Gene Stratton-Porter

A Magazine Exploring Indiana History IndianaThe Historian

“My seven-passenger automobile I transformed into a dray. A big, ten-bushel store box filled the tonneau. There were long boxes for each of the running boards and frequently I threw coffee sacking over the engine hood and loaded it with swamp mosses and bulbous plants, with pitcher plant and rosemary, as high as I could stack it and allow space for the driver to see over” (Tales You Won’t Believe, 175).

Gene Stratton-Porter Gene Stratton-Porter was a She wanted to be indepen- woman of contrasts, contradic- dent—intellectually and physi- Focus tions, and strong emotions. Living cally—and determined that writ- at a time when women generally ing was the means to assure both. stayed at home, she was a self- Essential to that independence A note on names trained writer, naturalist, and was her relationship to the natu- Gene Stratton-Porter was born photographer. She wrote to her ral settings where she lived. She Geneva Grace Stratton. She pub- future husband strongly con- also had a strong desire to instill lished as Gene Stratton-Porter, but demning confining marriages, yet her love of nature in others in she referred to herself, and was most expressed pride in her family order to improve their lives and frequently referred to, as Mrs. Por- ter. We use Gene Stratton-Porter roles and later provided for her preserve the natural world. and Mrs. Porter in our text. We use extended family. She became very This issue of The Indiana Gene in the timeline. Quotations and rich through hard work; she Historian provides only a brief titles contain original spelling. spent that money to achieve her introduction to Gene Stratton- Mrs. Porter built two Limberlost dreams and was generous to Porter, generally using her own Cabins. The first in Geneva is now Limberlost State Historic Site. The others. Millions of copies of her words. The timeline throughout second on Sylvan Lake, Rome City, novels were sold, but critics did the issue provides the broader was part of a property she named not take them seriously. context of her life and times. Wildflower Woods. The Rome City Mrs. Porter’s writings made We hope that our readers will home is now Gene Stratton-Porter her a very public person, but she delve deeper into Mrs. Porter’s State Historic Site. regretted her loss of privacy. She work, which is her legacy to expressed enormous confidence in Indiana and the world. her own abilities and purposes, Limberlost State Historic but she expressed also her fear of Site, Geneva, and Gene Stratton-

The Indiana Historian failure. She was untiring in her Porter State Historic Site, Rome September 1996 ISSN 1071-3301 efforts to observe and document City, memorialize her life and Editor nature, but the scientific commu- accomplishments in Indiana. Pamela J. Bennett Lead Researcher nity ignored her. Paula A. Bongen Designer Dani B. Pfaff Contributing Editors Carole M. Allen, Janine Beckley, Alan Conant, Dani B. Pfaff, Virginia Terpening You be the historian The Indiana Historian provides resources and models for the study of local Gene Stratton-Porter’s major work (discussed later in this issue) history to encourage Indiana’s citizens of focused on plants and wildlife of the Limberlost Swamp. Swamps and other all ages to become engaged with the history of their communities and the state of lands saturated with water are now generally called wetlands. Indiana. Pending release of the Indiana Wetlands Conservation Plan in July, The Indiana Historian (formerly The Indiana Junior Historian) is issued quar- 1996, the Indianapolis Star, July 7, editorialized: “It’s hard to believe Indiana terly from September through June. ever contained the kind of swampland described . . . [by Gene Stratton- It is a membership benefit of the Indi- ana Junior Historical Society. One compli- Porter], but it did. Today, only 750,000 acres of wetlands remain, compared mentary subscription is provided to Indi- to 5.6 million acres at the time of pioneer settlement.” ana libraries, school media centers, and cultural and historical organizations. Most of those wetlands were drained for agricultural uses. Historian Annual subscriptions are available for $5.00 plus tax. Back issues are available Clifton J. Phillips notes, “By December, 1919, Indiana had the largest at individual and bulk pricing. percentage of farms under drainage in the nation” (Indiana in Transition This material is available to visually impaired patrons in audio format, cour- [Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau and Indiana Historical Society, tesy of the Indiana History Project of the 1968], 134). Indiana Historical Society. Tapes are available through the Talking Books Program of There has been recognition of the value of wetlands to the environ- the Indiana State Library; contact the Talk- ment—a concept emphatically expressed by Gene Stratton-Porter—prompt- ing Books Program, 317-232-3702. The Indiana Historian is copyrighted. ing initiatives, such as the plan of the State of Indiana. Educators may reproduce items for class • Research the history of wetlands in Indiana. Explore your own area and use, but no part of the publication may be reproduced in any way for profit without map where there have been and are wetlands. written permission of the Indiana Histori- • Explore the value of wetlands to the environment. cal Bureau. • Interview environmental, agricultural, and business interests on the current issues regarding wetlands conservation. Credit for cover photograph:Indiana • Hold a formal debate on wetlands using historical and current issues. State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources.

2 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 Gene Stratton-Porter‘s writing

According to one modern Mrs. Porter lived in northeastern Indiana for most of her life at the scholar, Bertrand F. Richards, various locations noted on this map. “Gene Stratton Porter was one of At Rome City is Sylvan Lake, the best-selling writers of the first alongside which Mrs. Porter built her second Limberlost Cabin. quarter of the twentieth century” Limberlost Swamp included (123). approximately 13,000 acres of Jay Rome City and Adams counties. This great success at writing On May 29, 1996, 188 acres of enabled Mrs. Porter to fulfill her farmland were reflooded to restore part of the original Limberlost goals: independence, living with Swamp; it will be part of the Geneva and studying nature as she Limberlost State Historic Site. Portland (Indiana) The Commercial wished, and persuading the Review, May 29, 1996. public to care about nature. She was able to write her way: . . . my books have proved my publishers wrong in the beginning when they said my stuff never Lagro Decatur would sell enough to pay for Wabash publishing it. . . . My formula for a book was damned by three of our foremost publishers in the beginning, and I never have changed it a particle. . . . Geneva What my work proves for me that I have done was to lay out a straight course in the beginning, starting with a nature book and alternating with nature novels . . . keeping to the same location and to people I know and to ideals I cherish (quoted in Meehan, 309). although not in scientific jargon. Richards, having examined What she wrote, the average Mrs. Porter on her own terms and American layman could read and understand. But even more in the context of her time, agreed importantly, and much more in that she achieved her goals: accord with her intent, readers Her observations were true, and might be led from the perusal of her pictures—both photographic any of her books directly into the and word—are authentic. . . . she great outdoors itself to see, to was able to write interestingly of appreciate, and to learn to love nature with scientific accuracy nature firsthand (Richards, 140-41).

August 17 July 6 December 24 June Geneva Grace beloved brother Stratton family Mark Stratton Strattons Strattons move (Gene Stratton- February Leander (Laddie) leases farm and Mary move to to a farm near Porter), the twelfth sister Mary drowns in and moves to Shallenberger Wabash Lagro, Wabash and last child, is Ann dies in Wabash River. Wabash, marry in Ohio. County, County. born. accident. Indiana. Indiana.

Stratton-Porter Timeline 1835 1838 1848 1863 1872 1872 1874 1863 1869 1872

November 19 May 10 Yellowstone National Park President Lincoln first transcontinen- Reserve is established as delivers Gettysburg tal railroad in the a public park. Address in the U.S. is completed cemetery at at Promontory Illustrations on the timeline are from popular Gettysburg, Point, Utah.

Other Events in History magazines contemporary to the time. Pennsylvania.

farm near Lagro, Wabash County. gift seems even more wonderful She wrote, in What I Have Done than it did then (21, 24). with Birds, Mrs. Porter developed a unique philosophy of bird study, Several images were not In one season, when under ten years of age, I located sixty nests, demonstrating her love and included in the computer file of and I dropped food into the open this document because of respect for nature; she explained beaks in every one of them. Soon it in What I Have Done with Birds: technological limitations at the the old birds became so This is the basis of all my field bureau at the time this accustomed to me, and so work,—a mute contract between publication was produced. The convinced of my good intentions, woman and bird. In spirit I say to captions and credits are in the that they would alight on my head the birds, “Trust me and I will do by document and will help you "fill and shoulders in a last hop to you as I would be done by. Your reach their nests with the food they in" what the image is. Of nest and young shall be touched had brought. Playing with the birds course, the original printed as I would wish some giant, was my idea of fun. Pets were my version contains all images. surpassing my size and strength sort of dolls. It did not occur to me as I surpass yours, to touch my that I was learning anything that cradle and baby. I shall not tear would be of use in after years; now down your home and break your comes the realization that eggs or take your naked little ones knowledge acquired for myself in from the nest before they are ready those days is drawn upon every to go, and leave them to die time I approach the home of a bird

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources. miserably. I shall come in colors to (6). Gene Stratton-Porter, age 10. which you are accustomed, and Her father was aware of her move slowly and softly about, not great love for birds. In Homing approaching you too near until your with the Birds, Mrs. Porter re- confidence in me is established. I Gene Stratton-Porter’s vealed to her readers his very shall be most careful to feed your passion for nature began very special gift: young what you feed them; drive away snakes and squirrels, and early. She related in Homing with He then proceeded formally to protect you in every way possible the Birds that she was just a present me with the personal and to me. Trust me, and go on with small child, nursing a chicken indisputable ownership of each your daily life. For what small bird of every description that made hawk, when her mother remarked disturbance is unavoidable among its home on his land. . . . In that to her, “What a little bird woman you, forgive me, and through it I hour I was almost dazed with the shall try to win thousands to love you are!” (18) It was true. wonder and the marvel of my gift, and shield you” (2). She was fascinated by the and to-day, after a lifetime of birds that lived on her father’s experience among the birds, this

Gene attends her Gene attends her first Island Park second Island Park April 21 Assembly Assembly chautauqua; Gene and Charles marry August 27 February 3 chautauqua on begins correspondence and move to Decatur, daughter Gene’s mother Sylvan Lake near with future husband, October 5 Adams County. Jeannette dies. Rome City. Charles Porter. Gene and Charles is born. become engaged.

Stratton-Porter Timeline 1875 1881 1884 1885 1886 1887 1876 1880 1886 March 31 March 7 Wabash, Indiana October 28 first U.S. patent becomes first city in President Grover for a telephone U.S. to have all Cleveland dedicates the is awarded to streets lighted by Statue of Liberty. Alexander electricity.

Other Events in History Graham Bell.

4 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 Seeking “a form of self-expression”

Through her marriage to Charles Porter had committed Charles Dorwin Porter in 1886, his remaining assets to his Mrs. Porter gained a measure of new bank. Mrs. Porter knew financial security and indepen- that financial freedom was as dence. She expressed pride in her important as her creative self- role as a wife and mother, but she expression. She later wrote wanted to do more. Even the about the tension between a beautiful Limberlost Cabin built career and family: for her by her husband in Geneva Then I took a bold step, the did not help. She expressed her first in my self-emancipation. strong feelings in Homing with the Money was beginning to come in, and I had some in my purse Birds: of my very own that I had In those days I was earned when no one knew I experiencing constant struggle to was working. I argued that if I find an outlet for the tumult in my kept my family so comfortable being. . . . During my early days in that they missed nothing from that Cabin I went through more my usual routine, I had a right agony than should fall to the lot of to do what I could toward the average seeker after a form of furthering my personal self-expression (44). ambitions . . . until I could earn Indiana State Museum Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources. In her 1928 book, Lady of money enough to hire capable the Limberlost, Jeannette Porter people to take my place Meehan wrote of her mother (Meehan, 124). during that time: This first bold step was obtain- Gene Stratton-Porter . . . the fever to write had raged ing her own post office box in within Mother until it became a case her work was not accepted compelling influence and and returned by publishers. dominated her whole life, her Her successful nature writ- home, her entertainments, her ing had gone undetected through Her first short story was amusements, and her work. After I was old enough to go to school, careful planning: published in 1901 in Metropolitan Mother spent many secret hours My husband’s drug store carried magazine. She was immediately with her pen (123). books and magazines . . . few discovered by an alert—and Mrs. Porter wrote about what she people in our locality read complimentary—clerk in her Recreation and Outing. None of knew best—nature. them were interested in husband’s store. Soon Mrs. Porter Self-expression was not the photography, and very few in was confidently writing both fiction only reason Mrs. Porter began to Natural Science, so that what I was and nature materials regularly write for publication. In 1895, doing was not known (Meehan, 124). and with great popular success.

Gene and Charles visit World’s Spring Gene begins Gene and Charles January 10 Columbian Limberlost Cabin, to write and move to Geneva, Gene’s father dies. Charles starts the Exposition in Geneva completed. publish nature Adams County. Geneva Bank. Chicago. articles.

1888 1890 1892 1893 1895 1895 1888 1890 1895

November 6 Benjamin October 1 June 11 Harrison of U.S. Congress Charles E. Duryea Indiana is establishes the receives first U.S. elected Weather Bureau. patent for gasoline- President driven automobile.

of the U.S. Other Events in History Stratton-Porter Timeline

The growth of Little Chicken, the Black Vulture, was documented in detail by Gene Stratton- Porter: “The baby was a perfect dear to pose and in two weeks answered to his name and took food from my hand as readily as from his mother. When he was almost full-grown and only a trace of down showed about his ears, he would follow me across the swamp with his queer rocking walk, humping his shoulders and ducking his head; looking so uncanny in that dark weird place I had to set my muscles hard to keep from giving a scream and running as if for life” (What I Have Done with Birds, 87).

Indiana State Museum, Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources.

Mrs. Porter submitted her gift from her daughter, who would When I decided that the camera first work in 1895 to Recreation later recall, was the only method by which to magazine, but she had no illus- I bought Mother’s first camera, a illustrate my observations of bird life, little four by five Vive for which I all that was necessary to do was to trations. She recounted her get together my outfit, learn how to dilemma in Homing with the paid ten dollars. Later, when she began the serious work of use it, to compound my chemicals, Birds: photographing wild life and needed to develop and fix my plates, and The editors who had accepted my a larger camera, she purchased tone and wash my prints (6). work began to send me drawings one with money she obtained by She mainly used glass plates for of mounted birds, articulated with selling some old family jewellery her pioneering nature photogra- wire, stuffed with excelsior, and [sic] (Meehan, 115). phy, requiring great skill and posed by men. . . . those pictures Mrs. Porter stated in What I repelled me. I was horrified (47-48). careful timing. Have Done with Birds, The solution came as a Christmas In Homing with the Birds, she

Gene’s first short story published, Birds of the Bible; “Laddie, the What I Have Done with and A Girl of the Princess, Song of the Birds; and At the Foot Limberlost. and the Pie.” Cardinal. Freckles. of the Rainbow. Music of the Wild.

Stratton-Porter Timeline 1901 1903 1904 1907 1909 1910 1896 1900 1906 1908 1910 April 6 first modern Olympic April 30 April 18 Center of Games Congress passes act San Francisco October 1 population of the begins in establishing Hawaii earthquake occurs. first Model T Ford U.S. is located in Athens, as U.S. territory. Fire causes most is introduced at a Bloomington, Greece. damage. cost of $850. Indiana.

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6 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 described her first attempt to take heavily speckled with brown and and the egg in his hat, which we a photograph—of a pet parrot: shaped like a Hen’s, but large as previously had lined with leaves. That was a most amusing picture, a Turkey’s” (75). The odor was so unbearable we sadly undertimed and could work about the log only by She convinced her husband dipping our handkerchiefs in overdeveloped; but before the Charles to take her into weak streaky print left its first bath disinfectant and binding them over Limberlost Swamp, which she had I was shouting through the Cabin our mouths and nostrils (83). like an insane creature, for promised not to enter. She labeled They worked to clear away although the picture contained the dangerous trek as brush and cut down several trees almost every defect of a beginner’s . . . the beginning of a series of to get good light, photographed work I could see clearly that it was swamp-studies that is, in all the little Black Vulture and the a perfectly natural, correct probability, without an equal in egg, and Mr. Porter gently re- reproduction of a living bird. I had natural history or photography. The found my medium! I could illustrate Limberlost at that time was no placed them. For weeks the what I wrote myself! (49) joke. It had not been shorn, Porters visited the nest, even With hard work, she mas- branded and tamed. . . . taking a dead calf for the baby tered the skill of photography: . . . Every few yards I expected and its parents to feed on. They I spent over a thousand dollars in the light carriage we drove to be named the baby, Little Chicken. equipment. All of the money twisted to pieces. We left it . . . Mrs. Porter summarized her and started on foot with an ax, accumulated from nature articles success: hatchet and two revolvers . . . . and a few stories went to pay for That season the Limberlost yielded . . . I wore waist-high rubber four cameras, each adapted to a me the only complete series of waders. We had to cut our way different branch of outdoor work, Vulture studies ever made, dozens before us . . . . For two hours we also a small wagonload of field of studies of other birds, material searched for that log. The time was paraphernalia (Homing with the for a novel, more natural history late June; there was not a breath Birds, 50). stuff than could be put into several of air stirring inside the swamp; She improvised a darkroom: big volumes, many rare specimens there were steaming, fetid pools I . . . used the kitchen sink for plate and much priceless experience in everywhere, swarms of flies, gnats, and print washing. . . . my dark- swamp work (87-88). mosquitoes, and poisonous room was the family bath, my insects, masses of poisonous washing tanks the turkey and meat platters in the kitchen sink (Homing vines and at every step not only with the Birds, 50). the ground, but the bushes about, had to be watched for rattlesnakes. Mrs. Porter often went to The muck was so spongy we sank great lengths to obtain a photo- ankle-deep, bushes scratched and graph. Perhaps, the best example tore at us and logs we thought of this was related in What I Have were solid let us down knee-deep Done with Birds. (79-80). A man sent word he had Finally they found the log, found in Limberlost Swamp, a and Mrs. Porter set up her cam- You be the historian hollow elm log, and there “was a era. Charles Porter gently drove • Explore the development and tech- the mother bird from the nest, niques of photography. nest containing a bird baby as big • Take photographs of natural his- as a Gosling, but white as snow, . . . entered the log, crept its tory subjects and create an exhibit. and beside it a pale blue egg length and carried out the baby

November 27 Gene buys property on March 22 After the Flood; and granddaughter Moths of the Sylvan Lake, Rome granddaughter The Harvester. Jeannette Helen Limberlost. City, Noble County, Laddie. Gene Stratton Monroe is born. and begins work on Monroe is born. new Limberlost Cabin.

1911 1911 1912 1912 1913 1914 Stratton-Porter Timeline 1911 1912 1914

May 30 April 14-15 first Indianapolis 500 On maiden voyage, August 15 race is won by Ray British liner Titanic Panama Canal Harroun at an strikes iceberg off officially opens. average speed of Newfoundland and 74.59 mph. sinks killing about 1500.

Other Events in History

At Limberlost Cabin in Geneva, Mrs. Porter pursued her study of nature, even in her home. Her daughter Jeannette described the cabin: Almost any place in our house you might find a glass turned down over a little patch of moth eggs on a rug to protect them . . . a Department of Natural Resources. wounded bird, which was being doctored, perched almost anywhere . . . several different size

boxes containing baby caterpillars Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, just hatched, feeding on the particular kind of leaves that they ate . . . cocoons pinned almost anywhere, and newly emerged moths and butterflies flying through the house and feeding on the The Forestry Building at the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition inspired the design of flowers in the conservatory both of Mrs. Porter’s Limberlost cabins. The name Limberlost was taken from the big swamp near (Meehan, 119-20). her Geneva cabin, reportedly so named for a man named Limber (or “Limber Jim”), who had been lost in the swamp. Limberlost Cabin, Geneva (above) and Limberlost Cabin, Rome City (below). Mrs. Porter, however, came to realize that she must respect nature: The more I studied and thought, the more clearly I saw . . . I had no right to keep wild creatures in captivity . . . . the only way to know and to study them rightly was as they lived, in the abandonment of

perfect freedom (Homing with the Department of Natural Resources. Birds, 47). Mrs. Porter conducted extensive field research in the swamps, woods, and meadows. Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Those studies and the photographic documentation formed the basis for her nature publica- tions and her novels. Her nature laboratory did

Spring Gene Paramount Michael moves into Friends in Studios Fall O’Halloran. new Feathers. produces the Gene checks Limberlost movie, into New York Cabin. Morning Face. Freckles. Daughter of clinic for health the Land. reasons.

Stratton-Porter Timeline 1915 1915 1916 1917 1917 1918 1918 1915 1916 1917 1918

January 25 Conservation April 6 November 11 first transcontinental movement in Indiana President Woodrow World War 1 telephone call crosses and centennial of Wilson signs ends. U.S. from New York City statehood promotes resolution entering to San Francisco. establishment of state the U.S. into World parks. War 1.

Other Events in History

8 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources.

One of a series of photographs not last. She wrote in Moths of the men and local mills took the best of from Moths of the Limberlost Limberlost, the soft wood. Then a ditch, in (facing 126). A friend had brought Mrs. Porter these two Cecropia . . . soon commerce attacked reality a canal, was dredged across the north end through my best cocoons, and she documented the swamp and began its usual the moths emerging after several process of devastation. Canadian territory, and that carried the water months of observation (113). lumbermen came seeking tall to the Wabash River until oil men could enter the swamp (4). straight timber for ship masts and tough heavy trees for beams. With the slow but steady Grand Rapids [Lumber Company] destruction of her beloved followed and stripped the forest of Limberlost Swamp, Mrs. Porter— hard wood for fine furniture, and now wealthy from her writing—in through my experience with the 1912 decided to build another lumbermen “Freckles’” story was written. Afterward hoop and stave cabin on Sylvan Lake at Rome City.

Fall Gene helps fight Gene moves to Gene works Gene writes to Indiana state drainage law Los Angeles and with filmmaker, The White Governor Warren T. for Noble and sells Limberlost Thomas Ince, Flag; and McCray offering LaGrange Cabin in Geneva. to film Michael Wings. Wildflower Woods for counties. Homing with Her Father’s O’Halloran. a state bird and the Birds. Daughter. The Fire Bird. wildflower preserve.

1918-1919 1919 1919 1921 1921 1922 1923 1923 Stratton-Porter Timeline 1920 1922 September 7 October 4 first New York three radio stations to California carry first play-by- mail plane play coverage of leaves New York City; the World Series. arrives in San Francisco on September 11.

Other Events in History

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources.

Above is part of page 1 of Mrs. Porter’s personal journal of life at Limberlost Cabin, Rome City. She also kept Nothing more clearly demon- published posthumously in meticulous records of everything that strates the determination of Gene November 1926, Mrs. Porter was planted on her property. Stratton-Porter than her work in commented on Limberlost Cabin building her new Limberlost in Geneva: Cabin and crafting the surround- The first house that I was on the ing grounds—all known as Wild- job in building was paid for by the flower Woods—on Sylvan Lake. man of the family, and naturally what happened inside the house In an article in McCall’s, was not an individual emanation; it

January Gene starts Gene buys lots June Charles October 9 her own on Catalina grandson Tales You Dorwin Let Us Highly grandson movie Island and in Bel James December 6 Won’t Believe; Porter Resolve; and John production Air and begins Meehan Gene dies in and The Keeper dies. The Magic Meehan company. building houses. is born. an accident in of the Bees. Garden. is born. Los Angeles.

Stratton-Porter Timeline 1924 1924 1924 1924 1925 1926 1927 1927 1925 1926 1927

January 5 May 20 first woman Henry Ford Charles A. Lindbergh governor, Mrs. introduces begins first solo trans- William B. Ross 40 hour work Atlantic flight from is inaugurated in week. Long Island, New York Wyoming. to Paris, France.

Other Events in History

Mrs. Porter planting by Sylvan Lake, Rome City.

was a compromise (quoted in and every photographic bed—from the surrounding woods Long, 134). convenience I could think of for my and transplanted them. According This time there were no work, shut away from the to her daughter, “By actual count, compromises. Mrs. Porter now remainder of the household. Here I came to live on a one-hundred- she brought in and set the roots had her own money to build it and-twenty-acre tract, having a of three thousand plants, trees, exactly the way she wanted it. In mile of winding lake shore, about shrubs, and vines in the first year an article, “Why I Always Wear fifty acres of which I am devoting to or two” (Meehan, 180). My Rose-Colored Glasses,” in The the work I so love (118). Mrs. Porter was tireless in American Magazine, August 1919, Frank N. Wallace, a tree creating a perfect sanctuary for she explained: surgeon who later became state plants and wildlife. In Tales You Over four years ago, because entomologist, was hired by Mrs. Won’t Believe, she provided an my house did not contain a Porter to help create a healthy example: suitable workshop, because my woods. They cleared dead wood, We brought in swamp soil and . . . location had been devastated by repaired damaged trees, and lumbermen, farmers, and oilmen worked up equal parts of pure field until it was impossible to find treated sick trees. He later stated and woods dirt and muck, and then natural history subjects to illustrate that, “The tree work took some- we went to the true sphagnum my nature books, and because by thing over two months for a crew tamarack swamps and brought in that time I had earned sufficient great loads of moss that we cut in of six to eight men” (Wallace, 2). sections, some of it three feet in money to do as I wished, I decided When the woods had been to change my location. I moved to depth, and carpeted our bed (168). put in proper shape, Mrs. Porter a lake shore in northern Indiana, In the midst of this hard, typical Limberlost country, built a and her crew laid off six, one-acre physical labor, she still wrote big log cabin, having a secluded flower beds. They gathered flowers books. By now she was world- library, printing-room, dark-room, and plants—one color for each famous. Ironically, the fame

© Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 11 carry them in hot hands for an hour, find them wilted, and throw them on the ground. And I have seen, since the advent of the automobile, the cars from the city travel into the country and the Indiana State Archives. white glory of the dogwood, or a red haw in bloom, or the purple mist of a red bud, transferred from tree to car until nothing but a discouraged stump bearing ragged, broken branches as high as men and women could reach, remained of what before had been a thing of symmetrical, soulful beauty (174-75). Curious admirers were not the only danger to Wildflower Woods. A far greater threat came in 1917, when the Indiana Gen- eral Assembly passed a law which allowed for the drainage of state owned swamp land in Noble and LaGrange counties. Mrs. Porter wrote in Tales You Won’t Believe, of her resolve: When I had definitely learned that this devastation was proposed, it was up to me to begin fighting a water battle. Also, I must work with all my might to save every specimen I could in case the battle should be lost (174). As a result of citizen protests, Richard Lieber, director of the Department of Conservation, held a hearing on the 1917 drainage law. Lieber and the Conservation Commission Along with others, Mrs. recommended repeal of the law as “ill-advised, unscientific, impractical, and uncertain of Porter did battle, and that legisla- results.” The law was repealed in the second special session of the General Assembly in 1920. Yearbook of the State of Indiana, 1920, p. 306. tion was repealed. The swamp land, however, was later drained. In 1918, the years of hard physical work, exposure to the out-of-doors, worry over World War I, and her fight to save the swamp land, had taken their toll which provided her money and people walk past and look us over on Mrs. Porter, now fifty-four freedom to create her sanctuary, while we were eating our dinner years old. She checked herself also drew uninvited visitors to out in the yard (Wallace, 5). into a clinic in New York where spoil it. In Tales You Won’t Believe, she stayed a month. Wallace recalled, as an example of the need for After returning to Wildflower Even though Mrs. Porter had education, Mrs. Porter described Woods, Mrs. Porter completed work many “No Admittance” signs put the thoughtless destruction of on Homing with the Birds. She then up at Limberlost Cabin there would nature: was apparently ready for a change. often be as many as twenty-five I have had trespassers on my own In the summer of 1919, she moved cars on the grounds at one time premises gather handsful of snow- and it was sometimes very boys and hepatica and adder to Los Angeles, California. embarrassing to have fifty or more tongue lilies and spring beauties,

She continued writing— including editorials for McCall’s magazine and poetry. After working with the motion picture industry, she formed Gene Stratton-Porter Productions in January 1924, working with the young director, James Leo Meehan, who had married her daughter Jeannette in June 1923. Mrs. Porter realized that the only way to translate her work to the screen her way was to do it herself. Her first production was Girl of the Limberlost. She commented to one correspondent, Every dollar of money that went into this picture I earned myself, most of it in the fields and woods

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources. and in the swamps . . . . It is the This photograph of Mrs. Porter was taken extent to which I am willing to go in ca. 1920 in California by Edward S. Curtis.

order to prove that our young James Leo Meehan, Jr., John E. Meehan, and Lilly Library, Indiana University Bloomington. She wrote to friends, “Mr. Curtis, the Indian photographer, made a new people are being shown the wrong boots-and-breeches picture of me kind of pictures (Meehan, 244). in one of the cañons the other day” In 1923, she offered to sell (Meehan, 220). Wildflower Woods to the State of Indiana. In 1924, she began In California, Gene Stratton- building two California homes— Porter began a new life in many one of which was on five acres of ways. She wrote to friends with land on Catalina Island. She some humor, began again to create the natural I have lain aside boots and environment she required: breeches and put on crêpe and On the mountain I am going to set beaded chiffon and a French my workshop, fashioned much like bonnet with roses and a veil; and I Limberlost Cabin in size and stand up and speak my little piece arrangement, but differing from it in with the best of them (Meehan, architecture, as it must to conform This sidebar from the Gene Stratton- 220). to this location; and around it I am Porter Productions letterhead leaves The natural scenery in going to begin growing the wild no doubt about Mrs. Porter’s goals. California was very different from flowers of California. I want it, also, Indiana, and it affected Mrs. as I want any spot on which I live, to become a sanctuary for the Porter strongly: birds (Meehan, 278). I see so much on the desert, in the Mrs. Porter did not complete cañons, and on the mountains that other writers have failed to mention this dream. She was killed in an . . . . I have no words in which to automobile accident on December express what the ocean does to 6, 1924. me, and the cañon does a bit deeper, and the desert deepest of all (Meehan, 218).

© Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 13 “Behind the scenes” presents some aspect of how the Bureau staff produces each issue of the magazine. The focus may be, for example, the research process, an interpretation Behind the scenes problem, etc. It also enables us to thank our partners and demonstrate that research is a collaboration with often unexpected twists and turns.

For example, in a letter to an old friend in Indiana, probably in early 1924, Mrs. Porter wrote the following self-evaluation: As the years go by I can see myself changing. . . . I really am quite a respectable person by this time. Life has moulded me and hammered me and taught me and punished me and delighted me until I have deepened and broadened so that I would be very much more worth while as a friend than I could possibly have been as the narrow-minded, bigoted creature that you knew. I have tried with all my might to keep sane, to keep sweet, to be true to my friends and just to my enemies (Meehan, 276). What she meant by this evaluation only Mrs. Porter knew completely. Much of any individual’s life—and the past in general—is lost to the future because sources have not been preserved. The goal of a biographer should be to provide the most complete and accurate story possible using and carefully analyzing available

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Division, Department of Natural Resources. resources. In Mrs. Porter’s case, the available resources leave many questions unanswered about who she was and how much she accomplished. The definitive story of her life and work has not yet been written. Why is biography important? Historians have Gene Stratton-Porter with one of her granddaughters. Her first come to realize that the stories of people—famous granddaughter, Jeannette Helen Monroe, was the focus of Morning Face, published in 1921. The Keeper of the Bees (1925) was written for and ordinary—are crucial to an understanding of her second granddaughter, Gene Stratton Monroe: “into the ‘Little history. Such stories help to set the record straight. Scout’ she wove the actual character and disposition of Gene and Personal papers, such as letters, journals, and dedicated the book to her. She constantly watched Gene at her work and at her play . . . just to hear the little girl’s comments and note her business records, are one important resource for the reactions” (Meehan, 292). biographer. This issue of The Indiana Historian provides a Individuals, family members, and friends often limited introduction to Gene Stratton-Porter using preserve personal papers. Libraries, archives, and mainly her own words. It is not a biography, but it museums have collected and will continue to collect has prompted some thoughts about biography. and preserve such personal papers. These materials Gene Stratton-Porter documented her life in enable interested historians—young people or great detail. She wrote probably thousands of adults, professional or avocational—to set many pages—privately and for publication—describing her records straight. life and work. As we explored materials for this issue, some elements of her life seem very clear. Other elements were quite elusive. You be the historian • Try gathering resources and writing a brief biographi- cal sketch of a friend or relative. Share your sketch with that person and others to evaluate how accurate you have been. • Locate personal papers in a nearby repository and begin compiling biographies of individuals. • Begin urging people to deposit their personal papers with a repository for historical use. A note regarding resources: Items are listed on this page that enhance work with the topic discussed. Some older items, especially, may include dated practices and ideas that are no longer generally accepted. Resources reflecting current practices are noted whenever possible. Selected resources

Bibliography Limberlost, The Harvester, The and landscapes outdoors during each • Long, Judith Reick. Gene Stratton- Keeper of the Bees, and Laddie. month of the year. Early readers. Porter: Novelist and Naturalist. Selected Student Resources • Liptak, Karen. Saving Our Wet- Indianapolis: Indiana Historical • Asher, Sandy. Wild Words! How to lands and Their Wildlife. New York: Society, 1990. Train Them to Tell Stories. New York: Franklin Watts, 1991. Provides an overview of Mrs. Walker and Company, 1989. Different types of wetlands and Porter’s life and work, using official Advice for young creative writers, their wildlife are described in this records and other resources to including how to put ideas on paper. easy to read work. establish more accurately dates and Intermediate readers. • Parker, Philip. Your Living Home. incidents. • Bellamy, David. Our Changing New York: Thomson Learning, 1995. • MacLean, David G. Gene Stratton- World: The Roadside. New York: Excellent, easy resource on house- Porter: A Bibliography and Collector’s Clarkson N. Potter, Inc./Publishers, hold ecology, including insect life Guide. Decatur, IN: Americana Books, 1988. found in most urban dwellings. 1976. Colorful illustrations help to tell • Silver, Donald M. One Small Useful reference for books and how the balance of nature is dis- Square Pond. New York: W. H. magazine articles by and about Mrs. rupted in a wilderness area when a Freeman and Company, 1994. Porter. highway is constructed. Intermediate Excellent work for intermediate • Meehan, Jeannette Porter. The readers. readers on pond ecology with activi- Lady of the Limberlost: The Life and • Challand, Helen J. Disappearing ties and outstanding illustrations. Letters of Gene Stratton-Porter. Wetlands. Chicago: Childrens Press, • Sisson, Edith A. Nature with Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & 1992. Children of All Ages. Englewood Cliffs, Company, Inc., 1928. The ecological role of wetlands, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982. Meehan provides insight into her including how wetlands are formed Excellent resource for educators mother’s personal and professional and what life they support. including activities and chapter life; quotes many letters and other • Dubrovin, Vivian. Write Your Own bibliographies. Can be read by writings not otherwise available. Story. New York: Franklin Watts, intermediate readers. • Richards, Bertrand F. Gene 1984. Other Resources Stratton Porter. Boston: Twayne Some of the ways to write a short • Special thanks to Margie Sweeny, Publishers, 1980. story. Beginning readers. Curator, and Pat Bolman, Naturalist, Good reference on her writing and • Evans, Art. First Photos: How Kids of the Gene Stratton-Porter State reception by critics and the public. Can Take Great Pictures. Redondo Historic Site, Box 639, Rome City, IN • Wallace, Frank N. “Gene Stratton- Beach, CA: Photo Data Research, 46784. Call 219-854-3790 for infor- Porter and Her Studies of Native 1992. mation, hours, and tours available. Plants,” mimeograph typescript, An easy to read introduction to • Limberlost State Historic Site, Box [1925], Indiana Division, Indiana basic photography. 356, Geneva, IN 46740. Call 219- State Library. • Hilton, Jonathan, and Barrie 368-7428 for information, hours, and Paper read at the March 1925 Watts, consultant eds. Photography. tours available. meeting of the Garden Flowers Brookfield, CT: The Millbrook Press, • Indiana Humanities Council, 1500 Society, Fort Wayne. 1994. North Delaware Street, Indianapolis, Works by Gene Stratton-Porter Excellent work on cameras, how to IN 46202, 317-638-1500, has Mrs. The following items were used in take good photographs, and how to Porter’s books available for loan and preparing this issue: correct the most common mistakes. will allow modest grant funds for a • Homing with the Birds: The History More advanced readers. performance by Marcia Quick, an of a Lifetime of Personal Experience • Lasky, Kathryn. Think Like an actress who portrays Mrs. Porter. with the Birds. 1919. Eagle: At Work with a Wildlife Photog- • Forthcoming in the Fall 1996 is a • Let Us Highly Resolve. 1927. rapher. Boston: Little, Brown and new documentary, Gene Stratton- • Moths of the Limberlost. 1921. Company, 1992. Porter: Voice of the Limberlost. To • Tales You Won’t Believe. 1925. A professional photographer tracks borrow the video, contact the Indiana • What I Have Done with Birds. 1907. wildlife in three regions of the United Humanities Council, 317-638-1500. • “Why I Always Wear My Rose- States. Advanced readers. To purchase the video, contact Ball Colored Glasses,” The American • Leslie, Clare Walker. Nature All State University, Office of Academic Magazine (August 1919), 36-37, Year Long. New York: Greenwillow Research, 317-285-1600. 112, 114, 117, 118, 121. Books, 1991. Indiana University Press has A simple text and good illustrations reprinted Freckles, The Girl of the describing different plants, animals, Indiana Historical Bureau 140 North Senate Avenue • Room 408 • Indianapolis, Indiana • 46204-2296 • 317-232-2535 • TDD 317-232-7763

Gene Stratton- Porter was a gifted artist. These charcoal sketches reveal a personal side. Left is one of her daughter Jeannette and her father Mark Stratton. Several images were not included in the computer file of this Right is Jeannette at age twelve. document because of technological limitations at the bureau at the time this publication was produced. The captions and credits are in the document and will help you "fill in" what the image is. Of course, the original printed version contains all images.