by David L. Witt | Oct 21, 2019 | Seton Essays
Seton’s early science writings are less known than his wildlife stories but demonstrated important insights. Roger Tory Peterson Writing in 1941 in the Preface of A Field Guide to the Western Birds, Roger Tory Peterson gave credit to Seton’s influential work: “It was...
by David L. Witt | Oct 9, 2019 | Curator's Notes
The late 19th century witnessed two unrelated examples of collapse. One was the mass slaughter of birds for the fashion industry. Deer, elk, bighorn sheep and bison were on the ropes as well after a particularly vicious century of relentless killing. The other...
by David L. Witt | Oct 4, 2019 | Seton Biography
There is a wonderful passage in Two Little Savages (and yes, we can only wish that he had chosen a different title) where the adult Seton reflects on what the boy Seton was thinking in the 1870s (referring to himself as “Yan.”). He spent increasing amounts of time,...
by David L. Witt | Sep 22, 2019 | Seton Biography
The boy “Squinty” Seton had to put up with a good deal of bullying in the economically poor neighborhood of Toronto in which he found himself. After the disappointing results of the Ontario farming venture, Joseph Thompson brought his family back to city life. The...
by David L. Witt | Aug 16, 2019 | Seton Biography
In my work as an historian, I am generally more interested in finding meanings than in establishing dates. (“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Maybe so, but that tells us nothing about the implications of that action). Nonetheless, setting out an array of...
