Jerry Croft

In the unit entitled “How Some Fine Arts Can Tell Environmental Stories,” Croft used John Denver’s music, poetry from an elected Indian chief in British Columbia named Dan George, and the paintings of Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, and Alexandre Hogue. In fact it was Hogue’s painting Mother Earth Laid Bare (1936), which Croft saw it at the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, that began this fascinating development. Croft, a cultural geographer whose specialty was geographic education, taught this unit in his Introduction to Cultural Geography classes to approximately 2,000 students, and it was very well received. The most popular segment of the unit was John Denver’s music, so Croft wrote a letter to Denver in the mid-1970s, telling him about the unit and inviting him to his upcoming presentation in Denver at the Rocky Mountain Social Science meetings. Croft never heard from the famous singer-songwriter, but about five minutes into his paper Mr. Denver appeared and took a seat in the back of the room. He stayed for the presentation but left before Croft could meet him. Croft would have loved to ask Denver if he enjoyed it, especially the part related to the man’s music, but it was very exciting to have such a special guest at an academic presentation.