Adam Doering
Historical Geography: Mapping Childhoods (GEO/HST 170)
Prof. Meghan Cope
Fall 2017
Part of the Mapping American Childhoods Project

My name is Adam Doering. I am a Geography major and a Forestry minor at the University of Vermont. Throughout my life, I have lived devoted to the wild and the outdoors. It all started in Nairobi, Kenya, where I was born the son of two brilliant parents. One, a wild, elephant training, ranch manager and the other a well spoken, academic with an affinity for photography and a keen eye for risk assessment. During this upbringing, I was fortunate enough see the wildernesses of the world from a number of different lenses ranging from the wool wearing old timers’ of Maine to the Shuka wrapped men of the Massai, the shining white kandura of the UAE, and the krama clad Cambodian. With my parent’s encouragement for travel and exploration, I have gained a broad insight acquired from over 20 countries of experience. Each one has its own unique perception of what firearms as an object meant within their own geographical context.  This sparked the curiosity that led me to my research, the changing perceptions firearms and the creation of the outdoorsman in the childhoods of 1850-1950 North America.