This Day in History: 1902-02-20

Ansel Adams is
born this day in 1902 in San Francisco. His black and white photos of sweeping Western landscapes would become icons of the conservation movement in the late 20th century. He said: “We all know the tragedy of the dustbowls, the cruel unforgivable erosions of the soil, the depletion of fish or game, and the shrinking of the noble forests. And we know that such catastrophes shrivel the spirit of the people… The wilderness is pushed back, man is everywhere. Solitude, so vital to the individual man, is almost nowhere.”