August 8, 2019 / Joanne Yeck

Virginia Chronicle: Civilian Conservation Corps Newspapers

During the initial months of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created, quickly becoming a significant and successful economic stimulus program.

Buckingham County was home to CCC Camp P-56, Company 1367 (commonly called Camp Buckingham), located at the foot of Willis Mountain. It operated for nearly one year when, on June 7, 1934, it was “reconstituted” as a “Negro” camp. Until the camp’s closing in 1937, the men of this all African American Corps contributed greatly to the building of roads and bridges in Buckingham, as well as fighting forest fires.

Each CCC Company created a camp newspaper. A copy of “Camp Chatter,” published in Dillwyn, survives and can be viewed (and downloaded) at the Library of Virginia’s online collection of historic newspapers, Virginia Chronicle.

Click here to read “Camp Chatter,” August 1935.

The collection of CCC newspapers at Virginia Chronicle also includes issues from neighboring Cumberland County’s “Camp Messenger” and “Voice of 1367.”

Click here for the entire list: Civilian Conservation Corps Newspapers.

My book “At a Place Called Buckingham,” Volume Two contains a lengthy essay about the CCC in Buckingham County, “Spirit and Industry: Buckingham County and the Civilian Conservation Corps.” Click here to learn more: “At a Place Called Buckingham,” Volume Two.