Bookend: The Original Happy Camper

First things first: Legends don’t need middle names. “It’s Smokey Bear, not Smokey the Bear,” says Sara Lee (pictured), lead librarian for special collections at the National Agricultural Library (NAL), who oversees the US Forest Service Smokey Bear Collection.

That’s just one of many intriguing tidbits to be learned while visiting the Beltsville, Maryland–based archive, which traces Smokey’s 81-year-and-counting career as the Forest Service’s wildfire prevention mascot. Created in 1944, the now-iconic bear—named after “Smokey Joe” Martin, assistant chief of the New York City Fire Department—was originally depicted so realistically that he scared children, Lee reports. Not until artist Rudy Wendelin took over drawing duties in 1949, she says, did Smokey lose his claws, gain eyelashes, start walking upright, and become “the Smokey everyone knows and loves today.”

Open to the public by appointment, the collection encompasses posters, comics, original artwork, motion pictures, sound recordings, and other memorabilia. Among the many celebrities whose images visitors can spot in Smokey-related materials are Ray Charles, Rod Serling, and Jonathan Winters (dressed as a tree).

Don’t have time for a deep dive into Smokey’s archive? Casual visitors to NAL can browse a display with collection highlights—such as a trading card from the now-defunct Smokey and the Pros sports program, which saw star athletes like Joe Montana spreading the word about the iconic bear’s mission.

“The Smokey campaign is the longest public advertising campaign that has ever existed in the United States,” Lee says proudly. “And it’s still going.”