1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: I'm very Dowdy and I'm Deblin a truck reboarding and 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: today we're gonna be talking about John James Audubon, who, 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: of course is the famous creator of Birds of America 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: in addition to being a naturalist, a great outdoorsman. And 7 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: it's easy to also believe that Audubon might have been 8 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: the founder of the Audubon Society. It's still has his name, 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: it's still the biggest name in bird conservation today. But 10 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,279 Speaker 1: that is not the case at all. Now. Audubon had 11 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: actually been dead for more than thirty years when George 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: Bird Grinnell, the society's founder and an admirer of Audubon, 13 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: started publishing articles critiquing plume hunting in his Hunting and 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: Fishing magazine. And that was in the late eighteen eighties, 15 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: and a craze for those huge feathered hats known as 16 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: Gainsborough hats was decimating North American bird populations, especially shore 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: and water birds. And we talked a little bit about 18 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: games for a hots in our Real Moriarty episode and 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: the Portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire sort of starting 20 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,559 Speaker 1: that trend again for these huge hats, but it really 21 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: was affecting water birds, shore birds um because plume hunters 22 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: were killing them for their feathers. So Grenelle's publication didn't 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: last that long, but a few years after it shut down, 24 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: a socialite name to Harriet Hevenway decided that she was 25 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: going to pick up the torch. So she and her 26 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: cousin poured through the Boston Blue Book, you know, all 27 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: the top names in Boston society, and noted down every 28 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: fashionable lady who wore these plumes, and instead of writing 29 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: them scathing letters like give up your plumes, the cousins 30 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,559 Speaker 1: instead invited these feather wearing ladies to join the newly 31 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: formed Massachusetts Audubon Society, and by the turn of the century, 32 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: several of these state level Audubon societies banded together, still 33 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: keeping that name, and consequently Audubon's name became synonymous not 34 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 1: only with his own work Birds of America, but with 35 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: American conservation and between these two heavy legacies, though a 36 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: lot of the fascinating details and the contradictions about Audubon's 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: life kind of got overlooked for one thing. He was 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: fine living in the woods for weeks, meeting Native Americans 39 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: and fur trappers, or teaching planters sons how to dance 40 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: and play violin, so you know, very desperate sort of things. Yeah, 41 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: he was also a real Daniel Boot type who would 42 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 1: obsess about his hair, and he and his wife had 43 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: the cinematic love story, but they lived apart for years. 44 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: And while he prided himself on his very accurate drawings, 45 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: he also loved a good tall tale too. I mean 46 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,399 Speaker 1: that sort of fits in with the Daniel boone perspectively think. 47 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: But he did have all of these different sides of 48 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: his personality going on. So over the course of two episodes, 49 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: we'll be talking about Audubon's life with input from Michael Inman, 50 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: curator of the Rare Books Division at the New York 51 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: Public Library, on Audubon's technique and the creation of Birds 52 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: of America. But first we want to kind of introduce 53 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: you to the contradictions, surprises, and adventure that actually started 54 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: really early on for Audubon. In fact, he wasn't even 55 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: born John James Audubon was he Prize number one. So 56 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: throughout his life Audubon would tell all sorts of stories 57 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: about his birth, really outlandish kinds of things, like he 58 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: was born in Louisiana to a French hero of the 59 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: American Revolution, or maybe he was even a lost heir 60 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: to the French throne. Really out there stories. But the 61 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: truth was that he had been born April seve as 62 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: Genreban to a French ship's captain and planter named John 63 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: Audubon and his French chambermaid mistress in what is today Haiti, 64 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: and Audubon's mother died just a few months after he 65 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: was born. I think she had never really adjusted well 66 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: to the climate there. But when the Haitian Revolution started brewing, 67 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: Audubon Senor sold off as much of his plantation land 68 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: as he could and squirreled Jean and his half sister 69 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: Rose out of the country and back to France in 70 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: seventeen one get them out before the revolution happened, and 71 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: to avoid complications too from Rosa's mother being mixed race, 72 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: Jehan Audubon pretended that both kids had the same French 73 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: born mother. So the sort of lies about the kid's 74 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: background started almost immediately. Once they were back home, John's 75 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: wife and welcomed the kids with open arms and raised 76 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: them as her own, and when the terror reached them 77 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: in seventeen and threatened their lives and their property, they 78 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: tried to secure Jean and Rosa's inheritance by officially adopting them, 79 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: So Jeanroband became Jean Jacques or Fujaire. Fujaire actually means fern, 80 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,479 Speaker 1: and they chose that name to handle the revolutionary authorities, 81 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: who didn't like saint names didn't like the name Jean Jacques, 82 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: perhaps so. After the terror, the Audubon's relocated to a 83 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: country house, where Jean Jacque learned birds names from his 84 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: father and a family friend instructed him in taxidermy and anatomy. 85 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: He explored the marshes of Luire also, but at eighteen, 86 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: with the possibility of conscription into Napoleon's army, Jean Jacques 87 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: was packed off to America by his father. So Audubon Sr. 88 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: Owned this two hundred and eighty four acre farm called 89 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: Mill Grove outside of Philadelphia, where one of his tenants 90 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 1: had recently discovered a vein of leads. So Jean Audubon 91 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: hoped that his son might go there, check out this discovery, 92 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: and be able to manage the farm and make some 93 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: money on his own too, because the family's fortunes had 94 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: obviously taken a hit between the Haitian and the French revolutions. 95 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: But John James was not that great at running a 96 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: large farm. He was more interested in pretty much everything 97 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: else you could be interested in. He loved clothes, dancing, music, socializing. 98 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: He was incredibly popular with his friends and neighbors. He 99 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: was considered quite handsome. According to PBS. One of his 100 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania neighbors wrote, quote, a handsomer man I never saw. 101 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: But he also really loved being outside too and watching birds. 102 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: And Will Bakewell, who was Audubon's future brother in law, 103 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: gave a really good picture of Audubon's natural history loving 104 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: life at this time. On entering his room, I was 105 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: astonished and delighted to find that it was turned into 106 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: a museum. The walls were festooned with all kinds of birds, 107 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,040 Speaker 1: eggs carefully blown out and strung on a thread. The 108 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: chimney piece was covered with stuffed squirrels, raccoons, and apossums, 109 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,119 Speaker 1: and the shelves around were likewise crowded with specimens, among 110 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: which were fishes, frogs, snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. Besides 111 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: these stuffed varieties, many paintings were arrayed on the walls, 112 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: chiefly of birds. He was an admirable marksman, an expert swimmer, 113 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: a clever writer, and was notable for the elegance of 114 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: his figure year and the beauty of his features. Besides 115 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: other accomplishments, he was musical, a good fencer, danced well 116 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: and had some acquaintance with Ledger domain tricks, worked in hair, 117 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: and could plait willow baskets. So multitalent. She busy working 118 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: hair to to manage the farm, but Audubon soon fell 119 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: in love with his neighbor's daughter, Lucy Bakewell, who actually 120 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: came from the Erasmus Darwin family. Um he was Charles's grandfather, 121 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: and she was a really talented lady too. She was 122 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: an avid rider, she read a lot, she was a pianist. 123 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: So Lucy and Audubon married and sold that farm and 124 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: moved on to Louisville, Kentucky, where Audubon opened up a 125 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: general store and really reveled in all of these hunting 126 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: and drawing opportunities that were suddenly available to him in 127 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: what was basically a frontier town at the time, pretty 128 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: close to a frontier town. So Audubon had been sketching 129 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: birds for years and years, but at this point his 130 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: studies really began in earnest. He wasn't a great illustrator 131 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: though yet And according to the PBS documentary on Audubon, 132 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: Drawn from Nature, he even called his flat looking birds 133 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: quote crippled. So he had some improvements to make. Yeah. 134 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: So the first thing we wanted to ask Michael Inman 135 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: about where these early drawings. And here's what he had 136 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: to say. His early work was, um, far more traditional. Uh. 137 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: He he initially modeled himself on several of the other 138 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 1: leading ornithologists of that time. In particular, Um, there was 139 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: a gentleman, an English ornithologist, Mark Catesby, who had produced 140 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: a book called The Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida 141 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: and the Bahama Islands. And and Catesby was probably the 142 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: first ornithologist who really focused on certainly North America, and 143 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: and Audubon was familiar with his work and the work 144 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: of others, and his early work did sort of fall 145 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: into that vein of just being rather static and traditional. Uh. 146 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: It was only sort of later, especially after he he 147 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 1: met an ornithologist named Alexander Wilson UM, who was in 148 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: the process of publishing a book called American Ornithology UH, 149 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,680 Speaker 1: and Wilson he just had a chance meeting with Wilson. 150 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: Wilson was traveling selling subscriptions to his work. He met 151 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: Wilson and viewed his work and was very impressed with it. 152 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,680 Speaker 1: But after Wilson left, a friend and colleague of Audubon 153 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: said to him, you know, your work is much much better, 154 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: UM and lifelike uh than Wilson's is. And I think 155 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: it was from that moment on that he really saw 156 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: that he had some unique gift to to really depict 157 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: birds in a lifelike manner, and he began, I think 158 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: from that sort of that point on, really pushing the 159 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: envelope as far as how the book birds could be depicted. 160 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: So not long after this chance meeting with Alexander Wilson, Audubon, 161 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,199 Speaker 1: Lucy and their growing family relocated to the even more 162 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: remote Henderson, Kentucky to run a general store there, and 163 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: this seemed like one of the happiest periods in Audubon's life. 164 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: He and Lucy would swim across the Ohio River and 165 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 1: back from morning exercise, and she would garden and keep 166 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: an elegant home filled with her family's antiques from England, 167 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: and his business partner would run the store and Audubon 168 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,959 Speaker 1: himself would stock the store and hunt for provisions. And 169 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: this is also when he honed the technique that allowed 170 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: him to recreate birds so realistically on the page. A 171 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: lot of bird lovers, though we'll just stay up front, 172 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,439 Speaker 1: are a bit horrified when they learned that to do 173 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: this Audubon had to kill the birds that he drew. 174 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,319 Speaker 1: He'd head out with a shotgun bag of bird that 175 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: he was interested in, and then immediately ready at for sketching. 176 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: And Michael told us a little more about audubon system 177 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: and doing this and how he he sketched them was 178 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: rather innovative for the time. He devised the system of 179 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: of wires and boards and so forth, basically a little 180 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: contraption where he could then rig the birds up in 181 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: in the lifelike poses that he had observed when he 182 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,599 Speaker 1: was out in the woods or swamps or wherever he 183 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: may have been, and he would then sketch them in 184 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: these very lifelike dynamic poses, which is something that really 185 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: had not been done until that time. Until he began 186 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: doing that, generally, the the artists, the ornithologists who were 187 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: sketching birds or depicting birds in books up until that point, 188 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: uh tended to depict them in very sort of static 189 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: poses in profile or uh certainly not with any sort 190 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: of dynamic aspect or motion implied in the artwork. But 191 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: Audubon really wanted to capture that, you know, the birds 192 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: as they had appeared to him when he was observing them. 193 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: So he he did work out this system where he 194 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: could attach wires and and you know, manipulate the birds 195 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: so that even though they were dead at that time, 196 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,719 Speaker 1: they still appeared very lifelike to him as he was 197 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: then working on his watercolors to um to depict them. Uh. 198 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: He did run up against the problem though in certain cases, 199 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: especially when he was in very hot climates such as 200 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: the lower Mississippi Valley, that some of these specimens would 201 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: begin to decompose rather quickly. So it had to be 202 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: very quick, uh, you know, go out shoot the birds, 203 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: get back to wherever it was that was his home base, 204 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,960 Speaker 1: and very quickly draw them or paint them before they 205 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,559 Speaker 1: began to sort of rot before his eyes. So it 206 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: was it was a very sort of hurried process, and 207 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: he was constantly on the move. He was very much 208 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: driven to depict these birds um as as as life 209 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: like a manner as possible. So when you look at 210 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: Audubon's images, it's easy to see how these gritted, pinned 211 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: and freshly dead birds offered a whole lot more over 212 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 1: the traditional technique of the time, which was to kill 213 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: a bird, skin it, preserve the skin with arsenic, and 214 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: then stuff it with rope, and then finally illustrate it. 215 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,679 Speaker 1: But you know, Ottoman knew that not only could he 216 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: position them in more lifelike ways when they were freshly dead, 217 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: but he even knew that the color of birds feathers 218 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: would start to change within just twenty four hours of 219 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,200 Speaker 1: its death. It's worth noting, too, though, that he didn't 220 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: waste anything. He didn't draw these birds and then just 221 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: toss them aside. According to Richard Rhodes and Smithsonian Magazine, 222 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: after he was done sketching and supposing the bird wasn't 223 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: decomposing too badly, as Michael mentioned, Audubon would then dissect 224 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: it and he would take very careful anatomical notes on 225 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: what he thought and then, because he was often out 226 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: in the wilderness and didn't have anything else to eat, 227 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: he would eat the bird and describe its taste in 228 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: his field journals, and these are all things that eventually 229 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: became part of his work. Officially, though, Audubon was still 230 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: a businessman, not an illustrator for his career. But after 231 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: the Panic of eighteen nineteen, his businesses, which at this 232 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: point included a mill also in addition to the general store, 233 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: they started to turn south. So he was desperate for cash, 234 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: and so at this point he tried to call in 235 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: alone to Samuel Bowen, but Owen wouldn't pay up, and 236 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: this started a kind of an argument between the two 237 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: in which Bowen attacked Audubon, hitting him several times before 238 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: Audubon stabbed Bowen and ultimately injured him. He was found 239 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: not guilty of this assault, but ended up being put 240 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: into the Louisville Jail for debt, where he declared bankruptcy 241 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: and ended up seeing all of his possessions sold off, 242 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: including Lucy's heirlooms. So you can imagine how that would 243 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: have been for their family. At that time. Even Audubon's 244 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: precious paintings were put up for sale, but nobody wanted them, 245 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: so he ended up getting to keep them. Actunately, he 246 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: was able to keep those, but to add to their troubles, 247 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: the bankruptcy and all of that, the Audubon's, who had 248 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: two healthy sons, lost two baby girls at this time, 249 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: and it was clearly time for a career change. At 250 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: this point, Audubon was not cut out to be a businessman, 251 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: and so he decided to go to work for a 252 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: museum in Cincinnati, kind of similar to the one that 253 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: we discussed in the P. T. Barnum episode, like a 254 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: curiosity museum filled with a jumble of natural history and 255 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: cultural history items. And at that museum in Cincinnati, Audubon 256 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: practiced his taxidermy and was really encouraged in his art. 257 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: To encouraged in this project he had started working on 258 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: sort of unwittingly, so in eighteen twenty, frustrated by not 259 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: getting regular paychecks from his museum job, but feeling pretty inspired. Nevertheless, 260 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: he and one of his drawing students, Joseph Mason, set 261 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: out for New Orleans and he didn't have much money. Again, 262 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 1: those paychecks weren't coming through, so he bartered their boat 263 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: passage in exchange for his hunting skills and made it 264 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 1: down to New Orleans. So Audubon had a new goal, 265 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: and that was to paint every bird in America life 266 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: size by eighty one. Lucy and the kids joined him 267 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: down in New Orleans and he'd paint portraits and teach 268 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: planters kids how to dance, fence or ride, and she 269 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: opened up a school of deportment and piano. His artistic 270 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: style also continue to evolve during this period. He his 271 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: paintings started to include more action, and the scenes were 272 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: more like the tableau that he helped create at the 273 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: Cincinnati Museum, which meant that they had realistic backgrounds and 274 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: featured natural habitats, not just a bird on a twig 275 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: essentially right. His work was mostly done in watercolor, but 276 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: he'd also outline feather edges and pencil so the pieces 277 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: would really glint like actual birds. Yeah, and all of 278 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: this drawing obviously meant more travel too. He was, after all, 279 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: trying to paint the birds of America, even though Louisiana 280 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: was obviously filled with birds, so that required a lot 281 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: of roaming. And we asked Michael some about how Audubon 282 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: knew what to look for and where to go, because 283 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: I think that was what fascinated me most about this project. 284 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: How would you know what you were going to do? 285 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: Here's what he had to say. Well, Audubon was something 286 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: of an autodied act. He taught himself about ornithology UM. 287 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: He as I said, he was familiar with the work 288 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: of There's um, the ornithologists of that time. So he 289 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,159 Speaker 1: had a fairly good handle on the various species that 290 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: were then known and what their habitat was, the range 291 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 1: of their habitat. But he also had a very keen 292 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: eye and was able to discern new species um ones 293 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: that had not yet been recorded. And so he tried 294 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: to cover as much territory um literally geographically as possible. 295 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: And so he he moved from the southern swamps of 296 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: Louisiana UH, he traveled throughout the southeastern United States, Florida 297 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: to Carolina's up to um Uh, Maritime Canada, to coast 298 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: there Newfoundland UH and along the Ohio Valley, trying to 299 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: to capture birds in as many different geographic areas of 300 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: the country as possible, and he was very successful at that. 301 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: He identified a number of new species. On occasion he 302 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: misidentified species. Sometimes he thought he had identified a new 303 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: a new type of bird, when in fact um, it 304 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,680 Speaker 1: was something that was already known. Um, but in many 305 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: cases he did identify new uh species of birds. So 306 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: by Audubon felt like he had enough drawings to actually 307 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: start publishing, but getting me attention his work deserve proved 308 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: a lot more difficult than he expected. So next time 309 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: we're going to kind of talk about that process of 310 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:31,639 Speaker 1: starting to get his work published and the very different 311 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: receptions that he received in America and abroad, and how 312 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 1: that Daniel Boone persona of his that we were kind 313 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: of giggling about before really finally paid off. It proved 314 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: to be a blessing and a curse on the So um, Yeah, 315 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: there's a lot more to talk about Audubon, but that'll 316 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 1: be next time. In the meantime, if you want to 317 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: send us a note maybe about your favorite plate from 318 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,679 Speaker 1: Birds of America, perhaps you could email us that history 319 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: podcast at discovery dot com and we're also on Twitter 320 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: at Myston History and we're on Facebook. And if you 321 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: just can't wait until part two and you want to 322 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,199 Speaker 1: learn a little bit more about some of the topics 323 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: related to what we're discussing now, we have a lovely 324 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: article called how the Audubon Society Works. It was written 325 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: by our own Sarah Dowdy, and you can find it 326 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: by searching on our website, and that's at www dot 327 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and 328 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com.