Donald C. Peattie
Encyclopedia
Donald Culross Peattie was a U.S.
botanist, naturalist
and author
. He was described by Joseph Wood Krutch
as "perhaps the most widely read of all contemporary American nature writers" during his heyday.
to the journalist Robert Peattie and the novelist Elia Peattie. He studied French poetry for two years at the University of Chicago
and then transferred to, and graduated (1922) from Harvard University
where he studied with the noted botanist Merritt Lyndon Fernald
. After field work in the Southern and Mid-West United States, he worked as a botanist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1922–1924).
His brother, Roderick Peattie (1891-1955), was a geographer and a noted author in his own right.
Donald was nature columnist for the Washington Star
from 1924 to 1935.
His nature writing
s are distinguished by a poetic and philosophical cast of mind and are scientifically scrupulous. His best known works are the two books (out of a planned trilogy) on North American trees, A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950) and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953), with woodcut illustrations by Paul Landacre
.
Peattie also produced children's
and travel books, altogether totaling almost forty volumes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
botanist, naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He was described by Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch was an American writer, critic, and naturalist.Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he initially studied at the University of Tennessee and received a masters degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After serving in the army in 1918, he travelled in Europe for a year with friend...
as "perhaps the most widely read of all contemporary American nature writers" during his heyday.
Biography
Peattie was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to the journalist Robert Peattie and the novelist Elia Peattie. He studied French poetry for two years at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and then transferred to, and graduated (1922) from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
where he studied with the noted botanist Merritt Lyndon Fernald
Merritt Lyndon Fernald
Merritt Lyndon Fernald was an American botanist. In his time he was regarded as the most respected scholar of the taxonomy and phytogeography of the vascular plant flora of temperate eastern North America. He published more than 850 scientific papers and wrote and edited the seventh and eighth...
. After field work in the Southern and Mid-West United States, he worked as a botanist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1922–1924).
His brother, Roderick Peattie (1891-1955), was a geographer and a noted author in his own right.
Donald was nature columnist for the Washington Star
Washington Star
The Washington Star, previously known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star, was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. between 1852 and 1981. For most of that time, it was the city's newspaper of record, and the longtime home to columnist Mary McGrory and...
from 1924 to 1935.
His nature writing
Nature writing
Nature writing is generally defined as nonfiction prose writing about the natural environment. Nature writing often draws heavily on scientific information and facts about the natural world; at the same time, it is frequently written in the first person and incorporates personal observations of and...
s are distinguished by a poetic and philosophical cast of mind and are scientifically scrupulous. His best known works are the two books (out of a planned trilogy) on North American trees, A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950) and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953), with woodcut illustrations by Paul Landacre
Paul Landacre
Paul Hambleton Landacre was one of the outstanding printmakers of the modern era. His distinguished body of work was largely responsible for elevating the wood engraving to an art form in twentieth-century America...
.
Peattie also produced children's
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
and travel books, altogether totaling almost forty volumes.
Books
- Trees You Want to Know (1934)
- An Almanac for Moderns (1935)
- Singing in the wilderness: a salute to John James Audubon (1935)
- Green laurels: the lives and achievements of the great naturalists (1936)
- The Story of the New Lands (1937)
- This is Living, A View of Nature with Photographs (1938)
- A Prairie Grove (1938), a narrative of the history and family home of naturalist Robert KennicottRobert KennicottRobert Kennicott was an American naturalist.-Biography:Kennicott was born in New Orleans and grew up in "West Northfield" , Illinois, a town in the prairie north of the then nascent city of Chicago....
- Flowering Earth (1939)
- The Road of a Naturalist (1941)
- The Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge; the story of the southern Appalachians, edited by Roderick Peattie ... The contributors: Edward S. Drake, Ralph Erskine, Alberta Pierson Hannum, Donald Culross Peattie [and others] ... New York, The Vanguard Press [1943]. Edited by Roderick Peattie, Donald's brother, this book contains long sections of some of Donald's best writing, include a history of naturalist/explorers in the southern mountains, and some beautiful descriptions of the southern spruce-fir forest.
- Forward the Nation (Armed Services edition) (1944)
- American Heartwood (1949)
- A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America, BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950; 2nd ed 1966; Reprint as trade paperback with intro by Robert Finch, 1991. (Portions were previously published in The Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, Natural HistoryNatural History (magazine)Natural History is an American natural history magazine. The stated mission of the magazine is to promote public understanding and appreciation of nature and science.- History :...
and Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
in 1948-49.) - A Natural History of Western Trees, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953; Reprint as trade paperback with intro by Robert Finch, 1991.
- A Natural History of North American Trees (2007), an abridged one-volume selection from the previous two volumes (112 of the original 257 essays; 135 of the original 365 illustrations). This edition won the National Outdoor Book AwardNational Outdoor Book AwardThe National Outdoor Book Award was formed in 1997 as a US-based non-profit program which each year honors the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watters. Awards are presented in ten categories. The award is announced in early November...
(Outdoor Classics, 2007). - The Rainbow Book of Nature (1957)
- Best in Children's Books (6) by Donald Culross Peattie, Phyllis Krasilovsky, Rudyard Kipling, and Rachel Field (1958)
Legacy
- Peattie's papers, correspondence, and manuscripts, and those of Louise Redfield, are in the archives of the University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraThe University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, Davidson Library, Department of Special Collections.