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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 re- sources 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 his- tory 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 avail- able 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. © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1996 The Indiana Historian, September 1996 3 “a little bird woman” 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.
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