John Burroughs (April 3, 1837-March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the century he had become a virtual cultural institution in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. Image File history File links Johnburroughs22. ... Image File history File links Johnburroughs22. ... April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ... | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now usually viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines. ... American Memory is an internet archive for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. ... The Great Hall interior. ... Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was a noted American author and philosopher who is most famous for Walden, his essay on civil disobedience, and his call for the preservation of wilderness. ...

His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871. 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

In the words of his biographer Edward J. Renehan, Burroughs's special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world"

The result was a body of work whose perfect resonance with the tone of its cultural moment perhaps explains both its enormous popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.

Early life

Burroughs was the seventh child of Chauncy and Amy Kelly Burroughs' ten children. He was born on the family farm in the Catskill Mountains, near Roxbury, New York, Delaware County, New York. As a child he would spend many hours on the slopes of Old Clump Mountain, looking off to the east and the higher peaks of the Catskills, especially Slide Mountain, which he would later write about. His classmates at a local school included Jay Gould. Catskill Escarpment and Blackhead Range as seen from Overlook Mountain The Catskill Mountains (also known as simply the Catskills) a natural area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are not, despite their popular name, true geological mountains, but rather a mature dissected plateau... Roxbury is a town located in Delaware County, New York. ... Delaware County is a county located in the state of New York. ... View from Hardscrabble Rd on Old Clump. ... The Catskill High Peaks are all those mountains in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the USA above 3,500 ft (1067 m) in elevation whose summits are separated either by one-half mile (805 m) or a vertical drop of at least 200 ft (61 m) between it... Slide Mountain is the highest peak in the Catskills. ... Jay Gould (1836-1892) Jason Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American financier. ...

He left school at the age of 17 to become a teacher, while he continued his studies at a number of institutions including Cooperstown Seminary. There he first read the works of William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom would become lifelong influences through their focus on nature and its effect on the spirit. William Wordsworth, English poet Wordsworth redirects here. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803-April 27, 1882) was an American author, poet, and philosopher. ...

Marriage and Career

Three years later (September 12, 1857), he married Ursula North (1836-1917). He continued his teaching career with an eye toward becoming a published author. The couple struggled financially and were not able to set up their own household until 1859. This put a strain on their marriage, along with her more prudish attitude to sexuality. ^{[citation needed]} Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Charles Darwin 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ...

John Burroughs in 1914

The next year he finally broke through as a writer, when the Atlantic Monthly, then a fairly new publication, accepted his essay "Expression" (Editor James Russell Lowell found it so similar to Emerson's work that he initially thought Burroughs had plagiarized his longtime acquaintance). A short poem, "Waiting", also attracted some attention. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (562x634, 256 KB) According to LOC, Copyright by Hunt, Ft. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (562x634, 256 KB) According to LOC, Copyright by Hunt, Ft. ... The Atlantic Monthly (also known as The Atlantic) is an American literary/cultural magazine that was founded in November 1857. ... James Russell Lowell circa 1855. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

With the onset of the Civil War, and his growing ability to live off his writing, he began to spend more time away from his home in upstate New York and in the literary scenes of New York and later Washington. In 1864, he accepted a position as a clerk at the Treasury, where he would eventually become a bank examiner. Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert Edward Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... Upstate New York is the region of New York State outside of the core of the New York metropolitan area. ... Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C. in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government. ...

He continued to publish, and grew interested in the poetry of Walt Whitman, whom he frequently defended in literary arguments and later met during a period when Burroughs and his wife were separated. Whitman would become a life-long friend of the Burroughses, and vainly attempted to reconcile the two. Walt Whitman Walter Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) is widely considered to be one of Americas best and most influential poets. ...

Whitman encouraged Burroughs to develop his nature writing, and Burroughs' work in turn improved Whitman's own perceptions of nature.

In 1867, Burroughs published Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person, the first biography and critical work on the poet, extensively revised and edited by Whitman himself. 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Four years later, Wake-Robin was published and became a huge bestseller. As industrialism was solidifying its grasp, readers wanted to be reminded that some of the nature they had never sufficiently appreciated was still around. Burroughs had found his niche, and created the nature essay. Later he was invited to be a leader of a college nature club which eventually became known as "The Wake Robin Club".

Slabsides, Burrough's cabin in West Park, NY, 2005

In 1874, he bought a small farm in West Park, NY (now part of the Town of Esopus), and devoted himself completely to his writing. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 1274 KB) Summary Slabsides, John Burroughs cabin in West Park, NY. Photo by Wikipedia user Bikeable, 23-Oct-2005. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 1274 KB) Summary Slabsides, John Burroughs cabin in West Park, NY. Photo by Wikipedia user Bikeable, 23-Oct-2005. ... 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Esopus is a town located in Ulster County, New York. ...

Later, he bought some land nearby and in the fall of 1894, began work with his son Julian Burroughs (1878-December 15, 1954) on an Adirondack-style cabin that would be called "Slabsides". At Slabsides he wrote, grew a large field of celery, and entertained visitors, including students from local Vassar College. 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vassar College is a highly selective, private, coeducational liberal arts college situated in Poughkeepsie, New York. ...

Burroughs also renovated an old farmhouse near his birthplace and called it "Woodchuck Lodge." This became his summer residence until his death.

He continued to write popular books of nature essays, some published in periodicals of the time.

Some of the best essays came out of trips back to his native Catskills. In the late 1880s, his work "The Heart of the Southern Catskills" was the first recorded ascent of Slide Mountain, only recently established as the highest in the region. He had tried to reach the summit of the mountain on several previous occasions; when he at last did so he wrote of the view: // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

The works of man dwindle, and the original features of the huge globe come out. Every single object or point is dwarfed; the valley of the Hudson is only a wrinkle in the earth's surface. You discover with a feeling of surprise that the great thing is the earth itself, which stretches away on every hand so far beyond your ken.

Some of these words are on a plaque commemorating Burroughs at the mountain's summit, on a rock outcrop later named Burroughs Ledge. Slide and neighboring Cornell and Wittenberg mountains, which he also climbed on that outing, have been collectively named the Burroughs Range, as has the hiking trail built over it. Two hikers in the Mount Hood National Forest Eagle_Creek hiking Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ... A country trail, formed by wheels of vehicles. ...

Burroughs poses with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford at Mr. Edison's home, Ft. Myers, Florida 1914

Other Catskill essays told, with as much wry humor as awestruck reverence, of fly fishing for trout, of hikes over Peekamoose Mountain and Mill Brook Ridge, of rafting down the East Branch of the Delaware River. It is for these that he is still celebrated in the region today, and chiefly known, although he traveled extensively and wrote about many other regions and countries, as well as commenting on natural-science controversies of the day such as the relatively new theory of natural selection. He also entertained philosophical and literary questions as well, and wrote another book about Whitman in 1896, five years after the poet's death. Ultimately his writing helped persuade the literary establishment of Whitman's virtues. Image File history File links BurroughsEdisonFord. ... Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the modern assembly line used in mass production. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Fly rod and reel with a wild brown trout from a chalk stream. ... Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Biwa trout (Oncorhynchus masou subsp) Trout is the common name given to a number of species of freshwater fish belonging to the salmon family, Salmonidae. ... The Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. ... Natural selection is the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Burroughs accompanied many personalities of the time in his later years, including Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Henry Ford (who gave him an automobile, one of the first in the Hudson Valley), Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison. Most notably, in 1899, he participated in E. H. Harriman's expedition to Alaska. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ... John Muir (1838-1914) John Muir appears on the California quarter John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was one of the earliest modern preservationists. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the modern assembly line used in mass production. ... For the magazine, see Hudson Valley (magazine). ... Harvey Samuel Firestone (December 20, 1868 - February 7, 1938) was the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires and an important contributor to North American economic growth in the 20th century. ... Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. ... Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909), better known as E. H. Harriman, was a wealthy railroad executive. ... The Harriman Alaska Expedition was organized by E. H. Harriman to explore the coastal waters and territory of Alaska in 1899. ...

In 1901, Burroughs met Clara Barrus (May 19, 1881-Oct 15, 1966), nearly half his age, the love of his life ^{[citation needed]} and ultimately his literary executrix. She moved into his house after Ursula died in 1917. 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

He died on a train returning from California. He was buried in Roxbury, on the anniversary of his 84th birthday, at the foot of the rock he had played on as a child.

Burroughs was a popular and highly regarded author in his day. An award for nature writing has been named for him, along with 11 U.S. schools, including public middle schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California, a public high school in Burbank, California, and a private secondary school in St. Louis, Missouri. Nickname: Cream City, Mil Town, Brew City, The City of Festivals Location of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Coordinates: County Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett Area    - City 251. ... Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Area    - City 1,290. ... Founded May 1, 1887 Incorporated July 8, 1911 General Information County Los Angeles County, California Latitude Longitude 34°1049 N 118°1942 W Area  - Total  - Water 45 km² (17. ... Founded in 1923, John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian preparatory school with nearly 600 students in grades 7-12. ... Nickname: Gateway City, Gateway to the West, or Mound City Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: Country United States State Missouri County Independent City Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area    - City 66. ...

Writing

Many of Burroughs' essays first appeared in popular magazines. Twenty-three volumes of these essays, published between 1871 and 1922, are usually considered to make up the "Writings of John Burroughs" of which collected editions have been offered in numbered sets by at least three publishers.

He is best-known for his observations on birds, flowers and rural scenes, but his essays topics also range to religion and literature. Burroughs was a staunch defender of Whitman and Henry David Thoreau, who were then unpopular because of their perceived literary excesses. Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, development critic, naturalist, transcendentalist, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is most famous for his written account, Walden, a reflection upon simple living amongst nature, and his essay, Civil Disobedience...

Bibliography

Burroughs gravesite today, Boyhood Rock with plaque on left

Woodchuck Lodge today.

Photo (By:) Catskills Grrll Image File history File linksMetadata Boyhood_rock. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Boyhood_rock. ... Image File history File links Woodchucklodge. ... Image File history File links Woodchucklodge. ...

• Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person (1867)
• Wake Robin (1871)
• Winter Sunshine (1875), (travel sketches)
• Birds and Poets (1877)
• Locusts and Wild Honey (1879)
• Pepacton (1881)
• Fresh Fields (1884), (travel sketches)
• Signs and Seasons (1886)
• Birds and bees and other studies in nature (1896)
• Indoor Studies (1889)
• Riverby (1894)
• Whitman: A Study (1896)
• The Light of Day (1900)
• Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers (1900)
• Songs of Nature (1901)
• John James Audubon (1902), (biography)
• Literary Values and other Papers (1902)
• Far and Near (1904)
• Ways of Nature (1905)
• Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt (1906)
• Bird and Bough (1906), (poetry)
• Afoot and Afloat (1907)
• Leaf and Tendril (1908)
• Time and Change (1912)
• The Summit of the Years (1913)
• The Breath of Life (1915)
• Under the Apple-Trees (1916)
• Field and Study (1919)
• Accepting the Universe (1920)
• Under the Maples (1921)
• The Last Harvest (1922)
• My Boyhood, with a Conclusion by His Son Julian Burroughs (1922)
  

Books About John Burroughs

• John Burroughs: An American Naturalist by Edward J. Renehan Jr. (Chelsea, VT: Chelsea Green, 1992; paperback - Hensonville, NY: Black Dome Press, 1998)
• John Burroughs and The Place of Nature by James Perrin Warren (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2006)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John Burroughs

• Works by John Burroughs at Project Gutenberg
• Burroughs Observes a Gourmet Robin. The naturalist John Burroughs marvels over a robin with a curious menu item.
• Burroughs Hears the Bobolink's New Note. As the Naturalist John Burroughs seems to have been well aware, bird-songs change and evolve over time.
• Burroughs Receives Intelligence About the High Hole. The naturalist John Burroughs publishes the account of a young correspondent who has tamed a high-hole (a.k.a. yellow flicker, northern flicker, Colaptes auratus).
• The John Burroughs Association
• John Burroughs page at the Catskill Archive
• The Writings of John Burroughs
• John Burroughs on Henry Thoreau
• American Memory In the Catskills
• Afterword to John Burroughs: An American Naturalist by Edward J. Renehan Jr.
• The Half More Satisfying Than the Whole: John Burroughs and the Hudson by Edward J. Renehan Jr.