Naturalism
Naturalism is the practice of closely observing, systematically collecting, and accurately documenting elements of the natural world in order to study, understand, and preserve them. It began to take shape in the late 17th and 18th centuries, influenced by Enlightenment ideals and early scientific exploration, and evolved alongside the rise of natural history as a discipline. By the 19th century, naturalist practices had matured into a widespread movement—embodied by figures like Theodore Roosevelt, who from childhood through his presidency engaged in field observation, specimen collection, and detailed documentation, ultimately shaping both scientific understanding and conservation policy.
Claude: Birds & Nature was a periodical published by the Nature Study Publishing Company in Chicago, running from 1896 to 1907. It leans toward the popular/accessible end of naturalism rather than the strictly scientific end — more in the tradition of Audubon than a dry taxonomic journal. That actually makes it a wonderful example of the era, when natural history was considered legitimate public education, not just specialist science.
Text
Jepson Field Book Volume 25: no.4765-5155, Willis Linn Jepson, 1912
Taxidermy mention
Link to Sportsman-Naturalist
Conservationism
The need for land conservation entered the American consciousness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the nation, having expanded fully from east to west, began to recognize the finiteness of its resources and deemed federal intervention necessary. What followed was sweeping legislation that preserved vast swaths of land through the establishment of national and state parks, wildlife refuges, and monuments. As president, Roosevelt drove much of the effort, putting roughly 230 million acres of land under federal protection. Parallel to these efforts was an endeavor to preserve wildlife, which was being rapidly depleted by market hunting, meaning the mass killing of animals for profit […], and, in the case of the bison, the introduction of horses to North America, which enhanced hunting abilities and competed for resources, and the intentional annihilation of the species by the US Army in order to gain power over Native American populations (CITE).
Hunting Laws
October 1, 1890: At the urging of John Muir, The U.S. Congress designated Yosemite a National Park.
May 28, 1892: Writer and naturalist John Muir founded the Sierra Club. Muir’s campaigning for conservation in the 1890s would exert an influence on American life in the 20th century.
Hunting with Rifle and Camera ⇨
Societies & Clubs
New York Zoological Society
McAleenan was a member.
Outdoors Clubs
Controdiction of outdoor clubs that emphasized hunting
Sierra Club
The objects of the Club shall be: https://archive.org/details/americanbiggameh00roosev/page/6/mode/2up
- To promote manly sport with the rifle.
- To promote travel and exploration in the wild and unknown, or but partially known, portions of the country.
- To work for the preservation of the large game of this country, and, so far as possible, to further legislation for that purpose, and to assist in enforcing the existing laws.
- To promote inquiry into and to record observations on the habits and natural history of the various wild animals.
- To bring about among the members the interchange of opinions and ideas on hunting, travel, exploration, on the various kinds of hunting-rifles, on the haunts of game animals, etc.
New York Zoological Society
New York Zoological Society Research ⇨
White Supremacy
Nativism
Capitalizing on and fueling anti-Catholic sentiment
Anglo-Saxonism
Scientific Racism
The influx of immigrants in the early twentieth century intensified an already existing nativist sentiment, with Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans, and East Asians. This attitude fostered an already existing anti-Catholic sentiment, most visibly embodied by the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, the so-called Second Klan, whose adopted slogan “100% Americanism” meant white and Protestant.
“Yes, in this period it functions well as both an ideology and a movement, given that it had institutional embodiments (the Klan), legislative achievements (the…Yes, in this period it functions well as both an ideology and a movement, given that it had institutional embodiments (the Klan), legislative achievements (the Immigration Act of 1924), intellectual advocates (Grant, Hornaday), and broad popular support. It was organized, it had goals, and it achieved them — that is a movement.”
Events ⇨