In Memoriam: Roger Tory Peterson, 1908-1996
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In Memoriam The Auk 115(2):465-469, 1998 IN MEMORIAM: ROGER TORY PETERSON, 1908-1996 SUSAN RONEY DRENNAN NationalAudubon Society, 700 Broadway,New York,New York10003, USA ROGER TORY PETERSON,1908-1996 (Photographtaken in 1994by SusanRoney Drennan) When RogerTory Petersondied on 28 July and joined a Junior Audubon Club. Like so 1996, he was one month shy of his eighty- many kids, he had a newspaperroute as a eighthbirthday. He was born on 28 August sourceof small money.Unlike most,however, 1908 to immigrantsCharles Gustav Peterson, Roger planned his route so that he passedas from Varmland, Sweden, and Henrietta Bader many differenthabitats and feedersas possible Peterson, from a little town near Breslau, Ger- when he got up at dawn to deliver TheJames- many (now Poland).The placewas Jamestown, townMorning Post. He thriftily savedhis pen- southwestern New York, at the eastern end of nies and dimes,and when he had enough,he Lake Chautauqua,about 25 miles from Lake boughta bird guide by ChesterReed, a four- Erie.As a youngchild he becameentranced by power LeMaire opera glassfrom an advertise- the beautyof natureand becamea practicing ment in Bird-Lore(ancestor of Audubonmaga- naturalistat the ageof eleven,when he wasin- zine), and his first camera,a four-by-fiveplate troducedto birds in his 7th grade classroom model Eastman Primo Number 9. 465 466 In Memoriam [Auk, Vol. 115 In 1925,when Rogergraduated from high with membersof the BronxCounty Bird Club, school,family moneywas scarce.Just after his a club that collectedno dues and had no by- 17thbirthday, he took a job at the Union-Na- laws, constitution, newsletter, committees, or tional Furniture Factory in Jamestown,under permanentmeeting place. The club was started the supervisionof WillemDieperink von Lan- by a bunchof city dwellersin their teenswho gereis.Here he decoratedChinese-lacquer cab- were mad for birding for the loveof the chase. inetsfor $8 per week.Langereis was a tough, Roger and the other members,who included demanding,and temperamentalboss, but he Joe Hickey, Irving Kassoy,and Allan Cruick- recognizedthat youngPeterson had talent.He shank,attended the bimonthly meetings of the encouragedRoger to becomean artist and in- LinnaeanSociety of New Yorkat the American sistedthat he goto New YorkCity to attendart Museum of Natural History. This august or- school.Roger was alreadyhusbanding his re- ganization,with older,more experienced pro- sourcesto attendhis first AOU meetingto be fessionaland amateur ornithologists among its held at the American Museum of Natural His- members,favorably influenced the club and tory in November1925. At the endof that three- guided the boys in becomingaccomplished day meeting, Petersonwas completelyover- naturalists.In fact, the roots of Roger'slater whelmed:he'd met many of hisbigger-than-life achievementsgo back to the club, where the heroesincluding Ludlow Griscom, who signed tall, gawky youth played a heaven-sentgame Roger's applicationfor membershipin the with a groupof like-mindedboys fired by their AOU, and Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Peterson's own enthusiasms. idol and the bird artist whom he then knew With his formalart trainingover, Roger al- best.Fuertes was touched by theyouth's enthu- lowedhimself to be luredinto teachingnatural siasm and gave him a slim red sable paint- historyand art during the summersin Michi- brush,"good for laying in washes."Here he ganand then at CampChewonki in Wiscassett, alsomet FrancisLee Jaques, with whomhe be- Maine.Finally, he took a fulltimeteaching job camevery closefriends, Frank M. Chapman, at the prestigiousRivers School for boysnear Arthur A. Allen, and Edward Howe Forbush, Boston,Massachusetts, where he taughtmany amongothers. This meetingset the patternfor boysfrom familiesof consequence.One of his his whole future. He went home, hoarded his students destined for fame was Elliot Richard- meagersalary, and dreamedabout returning to son,who laterbecame Attorney General of the New York to begin formal art training. United States. Richardson, in 1974, nominated January1927 saw the nineteen-year-oldPe- Peterson as the teacher who had influenced him tersonback in New York City enrolledat the most, and subsequentlyPeterson was named Art StudentsLeague, studying under the dis- "Teacher of the Year" and received the Golden 'tinguishedteacher Kimon Nikolaides(author Key Award from the AmericanAssociation of of TheNatural Way to Draw),and leadingrealist School Administrators. painterJohn Sloan, of theAshcan School. Using Once upon a time, bird identificationwas charcoaland later oil on canvas,he took classes based solely on the plumage and measure- in basicdrawing and life drawing from models. mentsof a bird in hand.Then along came those His progresswas rapid. To supporthimself who becameskilled at noticingdistinctive as- and keepup art schoolpayments, he returned pects of stance,behavior, and flight action, to his old profession--decoratingand refinish- which, togetherwith plumagecharacteristics, ing furniture. He told me oncethat severalof were diagnosticof a species.It was now the the moregarish beds on whoseheadboards he early 1930s,and afterhe finisheda full day of painted pretentiousroses were destinedfor teachingat the RiversSchool, Roger retired to someof the city'shigher-class bordellos. After his cubby-hole-sizedroom, where he laboredat two yearsat the Art StudentsLeague, Roger his first field guide. Other field guideswere competedfor andwon a placeat the moretra- available,such as Frank M. Chapman'sColor ditionalNational Academy of Design,where he Keyto NorthAmerican Birds, Ralph Hoffman's studied for the next three years under Ray- propheticbut greatlyoverlooked guide pub- mond Neilson, Vincent DuMond, and Edmund lishedin 1904and its companionguide to the Dickinson. birds of the PacificCoast published later, and Most of his birding in thosedays was done ChesterReed's tiny illustrated guides.How- April 1998] In Memoriam 467 ever,Peterson saw his guide as "... a boiling artists,he had a financialstruggle when he downof thingsso that anybird wouldbe readi- turned professional.During theseyears he re- ly and surelytold from all othersat a glanceor illustratedand redesignedthe sameAudubon from a distance."Night after night, for three JuniorLeaflets that had so inspiredhim as a years, he worked out his dissatisfactionwith boy. Somehow,the productivelyenergetic Pe- otherguides by creatingone of his own.Pains- terson,during the busiestyears of his profes- takinglyhe sketchedbirds' distinctive patterns; sionallife, found time to carry out a truly pro- carefullyhe distilledthe text so that the most digiousamount of writing, resulting in a mass prominent field marks enabling identification of semipopularbooks. His JuniorBook of Birds were describedto his liking. The first of his waspublished in 1938.He completelyrevised guides,published in 1934,had no purposeoth- therequirements for theBoy Scouts' Bird Study er than facilitatingidentification--a marvelous Merit Badgeand preparedthe officialbooklet featof sustainedapplication. But the GreatDe- aboutthe badge.He wrote articlesfor Lifemag- pressionwas getting worse, and the book azine,using his own paintingsand photogra- calledfor ratherexpensive art work. Fouror phyto presenta widegamut of birdstudies for fivepublishers turned it down.Finally, Hough- a national audience. A Field Guide to Western ton Mifflin was enthusiastic but still felt the Birdswas published in 1941.His ornithological book would lose too much money. Richard writing wasaimed largely at a popularmarket, Pough,whose own guidelater becamea com- bridgingthe gap between professional and am- petitor of Peterson's,felt so confidentthat Pe- ateur TheAudubon Guide to Attracting Birds was terson'sbook would be a successthat he guar- written with JohnBaker in 1941.During World anteedto personallymake up anymoney that War II, he was drafted into the U.S. Army HoughtonMifflin might lose.Roger himself Corpsof Engineers,where his field guide prin- agreedto forgoroyalties on the first 1,000cop- cipleswere usedwhen he produceda "plane ies, and then seriouslywondered if any more spottingmanual" for the U.S.Army Air Corps. thanthat would sell. Well, Roger didn't have to He thoughtthat plane identification couldn't be wastetime worrying abouthis uncollectedroy- all that difficult once he'd taken on the identi- alties.The entireprint run of 2,000copies of A fication of birds of both the eastern and western FieldGuide to theBirds (giving field marks of all United States. In the late 1940s, the Peterson speciesfound in easternNorth America)sold Identification System was extended to cover out in a few weeks, and the book had to be re- othernature subjects. Houghton Mifflin contin- printed immediately.Since then, there have uesto publishthe series,which today numbers been four considerablyupdated revisions,47 morethan 50 titles.Until his death,Roger re- reprintings,and morethan sevenmillion cop- mained the editor. ies of Peterson'stwo field guides (Easternand Rogerjoined the AOU in 1929, becamean Western)sold. The magnitudeof this achieve- Elective Member in 1935, and a Fellow in 1948. ment is difficult to appreciatebecause many of In 1944, at age 36, he receivedthe William us grew up with one or another"Peterson" in BrewsterMemorial Award, the AOU's highest hand. honor. He served as Vice President of the AOU In that windfall year, 1934,Roger joined the in 1962 and regularly attendedits annual meet- staff of the National Association of Audubon ings. Societies as Educational Director and Art Di- His