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75 Years of the American Nature Study Society .& 75 YEARS w of The American Nature Study Society Helen Ross Russell Helen Ross Russell was recipient of the 1982 Literary Award of ths NYSOEA. fhe horse and buggy was a dusty "Nature study" then was not the be or moralistic. To change these conditions means of transportation when America's nign term one might have thought. lt was some educators were borrowing high oldest environmental education organiza- provocative and the founders knew this school equipment and watering down tion came into being on January 2, 1908. when they chose it for the new organiza- content meant for the older students so Now a space shuttle frequently orbits the tion's name and the first secretary, the they could present it to elementary school earth as members think about Diamond Columbia University biology professor children. Jubilee observations of the American Na- Maurice Bigelow, founded the Nature IT WAS A PROTEST ture Study Society in 1983. Study Review in 1905. lt was logical for It was to protest these conditions and Deliberations were heated in that or- him to name Bailey to the editorial board to provide teachers with valid, usable ma- ganization meeting at the University of along with C. F. Hodge, professor of bi- terials that Bigelow foundd Nature Study Chicago where some founders had to ar- ology at Clark University in Massachusetts Review (now the Society's quarterly gue lour- down those who, clinging to class- and author of "Nature Study and Life." nal, Nature Studyl. From the beginning room and laboratory as primary the means At this time science materials for articles dealt with physical science, ge- of science education, did not want "na- teachers were practically non.existent and ology, astronomy, moon study and weath- ture study" in the name. For the first the few science books for children were er as well as human hygiene, plants and president, Liberty Hyde (thet Bailey name commonly anthropomorphic, sentimental animals. Articles discussed things like having been conferred by his abolitionist Vermont grandfather on his father and ,/ tr then passed on to himl, it was the observ- ing on field trips that was vital. That is why he fought for "nature study," de claring that: h. "Nature swdy should not be unre ,/ srt lated to the child's life and circum- i:l stancelt . lt is astoni*ing when i . t one comes to think of it, how in- :1 * dirxt and how removed from the lives of pupils much of our educ* tion has been . , . Surcly the best l,.tr education is that which bqins with tl.6r the materials at hand." These "materials at hand" were the frogs children could spot staring back at them from the lilypads, the horseshoe crabs crawling up the shores they could watch on the high tides or the goldenrods they could smell. Bailey, a Michigan farm boy who became the innovative dean of the New York State College of Agricul- ture at Cornell University in lthaca, New t York, took his stand for this direct in- volvement of students in his book, Ihe 'g Nature,Sudy /dea, published in 1913 by The MacMillan Company. "Nature-study ought to revolutionize the school life, for it is capable of putting Two porttcipants at the ANSS urban workshop in Bidgeport, Conne* new force and enthusiasm into the school ticut, in 1975 use a stool for a wrveying tumtable in a mqping acttvity. and the child," Bailey wrote. Photo by Marshall T. Cae VOLUME 37, NUMBERS 1 & 2 3 t met with, and was an affiliate of, the American Association for the Advance ment of Science, there was only one re quirement for membership: lf you be lieved in the things the Society stood for, you were welcome. Soon there was obvi- ous diversity as the band of college pro -l ) '! fessor founderswere joined by high school I and elementary teachers, scout leaders, authors and people with simply personal interest in nature. lt, ln its first two decades the American Ai\ENCAN Nature Study Society had two other \ NATUf,E woman presidents: Bertha Chapman Cady and Edith Patch. Edith Patch, like STUET( Anna Botsford Comstock, was a maker of his. SOCIETY tory when she was appointed to the new ,. I -L position of state entomologist of Maine -J in 1901. Bertha Chapman Cady also wrote for children, but this writer remembers her as a slender, radiant white-haired guest of honor sitting on the stage with E. L. Palm- Atthor Edwin lltay Teale (lefi), ANSS president, anfers with Richad West- er, Roger Tory Peterson and President wood, ditor o/ Nature Magazine (stnce meryed lrfrft Natural and History) Malvina Trussell at the golden anniversary president, and unidentitied man at 1953 annuol meeting. former celebration of the founding of the Nature techniques for making gardening a learn. buggy, a mode Bailey thoroughly ap Swdy Revier,y held in Atlanta, showing ing experience and for using museums as proved of because it gave them time to joy and pride in the organization whose supplementary resources. share ideas, see things and think. "Con- beginnings she had helped foster. When Two years after the magazine was tentment and happiness," Bailey said, founded, Professor Bigelow wrote an edi- "are the results of thinking and one torial asking if readers were interested in thinks much when one sees much." forming a "Nature Study Society." Let- Spencer was the "Uncle John" so ters came in from throughout the United many youngsters wrote to about their out- States and Canada with suggestions and door experience; teachers often allowing also nominations for members of an or- these to count for language exercises. ganizing committee. The result was the Spencer "requested the teachers not to founding meeting at tail end of the Amer- correct the letters, because he wished the ican Association for the Advancement of children to be thinking about the subject I Science meetings in 1908 and what clearly matter rather than the form of expres- was the logical choice for president, the sion." Renaissance and charismatic education This is what Comstock wrote about leader, Liberty Hyde Bailey. him in her preface to her 937-page book, Renaissance in being a researcher on The Teaching of Nature Study, still used Rogo Tory Peterson, the the palms, Cucurbitaceae and the genus, in schools 75 years after it was published, famous bird artist, as president in 1952-53, Rubus. Charismatic in, among other an outgrowth of Cornell Univershy's leaf- conducts the ANSS annuol meeting. A things, as Cornell dean, attracting more lets, "Home Study Nature Study Les- former president, author Edwin l4tay foreign students to the agriculture college sons." These were started by Bailey and Teale, is seated at his ight. than any other college in the country. At written by Comstock from 1903 until the time of his election as president he 1911 when the book came out. we sent her photographs of the occasion, was director of the New York State Na- Her writing also led to her becoming her daughter wrote to thank us and say nrre Study Project started in 1891 by the editor of Nature Study Reviety in 1913. that Mrs. Cady had "literally lived for state legislature to stop the city-bound She was also the Society's fifth president. that night" and a few mornings later had exodus set off by the 1891-93 depression. A leader, an author, artist, teacher, in simply failed to waken. fact, the first woman on the Cornell Uni- THEY WROTE "UNCLE JOHN" The American Nature Study Society versity faculty. lt could not have occurred He, Anna Botsford Comstock and John has meant a great deal to many of its to any of the Society's founders to have Spencer (who conducted the Junior Nat- members. E. L. Palmer, author of the Cor- excluded her because she was a woman. uralist Clubs) toured the rural schools nell Rural School Leaflets from 1919 to trying to convey insights and understand- REACHING OUT 1952 and of the superb reference book ings about the land and its resources so Ouite the contrary. lnclusion, a reach- Field Book of Natural History, credited that people would want to stay on the ing out and bringing people in, was the a Home Study Leaflet written by Anna farms. The trio traveled by horse and goal of the Society: and even though it Botsford Comstock with awakening his 4 NATUREVGUDY interest in nature as a boy in a rural 1 school in upstate New York. He also cited the American Nature Study Society as a 1 place which provided him with the oppor- tunity to learn and broaden his horizons. !,e.- ln fact, Palmer's relationship to the Amer- -\ ican Nature Study Society serves as an ex- ample of what membership can mean at \ different stages while it reflects the changes that occur in a lifetime. As a 't F young man Palmer enjoyed the privilege =$ a ? 1... of learning from and working with the -a great leaders of that period: leaderswith llI whom he made friends at society meetings ? like William Gould Vinal, ANSS president nearly 60 years ago (affectionately known as Cap'n Bill by his students and Society t members), and enjoyed all the support and 7 * 'l challenge that comes from the exchange of ideas with one's peers. As years passed I he and his contemporaries inherited the ,'d leadership. When he led a field trip at a -aal Society meeting the turnout was impres- 'L\- sive and represented the same cross sec- tion as his years of membership: the That gavel being handed by outgoing president Glidden Baldwin to his suc- young, new leaders, now called environ- cessot, Dr.
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