UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE FANCY AND IMAGINATION: CULTIVATING SYMPATHY AND ENVISIONING THE NATURAL WORLD FOR THE MODERN CHILD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By KIMBERLY E. PEREZ Norman, Oklahoma 2006 UMI Number: 3237839 UMI Microform 3237839 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 FANCY AND IMAGINATION: CULTIVATING SYMPATHY AND ENVISIONING THE NATURAL WORLD FOR THE MODERN CHILD A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE BY ___________________________ Dr. Katherine Pandora, Chair ___________________________ Dr. Hunter Crowther-Heyck ___________________________ Dr. Kathleen Crowther-Heyck ___________________________ Dr. Marilyn Ogilvie ___________________________ Dr. Donald Pisani Copyright by KIMBERLY E. PEREZ 2006 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgments My initial foray into the history of science led me to an enthusiastic teacher who opened my world up to the possibilities of a career in this field by punctuating her lectures on the history of natural history with the admission that “This is a greatly understudied area within the history of science.” I went on to take several classes with Dr. Katherine Pandora and in each she opened the door to the possibilities a bit more. She went on to advise my Master’s thesis and now my Doctoral dissertation and I am grateful for her mentorship, keen editorial skills, patience, and her encouragement that one could make a career out of studying their favorite things. For their thoughtful commentary on my research I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Hunter Crowther-Heyck, Dr. Kathleen Crowther-Heyck, Dr. Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, and Dr. Donald J. Pisani. Further, I would like to thank the members of the Department of the History of Science not listed above for their guidance and support through my educational career. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues in the Department of History at Fort Hays State University. In particular I am thankful for the financial support for research and travel that I have received from Dr. Robert Rook in the Department of History and Dr. Tom Jackson, Dean of the Graduate College. I would also like to thank Dr. Raymond Wilson and Dr. Todd Leahy for their support throughout this process. For my research on Liberty Hyde Bailey, I would like to thank Elaine Engst, Director and University Archivist, and her staff at The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University. For my research on Mabel Osgood Wright, I am grateful for the assistance of Anne Marie Carey, Branch Librarian at the Fairfield Woods Branch of the Fairfield Public Library and Sue Zuckerman at the Fairfield Public Library; Dennis Barrow of the Fairfield Historical Society; Daniel J. Philippon of the Department of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; the librarians and staff of the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library; Chris Nevins of the Birdcraft Museum; and Mary Witkowski, Head of Historical Collections, and the staff at the Historical Collections at the Bridgeport Public Library. For my general research I am indebted to the Interlibrary Loan Department at Fort Hays State University—this project would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of their staff. In particular I would like to acknowledge Carolyn Herrman, Sheran Powers, and Lynn Haggard; these three librarians never blinked when I submitted an outlandish request and amazed me with their 99% success rate at finding obscure titles, plus, they happen to be three of the friendliest faces I encountered at Fort Hays. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Patty iv Nichols of the Archives and Special Collections at Fort Hays. As always, I am grateful for the assistance of the University of Oklahoma History of Science Collections faculty and staff. I am further appreciative of the assistance of Carolyn Schwab, Assistant Unit Head of Circulation, and Janice Barons, Circulation Unit Head, of Hale Library at Kansas State University. And for my research on the Nature-Study Review, I would like to thank the librarians and staff of the Linda Hall Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I have also have the pleasure of working with three willing and capable research assistants: Jean Perez, Brea Howard, and Anne Otte. One of the greatest pleasures I experienced while conducting my research was traveling my mother, Jean Perez, to Fairfield and New York and having her assistance with my research. Not only was the trip enjoyable, but I learned that my mother is an adept research assistance with the particular skill of reading and deciphering handwritten letters. I am indebted to her for assisting me by transcribing several of the letters I acquired from the Fairfield and New York Public Libraries. My niece, Brea Howard, and the student secretary of the History Department at Fort Hays, Anne Otte, both assisted me with library work by finding and copying articles. There are a number of people who played important roles in bringing this project to fruition. In particular I would like to acknowledge Dr. Ted Barkley, Sylvia Patterson, Kristin Glenn, Rhonda Baker, and Clebbie Riddle. I am very lucky to have the support of an incredible group of family and friends and I thank each and every one for their companionship, encouragement, patience, and support. I am especially grateful for my “fuzzy” children, Sage, Lark, Lilith, Eve, Cody, Bill, and Sassy for teaching me more about the human-animal bond first-hand than I ever could have gleaned from a book and for being my much-needed source of stress relief. I am also lucky to share my life with my husband, Rob Channell, who has been my most valuable source of support throughout this process. Rob is my intellectual colleague, best friend, and my source of much-needed laughter and love. I am forever indebted to him for these things. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my father, Joseph Leon Perez, who I unfortunately lost a little over four years ago. My love of nature was fueled by the camping and fishing trips we took as a family in my childhood; he and mom always stopped at the natural history and park museums and fish hatcheries that were a great source of interest to me in my childhood (and now!). He provided me my love of history by sharing stories of his youth as a migrant field worker, member of the CCC, and a soldier in World War II; his stories brought history to life for me and made me realize that history is not just something we learn about in text books. Finally, he provided me with the one thing that any daughter could hope for: unconditional love. Words cannot begin to express the importance he played in my life and career. v Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Defining Nature-Study 16 Nature Study and the Progressive Education Movement 16 Defining Nature Study 35 Nature-Study Defined 66 Chapter 2: Fancy and Imagination in Literature 75 Fancy and Imagination in Literature 75 Nature Stories 98 Chapter 3: Liberty Hyde Bailey’s “Outlook to Nature” 126 Childhood and Education 127 Straddling the “Garden Fence” 140 The “Quest for Truth” 164 Chapter 4: “Fact is Not to Be Worshipped” 182 “The Holy Earth” 183 “The School of the Future” 190 “The Nature-Study Idea” 199 “Fact is Not to be Worshipped” 206 Chapter 5: The Literature and Life of Mabel Osgood Wright 218 Childhood and Early Experiences 222 Wright’s Literary Career 241 vi Wright’s Conservation Career 264 Chapter 6: “Nature as a Field for Fiction” 276 “Nature as a Field for Fiction” 276 Imagination and Sympathy in “Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts” and “Wabeno the Magician” 288 Reconnecting Humanity and Nature through Fancy and Imagination 315 Conclusion 321 Bibliography 333 vii Introduction In May 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago opened in the magnificent “White City” on the shores of Lake Michigan. The World’s Fair marked the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. For Americans the Exposition provided an opportunity to demonstrate to the people of the nation and the world the remarkable technological and scientific strides that had been made in that time. Chicago was the fastest industrializing city in the West and the fair, with its 266 foot tall Ferris Wheel made of steel and its streets and buildings illuminated with electric light bulbs, was a stunning representation of the benefits of industrialization. At the dedication to the Exposition building, Chauncey M. Depew, famous orator and a member of the World’s Columbian Commission, spoke of the progress the fair represented: If interest in the affairs of this world is vouchsafed to those who have gone before, the spirit of Columbus hovers over us to-day. Only by celestial intelligence can it grasp the full significance of this spectacle and ceremonies. From the first century to the fifteenth counts for little in the history of progress, but in the period between the fifteenth and the twentieth is crowded the romance and reality of human development. Life has been prolonged and its enjoyment intensified. The powers of the air and the water, the resistless forces of the elements, which in the time of the discoverer were the visible terrors of the wrath of God have been subdued to the service of man. Art and luxuries, which could be possessed and enjoyed only by the rich and noble, the works of genius which were read and understood only by the learned few, domestic comforts and surroundings beyond the reach of lords or bishops, now adorn and illumine the homes of our citizens.