Robert Marshall, Howard Zahniser, and the Wilderness Society: A life history study of agency and structure in United States wilderness conservation

Through the use of life history methodology, this research explores the lives of two individuals influential in creating the U.S. wilderness system we are entrusted with today: Robert Marshall (1901–1939) and Howard Zahniser (1906–1964). The aim is to unearth the identity and nature of the combination of forces at play in these individuals' lives that enabled them to take the great strides they are credited with taking. Rather than a “heroic” look, this work employs an analysis of the personal agency each man employed as well as the societal forces they drew upon, and at times were constrained by, in their attempts to push for environmental change. The Wilderness Society, a non-profit organization founded by Marshall in 1935 and which employed Zahniser while he drafted and lobbied for the Wilderness Act (1964), is also a focus of this research as it related to each man's respective quest for wilderness conservation. In addition to serving as the link between Marshall and Zahniser, the Wilderness Society transcends their lifetimes and has maintained a role as an important social institution in the United States.; This study promotes further understanding of the relationship between individuals and larger social structures and systems in respect to wilderness conservation in the United States. Anthony Giddens' structuration theory is used as a lens to examine this relationship. The theory's usefulness and relevance is documented and refinements to selected elements of structuration are offered. A key output of this research is the material for a book aimed at encouraging people to think about, and perhaps rethink, their ability to contribute to global conservation by showing how Marshall and Zahniser became important historical figures who used personal agency, networks of individuals and resources, and the social structures of their times to effect change in the conservation arena.