Mark Catesby Tercentennial Symposium - Nov. 4-9, 2012
A few years back, I alerted this list to the Catesby
Trust's documentary, "The Curious Mr. Catesby," an award-winning DVD
about the 18th century English naturalist/artist whose first-hand accounts of
American birds, animals, and plants profoundly shaped European impressions of
North America and Native Americans. The film was shown widely on public
television.
Now Mark Catesby is back in the spotlight -- with a major
conference to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his first visit to North
America in 1712. Even one day of the 6-day conference (in 3 cities!) would be
worth the trip, I think. Details below.
To whet your appetite, look at Catesby's etchings and
text in The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/amacker/etext/home.htm (first edition text, 1731-1743)
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/mobot31753000502945 (1754 edition)
Many of the plants Catesby collected became part of the
Sloane Herbarium at the Natural History Museum, London:
Karen Reeds
(Full disclosure: I'm on the program for Mon. Nov. 7, in
Richmond VA.)
The Catesby Commemorative Trust, along with the Society
for the History of Natural History and the Garden Club of America, will gather
top international scholars to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Englishman
Mark Catesby's arrival in North America. The six-day, three-city conference
will include lectures from more than 20 presenters from various disciplines
that include art, wildlife, natural history, conservation and economics.
From November 4-9th, 2012 senior academics, historians
and curators will gather in Richmond, VA, Washington, DC and Charleston &
Kiawah, SC to lecture, present, lead tours and facilitate discussion about the
artist, explorer, scientist, horticulturalist, and conservationist, Mark
Catesby.
Institutions represented in the Tercentennial include:
the Smithsonian, Oxford University, University of Amsterdam, Harvard
University, Yale University, Brown University, Cornell University, Royal (Kew)
Botanic Gardens, US Botanic Garden, and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural
Sciences. Conference attendees will also have the opportunity to view Catesby
artworks, plant species he encountered and his landmark publication Natural
History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands....
Contact: Kirstie
Tucker
Catesby Commemorative Trust
1-888-925-9922
Email: info@catesbytrust.org
Visit the website at http://www.catesbytrust.org/
--
Karen Reeds, PhD, FLS
Guest Curator, Come into a New World: Linnaeus &
America American Swedish Historical Museum, Philadelphia, 2007 New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ ,
2008 Exhibition guide available from http://www.dianepublishing.net/category_s/490.htm
(p.4) Guest Curator, Botanica Magnifica: Photographs by Jonathan Singer New
Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ, through August 26, 2012