The Old Conservation History — and the New: An Argument for Fresh Perspectives on an Established Topic

The German conservation movement is a classic topic of environmental historiography, and yet interpretations have often been characterized by a constrained focus. In a critical discussion of the literature, this article seeks to identify new venues for research. After outlining the breadth of conservation-related developments in late 19th-century Germany, it identifies four directions for future studies: collective biographies of the conservation movement's personnel; friends and allies of the conservation movement and the way conservationists defined their relations towards them; the environmental opposition; and the relationship between the environmental movement and nature as an actor. Taken together, the article argues for a less partisan history of the conservation movement, assuming that such an approach will ultimately serve better the interests of both the environmental history community and the conservation movement.