly Publication Suggesting the Architectural Use of White Pine and Its Availability Today as a Structural Wood", was a landmark publication of drawings, photographs and descriptions of early American architecture. The original series was first published in 1915 and was out of print by World War II; it was revived from 2006 to 2014. Both the original series and revival were discovered to have published content based on fabricated New England communities.

History

The series was launched in 1915 as an advertising campaign by the White Pine Bureau, a joint venture of the Northern Pine Manufacturer's Association of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and the Associated White Pine Manufacturers of Idaho. Architect Russell F. Whitehead was hired to supervise the series with Julian Buckly as photographer. During the first 10 years, the series was limited to the exterior details of residences constructed with

Eastern white pine ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada, west through the Great Lake ...

, as suited its advertising purpose. Often the notable structures of a single village would be documented together in one issue. By 1920, the editor's collection of unpublished photographs became so extensive that Whitehead and his colleague Hubert Ripley invented the fictional town of Stotham, Massachusetts, to justify their use. The fiction went undiscovered until the late 1940s when Leicester Bodine Holland, head of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

' Department of Fine Arts related his inability to locate the town to Whitehead, eliciting an explanation of the subterfuge. In 1924, the White Pine Bureau ceased its advertising campaign and Whitehead determined to continue the series independently, selling advertising space to Weyerhauser Forest Products. He also modified the focus of the series, including documentation of churches and public buildings and the recording of interiors and

millwork Millwork is historically any wood-mill produced decorative material used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alterat ...

details. He also expanded the geographic scope of the project, documenting buildings in the southern states, many of which had been framed with Southern pine or

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

. In 1932, the Monograph series became absorbed into the '' Pencil Points'' architectural journal as a regular feature. The documentation of historic structures with photographs and measured drawings complemented the "Comparative Details" feature which published construction details for contemporary projects. The Monograph series was ended abruptly in June 1940. Many of its contributors became involved in the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

Re-issue and revival

Eagerly collected by architects and historians, the monographs have been re-issued in bound editions several times. In 1987, the National Historical Society of

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

, began publishing a series of hardbound books, the ''Architectural Treasures of Early America'', drawn entirely from the ''White Pine Monographs''. They reorganized the individual editions into geographic regions and re-set all the type in order to produce a consistent presentation. They were also able, in many cases, to make use of the original photographs which had been given to Weyerhauser by Whitehead's widow. In 2006, the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (NELMA) revived the title for a new series of publications documenting the production and use of Eastern white pine lumber in construction. In 2011, another hoax was discovered; similar to the 1920s hoax about Stotham, Massachusetts, a 2010 monograph discussing the town of New Milford, New Hampshire, was found to have been a fabrication. The article described the community as being a flourishing

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

village in the White Mountains during the early 20th century. According to the article, New Milford had been incorporated in 1852 by working-class quarry workers, had enjoyed prosperity for many years, and then declined in the early 20th century, following a succession of unfortunate disasters at the quarry site, the decline of rail-based tourism, the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and the outbreak of World Wars. Research by the Milford, New Hampshire, Historical Society and the New Hampshire State Library following the publication of the article led to the discovery that the article was fictitious. The series has not been published since 2014.

References

Sources

* * Davis, William C. (1987) "Historical Introduction to the Series." ''Survey of Early American Design'', Vol. 1 of Lisa C. Mullins, ed., ''Architectural Treasures of Early America''. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. pp. 5–7

External links

* {{Google books, 8LIAAAAAYAAJ , ''White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs'', Volumes III and IV Advertising campaigns Defunct architecture magazines Publications established in 1915 Architecture books 1987 non-fiction books