John Burroughs Putting up a Bluebird House at Riverby, 1902

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Artifact Overview

John Burroughs (1837-1921) was an internationally known naturalist and essayist who wrote about accessible and familiar landscapes. In 1873, Burroughs bought a plot of land overlooking the Hudson in the Catskills of upstate New York and named it Riverby. Here, he farmed and cultivated grapes and fruit trees. He also erected a family home and built secluded retreats where he penned some of his most famous works.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Negative (Photograph)

Date Made

1902

Subject Date

February 1902

Collection Title

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

93.205.79

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Glass (Material)

Technique

Gelatin dry plate process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 5 in
Width: 7 in

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    John Burroughs: American Naturalist

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    John Burroughs was a keen observer of the natural world. He hiked the woods around his native Catskills home, fished the streams, listened to birdsongs, and cataloged the world he found there in essays that influenced others to find that same love of nature. While other naturalists celebrated towering mountains, scenic vistas, and the untamed wilderness, Burroughs urged his readers to find grandeur in the local, accessible, and familiar.