Civilian Conservation Corps Decal Trunk

The Story

This trunk has lived two American lives, and wears the evidence of both. The box itself is an ordinary metal-clad camp trunk of the 1900s–20s, calico paper inside, brass butterfly latches outside. Then came the New Deal: round U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps decals, pine tree at the center, were set on two faces — the mark of the Depression-era corps that planted three billion trees, worn now to about half but still speaking plainly. Inside the lid, a later hand recorded its second act in black: Bethel #19, the 'Job-ies' — Job's Daughters of West Allis, Wisconsin — who packed their chapter's things in it for years. CCC-marked trunks surface perhaps once a year nationally; museums in Idaho, South Dakota, and Wisconsin keep theirs. This one is rough — broken handles, dents, rust, stated plainly — and entirely genuine.

More Photos