John Burroughs

Writer John Burroughs was born on April 3, 1837, in Roxbury, New York. Like Henry David Thoreau before him, Burroughs gained a wide following for his observations, in the form of nature essays, of the world around him. Burroughs published his first collection of nature writings, Wake-Robin, in 1871. Among his best known works are Birds and Poets (1877), Locusts and Wild Honey (1879), Signs and Seasons (1886), and Ways of Nature (1905).

…man made the city, and after he became sufficiently civilized, not afraid of solitude, and knew on what terms to live with nature, God promoted him to life in the country…

In the Catskills, Selections…, by John Burroughs. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1910. The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920.

Noon Meditations at Slabsides/Kellogg & Innes. (Portrait of John Burroughs, seated in rocking chair). c1901. Evolution of the Conservation Movement 1850-1920. Prints & Photographs Division
In the Catskills. Phila.: J. Hoover, c1887. Popular Graphic Arts. Prints & Photographs Division

In 1899, Burroughs joined a host of luminaries, including fellow naturalist John Muir and painter Louis Agassiz Fuertes, on a scientific expedition along the Alaska coast. Burroughs’ writing is one of several items featured in The Harriman Alaska Expedition: Chronicles and Souvenirs May to August 1899, a private souvenir album created by the members of the expedition.

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