Books That Celebrate the Camp Experience

The following are books that speak to the history and evolution of the camp experience. Contact Camping Magazine at History@ACAcamps.org to add a historical resource to this list.

A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960 (Architecture, Landscape and American Culture)
by Abigail A. Van Slyck

"A Paradise for Boys And Girls": Children's Camps in the Adirondacks
by Hallie E. Bond, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, and Leslie Paris

Camp
by Michael D. Eisner

Campingly Yours: A Heartwarming Journey of a Lifetime at Summer Camp
by Thomas C. Adler

Children's Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp (American History and Culture)
by Leslie Paris

History of Organized Camping: the First 100 Years
by Eleanor Eells

"How Goodly Are Thy Tents": Summer Camps as Jewish Socializing Experiences (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture and Life)
by Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe

Never Finished…Just Begun – A Narrative History of L.B. Sharp and Outdoor Education
by Julie Carlson

Noble Life: Memories of a Summer Camp in Maine
by Barry MacNutt

Sleepaway: The Girls of Summer and the Camps They Love
by Laurie Susan Kahn

The Touch of Influence: Camp Westminster's First 75 Years
by Camp Westminster