1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Thank you, Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We are 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: recording this episode live at the Indiana History Center, and 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: I'm figuring out the best place to put my papers, 6 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: which I thought I had figured out earlier. One of 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: the current exhibits that's running here until October twenty sixth 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: of this year, twenty twenty four, is called Limberlost and Found, 9 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 1: and it's about Jean Stratton Porter. She was one of 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: the best selling authors in the United States in the 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: first quarter of the twentieth century, and an illustrator and 12 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,639 Speaker 1: a nature photographer and a naturalist and a film producer, 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: so so many things we are going to be talking about, 14 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: among other things in this episode, farm life and the 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: world of nineteenth century naturalists. So there's gonna be some 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: harm to animals that comes up in this episode. This 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: is stuff that Jean Strattonporter was trying to prevent. Also, 18 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: I didn't write this on the outline, but you know, 19 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: we're in in Indiana and probably there are folks in 20 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: the room that are very fond of Jean Strattonporter. If 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: you don't know about the books that she was writing 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: in California, brace for that part of today's episode. Not 23 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: all was awesome. That's okay though, Yeah so yeah, But 24 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: there's plenty of fun so. Geneva Grace Stratton was born 25 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: on August seventeenth, eighteen sixty three, on a farm in 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: Wabash County, Indiana. Her parents were Mark and Mary Stratton, 27 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: and she was their twelfth child. She was born six 28 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: years after the birth of her next oldest sibling, when 29 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: her mother was forty seven and her father was fifty. 30 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: Little bit of a surprise baby. They really thought they 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: were done having children before she came along. Here is 32 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: how her father described her mother about the time they 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: got married, which I find lovely. A quote, ninety pound 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: bit of pink porcelain pink is a wild rose, plump 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: as a partridge, having a big rope of bright brown hair, 36 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: never ill a day in her life, and bearing the 37 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: loveliest name ever given a woman, Mary. He also said 38 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: that God had fashioned her heart to be gracious, her 39 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: body to be the mother of children, and as her 40 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: special gift of grace, he put flower magic into her 41 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: fingers and that flower magic, of course, was a green thumb, 42 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,519 Speaker 1: and both of her parents, both Mary and Mark, really 43 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,919 Speaker 1: loved nature and art. May we all have such things 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: written about us. It's a right, I'm so sweet. But 45 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: Mark's description of his wife wasn't entirely true regarding her health. 46 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: By the time their youngest daughter was a toddler, Mary 47 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: contracted while nursing some of the children through it, and 48 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: she was chronically ill for the rest of her life 49 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: as a consequence. So Geneva's care and upbringing were left 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: mostly to her father and her older siblings, who I 51 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: said that oddly like I was choking. I'm fine. Her 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: father was a farmer and a minister, and at least 53 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: until it was time for Geneva to start school, this 54 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:26,239 Speaker 1: upbringing was simultaneously very religiously devout and also kind of haphazard. 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: So later on, Jeane herself described it this way quote 56 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: By the day, I trotted from one object which attracted 57 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: me to another, singing a little song of made up 58 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: phrases about everything I saw while I waited, catching fish, 59 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: chasing butterflies over clover fields, or following a bird with 60 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: a hair in its beak. Much of the time I 61 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: carried the inevitable baby for a woman child frequently improvised 62 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: from an ear of corn in the silk wrapped in 63 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: catalpa leaf blankets. Or, in the words of an early 64 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: biographical sketch that was printed along with some of her books, quote, 65 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: this youngest child of a numerous household spent her waking 66 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: hours with the wild. She followed her father and the 67 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: boys afield, and when tired out, slept on their coats 68 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: in fence corners. Often awaking with shy creatures peering into 69 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: her face, She wandered where she pleased, amusing herself with 70 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: the birds, flowers, insects, and plates she invented. So Geneva 71 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: developed a deep affinity for all the birds that lived 72 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: on the farm, including the ones that her father thought 73 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: should be destroyed because they were predators or because they 74 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: ate the crops. So when he said that the woodpeckers 75 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: should be killed because they ate the cherries from the trees, 76 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: Geneva offered to stop eating cherries so that the birds 77 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: could just have her share. Right When her father shot 78 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: a chicken hawk because it was a predator and she 79 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: found it injured but alive, she begged to be allowed 80 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,799 Speaker 1: to rescue it because it was never going to fly again, 81 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't going to hurt the animals on the farm. 82 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: She took it into the barn and she tended its wounds, 83 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: and it survived, and afterward it followed her around the 84 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: farm like a pet. Right. I mean, I can't be 85 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: the only one envisioning foghorn like horn, right, like I 86 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: and his little chickenhok friend. Eventually, though, her father told 87 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: her that he was giving her the quote personal and 88 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: indisputable ownership of all of the birds on his land. 89 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: She tried to learn about all of these birds and 90 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: where they lived, and then, charmingly, she chose sixty four 91 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: of the nests on the property that she visited every 92 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: single day, carrying pockets full of tidbits to feed the 93 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: babies in them, after having figured out what each species ate, 94 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: and the family started calling her little bird woman. Right, 95 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: that's my response to everything in this episode. When Geneva 96 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: was nine, though, the family experience as a series of tragedies. 97 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: Two of her older siblings had previously died of illnesses 98 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: while they were still children, and then in February of 99 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two, her sister Maryanne died after an accident, 100 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: and then on July sixth of that year, her brother Leander, 101 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,679 Speaker 1: who was known as Laddie, drowned while trying to swim 102 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: across the Wabash River, and then another boy named Wallace Kurnitt, 103 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: who had tried to save him, drowned as well. This 104 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: was of course completely devastating for the entire family. Geneva 105 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: had really adored Laddie and almost kind of idolized him, 106 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: and she was absolutely inconsolable. But he had also been 107 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: the only one of her brothers who had any interest 108 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: in taking over the family farm. Her father was turning 109 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: sixty at this point, and this meant that he really 110 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: no longer had the help that he needed on the farm, 111 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: and he also no longer had a plan for its future. Ultimately, 112 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: the Strattons sold a lot of their possessions and they 113 00:06:57,560 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: rented out a farm, and they moved to the town 114 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: of Wabash to live with Geneva's older sister Anastasia and 115 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: her family. This gave her mother Mary, some more consistent 116 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: access to medical care than they'd had back on the farm, 117 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: which was about ten miles out of town. But Mary 118 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: died on February third of eighteen seventy five, at the 119 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: age of fifty eight, and that was just a few 120 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: months after making this move, and then after her mother's death, 121 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: Geneva became a bit more rebellious. It had taken her 122 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: a very long time to reconcile herself to having to 123 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: put on layers of dresses and underclothes and shoes that 124 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: hurt her feet, just as she could go to school 125 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: every day, and once she got there to not contradict 126 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: her teachers even when she knew they were wrong. She 127 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: continued to struggle, and she didn't really fit in with 128 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: her peers, who made fun of her. She was a 129 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: farmer's daughter, and for a lot of the eighteen seventies 130 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: the nation was in an economic recession, which meant she 131 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: was also particularly poor in addition to feeling like an 132 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: outsider at school. She wanted things, but for a long 133 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: time they just couldn't afford, like lessons in music and painting. 134 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: By high school, though, she'd become a better student and 135 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: a lot of the subjects that she was taking, except 136 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: for math, and according to her own account, which I 137 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 1: have some questions about, but we're just going to take 138 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: it at base value, she learned that she had a 139 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: knack for writing after turning in a paper on her 140 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: favorite novel instead of the math paper that she had 141 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: been assigned. But this paper was so good that the 142 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: teacher summoned the school superintendent to hear her read it, 143 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: even though it was not even the assignment. After this success, 144 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: she spent more and more time writing and pursuing her 145 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: own interests, less and less time on her actual schoolwork. 146 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: Later on, she said that she had left school to 147 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: take care of her dying sister, Anastasia in the last 148 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: months of her life, which she did take care of 149 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: her sister, but her grades were really beyond repair before 150 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 1: that happened. She did still really like to learn, though, 151 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: and she made regular summer visits to the Island Park Assembly, 152 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: a Chautauqua gathering on sylvanlink. Did I say that correct? 153 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: You did good? It's not something I encountered as a child. 154 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: The Chautauqua movement was an adult education movement in the US, 155 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: although different communities arranged these assemblies and gatherings in different ways. 156 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: Indiana's Western Chautauqua had started out as a conference for 157 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: Methodist Sunday school teachers before expanding into both religious and 158 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,359 Speaker 1: secular lectures and activities, as well as posting social events. 159 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: So when Geneva Stratton attended the Island Park Assembly in 160 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: July of eighteen eighty four, when she was twenty, she 161 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: was using a cane and wearing dark glasses part of 162 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: the time because she had slipped on the ice and 163 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: cracked her skull the winter before. While there, she caught 164 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: the attention of Charles Dorwin Porter, who was about thirteen 165 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: years older than she was. They did not actually speak 166 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: to each other at this assembly, but he noticed her 167 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: from afar. They kind of passed by each other at 168 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: various points, and in September he wrote her a letter, 169 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: and we're just going to read a couple sentences from it, 170 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 1: but it is indicative of the tone of all of it. Quote, 171 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: having been rather favorably impressed with your appearance, I venture 172 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: the forwardness to address you, barring the rules of etiquette 173 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: and asking your pardon, I would respectfully solicit a correspondence 174 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: from you. So the idea of a young, unmarried woman 175 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: writing letters to a strange man that she and her 176 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: family had never been introduced to was scandalous, but Geneva 177 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: was really not one to care about such rules, and 178 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: so she wrote back. The two of them exchanged letters 179 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,319 Speaker 1: over the next several months before for meeting and actually 180 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: having a conversation in person. They did that at the 181 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: next Chautauqua gathering in eighteen eighty five, and within a 182 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: few months of that first in person meeting, they were engaged. 183 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 1: So these letters do seem to like they genuinely grew 184 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: very fond of each other. She had reservations about the 185 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: idea of marriage, though before her correspondence with Charles, she 186 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: had never shown any particular interest in boys or men, 187 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: and in one of her letters to him, she spelled 188 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: out how she thought marriage meant something different for men 189 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: than it did for women. Quote. I regard the pure 190 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: and lovable wife as the best safeguard for a man's 191 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: honor and purity, the comfortable and happy home as his 192 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: rightful and natural resting place, and every loving environment that 193 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: springs from sessa tie one step nearer the heart of 194 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: Earth's dearest and best that's for the man and for 195 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: every such home. Some woman is the sacrificial flame that 196 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,079 Speaker 1: feeds the altar. I take notice that my girlfriends who 197 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,839 Speaker 1: have been engaged a year and those who have been 198 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: married a year look vastly different, and it sets me 199 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: to pondering all the differences between a man's engaged love 200 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: and his married love. So, even though she was suspicious 201 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: and thought marriage might be shady, they did get married 202 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: on April twenty first, eighteen eighty six, and they had 203 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: that ceremony at her sister Ada's house. And by this point, 204 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: Geneva had started going by the shortened form of her name, Jean. 205 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: That was even the name that was printed on the 206 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: calling card that was sent along with the invitations. And 207 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: although she published under the name Jean Stratton Porter in 208 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: her day to day life, she was more often known 209 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: socially as missus Porter. We will talk about her life 210 00:12:52,280 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: more about getting married. After a quick sponsor break. After 211 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: her marriage, Jean Strattonporter and her husband, Charles moved to Decatur, Indiana. 212 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: Charles I think my read on it is that he 213 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: genuinely loved Jane and he wanted her to be happy, 214 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: and he thought this would be the best place for 215 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: her to make a home. He was a druggist and 216 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: sort of a self made businessman. He owned stores in Geneva, 217 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Decatur was kind of in 218 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: between them approximately, so it was also the county seat. 219 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: It was somewhere that he thought she would find friends 220 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: and have a social life. But Jeane had never really 221 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: fit in. According to a biography that was written by 222 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: her daughter, in her youth, she always had some particular 223 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: intimate girlfriend, but the other children often made fun of 224 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: her clothes and her demeanor. They didn't really know what 225 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: to make of this girl who looked after a continual 226 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: stream of orphaned and injured birds and so tromped around 227 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: in the woods and swamps. She just didn't fit the 228 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: social marase of the day. And then as a grown 229 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: woman and decaturs, she didn't know anybody and she didn't 230 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: really relate to the social standards for women in the 231 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Charles was also away most of the time, 232 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: commuting to Geneva or Fort Wayne to look after his businesses. 233 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: And then things got a little bit better after she 234 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: gave birth to their only child, Jeannette, on August twenty seventh, 235 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty seven. Jeane loved being a mom. She delighted 236 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: in her daughter, and this gave her something to focus on, 237 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: but she still struggled a little bit. In eighteen eighty eight, 238 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: Jane convinced Charles to move to Geneva. That was where 239 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: the larger of his two stores was. He also had 240 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: other businesses there, and this drastically reduced how much time 241 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: he spent away from home. He was no longer spending 242 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: all of his time commuting by train to one of 243 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:54,479 Speaker 1: these two cities. It also meant that Jane was surrounded 244 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: by a natural landscape that was a lot more like 245 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: what she had grown to love in her youth. They 246 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: moved into a cottage that had a chicken coop and 247 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: an orchard, and it was close to the Wabash River. 248 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: Then soon she had a whole new collection of pet birds. 249 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: A lot of them were ones that she had rescued 250 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: or rehabilitated after some kind of injury. And then they 251 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: also had a pet parrot. She played the piano and 252 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: she tried to teach all of these birds to accompany 253 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: her on it. She also did needlework and painted. She 254 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: had finally gotten some art lessons as a child back 255 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: in Wabash. Sadly, Jean's father, Mark died on January tenth, 256 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety and he died without a will, and his 257 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 1: estate was not settled for almost two decades, and that 258 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: whole process involved a huge amount of family and in 259 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: law drama, and there's a big focus on how Jean 260 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: Strattonporter defied gender expectations. But she was also very devoted 261 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: to her family and she was often the first person 262 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: to show up when there was some kind of problem. 263 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: So the ongoing issues with her father's estate were just 264 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: one of many things that was pulling at her attention 265 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: over the years. Another thing was money. As the child 266 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: of a farmer and minister, Jean had grown up without 267 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: much of it, and then marrying Charles had definitely been 268 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: an economic step up, but he also didn't have as 269 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 1: much money as she'd sort of expected based on his 270 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: track record as a successful businessman. Often the money existed, 271 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: but it wasn't like liquid cash he had access to. 272 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: He would invest it into other things, like he invested 273 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: a lot of money in starting a bank. That was 274 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: something the town of Geneva really needed, but it meant 275 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: that they didn't then have a lot for luxuries, not 276 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: a lot of liquidity. In the wake of her father's death, 277 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: Jean started writing, both to try to deal with her 278 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: anxieties and with the hope that maybe she could maybe 279 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: earn a little bit of money of her own. It's 280 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: possible that she was the author of an anonymously published 281 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: book called The Strike at Shame, which was written for 282 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:06,400 Speaker 1: an American Humane Education Society contest in eighteen ninety three. 283 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: That story bears some similarities to Stratton Porter's life and 284 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: the people that she knew, but all of the evidence 285 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: that she wrote it is really circumstantial. We don't know 286 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: for sure. The family's financial situation also changed with the 287 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: oil boom in the area. There was oil under land 288 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: that Charles owned, and that land would ultimately become home 289 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: to sixty oil wells. The income from all of this 290 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: oil meant they were able to start building a new home, 291 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: which they called Limberlost Cabin thanks to its proximity to 292 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: Limberlost Swamp. Construction on this home started in eighteen ninety four, 293 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: and they moved in in eighteen ninety five. Not long 294 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,679 Speaker 1: after their move to Limberlost Cabin, Stratton Porter once again 295 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 1: demonstrated how she was just not what people expected a 296 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: woman to be. A fire broke out in Geneva one night, 297 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: and since there was no fire department, she was the 298 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,879 Speaker 1: one who organized the bucket brigade she was wearing her 299 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,160 Speaker 1: slippers and a skirt that was thrown on over her nightgown. 300 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: She did not stop even after embers burned through her slippers, 301 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: and she was later commended for her actions. That fire 302 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: was a major disaster for Geneva, and most of the 303 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: buildings were both wooden and underinsured, and that meant that 304 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: they burned and Charles's money was a major part of 305 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: the town's recovery. Jean's daughter, Jeanette, gave her a camera 306 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: as a Christmas gift in eighteen ninety five. Jean became 307 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: an avid photographer, developing her pictures in the bathroom with 308 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,400 Speaker 1: towels shoved under the door to block the light. Apparently, 309 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: she became so good at developing pictures and her cobbled 310 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,959 Speaker 1: together set up that one of the manufacturers of photographic 311 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: paper sent somebody out to her house to see how 312 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,199 Speaker 1: she was doing it. That camera turned out to be 313 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:57,399 Speaker 1: just an extremely fortunate gift. Stratton Porter had been trying 314 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: to publish articles about nature and wildlife in outdoor magazines, 315 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: but her work had been rejected because it wasn't illustrated 316 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: and people wanted to see pictures. Overwhelmingly bird illustrations that 317 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: were done at the time were based on dead taxidermy birds, 318 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: and Jean Strattonporter hated that entire idea. She both didn't 319 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: like the fact that the birds were dead, and she 320 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: also thought it resulted in just poor quality illustrations. For example, 321 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: she said that John James Audubon's bird illustrations looked like 322 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,239 Speaker 1: they had been cut out with a scroll saw a 323 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: big fan. We can all hate on John James Audubon. 324 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: A camera, though, meant that she could photograph the live 325 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: birds she was writing about, and a few years later 326 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: she described her process in her book What I Have 327 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: Done with Birds, Character studies of Native American birds, which, 328 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: through friendly advances I induced to pose for me or 329 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: succeeded in photographing by good fortune, with the story of 330 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: my experiences in obtaining their pictures. Uh are you like Tracy? 331 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: Were you in love with this woman? At this point? 332 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: I sure was quote The greatest thing possible to do 333 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: with a bird is to win its confidence. In a 334 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: few days work about most nests the birds can be taught. 335 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: So to trust me that such studies can be made 336 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: as here are presented of young and old, male and female. 337 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: I am not superstitious but I am afraid to mistreat 338 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: a bird, and luck is with me in the indulgence 339 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: of this spear. In all my years of fieldwork, not 340 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,360 Speaker 1: one study of a nest or of any bird has 341 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: been lost by dealing fairly with my subjects. If a 342 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: nest is located where access is impossible without moving it, 343 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 1: and exposure is not attempted, and so surely as the 344 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: sun rises on another morning, another nest of the same 345 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: species is found within a few days where a reproduction 346 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,639 Speaker 1: of it can be made. Also addressed the criticism that 347 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: because she was a woman, she should not be doing 348 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: this kind of field work, and her thoughts on this 349 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:11,439 Speaker 1: are an example of simultaneously defying and also reinforcing gender roles. 350 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: She wrote quote recently, in summing up the hardship's incident 351 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,919 Speaker 1: to securing one study of a brooding swamp bird, a 352 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: prominent nature lover and editor said to me most emphatically, 353 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: that is not women's work. I do not agree with you, 354 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:31,239 Speaker 1: I answered, in its hardships in waiting, swimming, climbing, in 355 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,160 Speaker 1: hidden dangers, suddenly to be confronted in abrupt changes from 356 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: heat to cold and from light to dark. Field photography 357 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: is not a woman's work, but in the matter of finesse, 358 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: in approaching the birds, in limitless patients, in awaiting the 359 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,959 Speaker 1: exact moment for the best exposure, in the tedious and 360 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: delicate processes of the dark room, in the art of 361 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: winning bird babies and parents. It is not a man's work. 362 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: No man has ever had the patience to remain with 363 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: a bird until he secured a real character study of it. 364 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: A human mother is best fitted to understand and deal 365 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: with a bird mother. This is the basis of all 366 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 1: my field work, a mute contract between woman and bird. 367 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: You can find various papers about how gender works in 368 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: all of their writing about her work and what she 369 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: thought about men. A lot of this field work took 370 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: place in Limberlost Swamp, and that's something that Charles was 371 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: really upset about when he learned she was doing it. 372 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 1: The swamp could be dangerous and disorienting, and according to legend, 373 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: it was named for a man known as Limberjim who 374 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: had gotten lost there. To kind of give you a 375 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: sense of its reputation. For a while, Jeane promised to 376 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: stay out of the swamp, but then she heard that 377 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: someone had found a black vulture's nest deep within the swamp. 378 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: Charles went with her to find it. I think he 379 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: understood that if he did not go with her, she 380 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: was gonna go anyway. And like we said, I do 381 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: think he wanted her to be happy. And they found 382 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: the nest. Day after day went back as she photographed 383 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,719 Speaker 1: the nest and the egg in it, and the baby 384 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: vulture that hatched out of it, which they named little chicken. 385 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: That sounds cute, and in fact there's a picture of 386 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,320 Speaker 1: the baby vulture in the exhibit upstairs. It is very cute. 387 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: But this was also not pleasant. This was way deep 388 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: in the swamp. There were a lot of bugs and 389 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: dense underbrush, and since vultures feed on carrion, it smelled horrible. 390 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: Both of them wore hip waiters to do this, and 391 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: they carried firearms in case they ran into any venomous snakes. 392 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: Stratton Porter's first published essay came out in the magazine 393 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: Recreation in nineteen hundred. It did not include pictures, but 394 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: it was about birds, specifically the wildly popular nineteenth century 395 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: practice of wearing bird feathers, bird wings, and entire taxidermy 396 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: birds on women's hats. She wrote, quote, all my life. 397 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 1: I have worn birds and parts of birds as hat decorations, 398 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 1: and have given the matter no thought. Had I thought 399 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: on the subject, I should have reformed long ago. For 400 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: no one appreciates the beauty of the birds, the joy 401 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: of their songs, or the study of their habits more 402 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: than I do. And few have spent more time in 403 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: the woods and along the water studying and photographing them. 404 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: The war recreation has waged against the slaughter of birds 405 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: for millinery purposes has so impressed me that I have 406 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: decided never again to buy a bird, or any portion 407 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: of a bird, for hat or bonnet trimming. She started 408 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: to have some success after publishing her nature writing and 409 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: wanted to move into fiction, but she wrote of this quote, 410 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: being so afraid of failure and the inevitable ridicule in 411 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,680 Speaker 1: a community where I was already severely criticized on account 412 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: of my ideas of house key, being, dress, and social customs, 413 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: I purposely kept everything I did as quiet as possible. 414 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: It had to be known that I was interested in 415 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: everything afield and making pictures, also that I was writing 416 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: field sketches for nature publications. But little was thought of it, 417 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 1: save as one more peculiarity in me. She got a 418 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: post office box so her publishing correspondence wouldn't go to 419 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: Charles at the bank, and she intentionally submitted her work 420 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: to magazines that he did not subscribe to. Her first 421 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: published work of fiction that we know about for sure 422 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: was Laddie, the Princess and the Pie that was in 423 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: Metropolitan magazine in nineteen oh one, and it was of 424 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: course inspired by her late brother. She continued to publish 425 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: both fiction and nonfiction in magazines, and her first novel, 426 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: The Song of the Cardinal, came out in nineteen oh three. 427 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,400 Speaker 1: This was the story of a loving pair of cardinals 428 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: that had grown out of a short story she had 429 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,959 Speaker 1: written after finding the body of one that had been shot. 430 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: She dedicated this novel to the memory of her father, 431 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: who had once said that he would rather have one 432 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: of his children write a book that he could be 433 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,360 Speaker 1: proud of than to sit on the throne of England. 434 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: And this book was generally well reviewed, with one reviewer 435 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 1: even saying that it might do for birds what Black 436 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: Beauty had done for horses. But it just didn't sell 437 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: very well. So her next book, which was titled Freckles, 438 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: was about people and it had a lot of the 439 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: traits of most of Jean Stratton Porter's novels. It was 440 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: set in the Limberlost Swamp area, and it was heavily 441 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: infused with the natural world of this part of Indiana 442 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: and her experiences there, including the discovery of that vulture 443 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 1: nests that we talked about a moment ago. It featured 444 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,719 Speaker 1: a very sentimental story with a happy ending, including an 445 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: orphaned boy who turns out to be the nephew of 446 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: a lord. That brings up some complications though since it 447 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: raises class issues with the book's other primary protagonist, who 448 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: is a brave teenage girl known only as the Swamp Angel. 449 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 1: Freckles became a bestseller, and eventually Jean Strattonporter worked out 450 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: a deal with Doubleday, Page and Company to alternate writing 451 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: non fiction books on nature with works of fiction, with 452 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,360 Speaker 1: those novels also including a lot of nature in them. 453 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 1: Sometimes these alternating books kind of dovetailed into each other, 454 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,360 Speaker 1: like A Girl of the Limberlost, which was another bestseller, 455 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: tells the story of el Nora, whose mother is a widow, 456 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: and Elnor earns the money to pay for clothes and 457 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: books so that she can go to school by selling 458 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: moths specimens. A Girl of the Limberlost came out in 459 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: nineteen oh nine, and people were so interested in all 460 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,199 Speaker 1: these moths that Stratton Porter followed it with Moths of 461 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: the Limberlost with watercolor and photographic Illustrations from Life in 462 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve. And this book included extensive studies of moths 463 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,040 Speaker 1: that she had made in her conservatory, starting with the 464 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: cocoons that she collected out in the swamps and the 465 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,679 Speaker 1: woods and the fields, and she would observe and photograph 466 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 1: them through every stage of their life cycle. Jean Stratton 467 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: Porter's books made her both famous and quite rich, and 468 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about all of that after we 469 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 1: first have a sponsor break. By nineteen fourteen, Jean Strattonporter 470 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: and her husband moved from Limberlost Cabin to a new 471 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: home that she'd built in Rome City on Sylvan Lake. 472 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: She had paid for this with her own money. She 473 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: had wanted more privacy as she had become famous, she 474 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,239 Speaker 1: was facing endless interruptions from curious readers who kind of 475 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: showed up at Limberlost Cabin to meet her. Don't do that. 476 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: On top of that, by this point, a lot of 477 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: Limberlost swamp had been drained or cut down, and she 478 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: was deeply saddened by this loss, and she wrote about 479 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: it in her book Moths of the Limberlost, expressing gratitude 480 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: for how much time she had spent in the swamp 481 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: immediately after moving there. Quote, it was a piece of 482 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: forethought to work unceasingly at that time. For soon commerce 483 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,320 Speaker 1: attacked the swamp and began its usual process of devastation. 484 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: Canadian lumbermen came, seeking tall, straight timber for ship masts 485 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: and tough, heavy trees for beams. Grand rapids followed and 486 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: stripped the forest for hardwood for fine furniture, And through 487 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: my experience with the lumberman freckles story was written. Afterward, 488 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: hoop and stavemen and local mills took the best of 489 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: the soft wood. Then a ditch in reality a canal 490 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: was dredged across the north end through my best territory, 491 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: and that carried the water to the Wabash River until 492 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: oil men could enter the swamp. From that time, the 493 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: wealth they drew to the surface constantly materialized in macadamized roads, 494 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: cozy homes, and big farms of unsurpassed richness. Suitable for 495 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: growing onions, celery, sugar beets, corn and potatoes, As repeatedly 496 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: has been explained in everything I have written of the place. 497 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: Now the lumber loss exists only in ragged spots and patches. 498 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: But so rich was it in the beginning, that there 499 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,720 Speaker 1: is yet a wealth of work for a lifetime remaining 500 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: to me in these and river thickets. I asked no 501 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: better hunting grounds for birds, moths and flowers. The fine 502 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: roads are a convenience, and settled farms of protection to 503 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,239 Speaker 1: be taken into consideration when bewailing its dismantling. It is 504 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: quite true that one man's meat is another's poison. One 505 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: of the things that Strattonporter did at her new home, 506 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: which she called the Cabin at Wildflower Woods, was to 507 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: try to save as many plant species as possible from destruction. 508 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: She worked with a tree surgeon to restore the forest 509 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: on their property, and then also transplanted wildflowers and other 510 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: plants from Indiana's rapidly diminishing forests and swamps, going from 511 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: swamp to swamp ahead of drainage plans and bringing back 512 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: as many plants as she possibly could. A number of 513 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: species that she replanted at the cabin at wildflower woods 514 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:21,680 Speaker 1: are endangered today. She also protested against the ongoing draining 515 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: of swamps and other wetlands, which had become widespread after 516 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: the passage of the Federal swamp Land Act of eighteen fifty. 517 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: This law gave states the right to reclaim and drain swamplands, 518 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: including allowing the sale of federally owned swampland to private owners. 519 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: She protested legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 520 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen which allowed the drainage of state owned swampland. 521 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 1: That legislation was repealed in nineteen twenty. Aside from that success, 522 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: the nineteen teens were pretty difficult for Jean Strattonporter. There 523 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: were a number of deaths in her family, including her brother, 524 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: whose name was spelled Lemon, but he might have said 525 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 1: it Laman. He died of heart disease in nineteen sixteen. 526 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: Jean took in his teenage daughter, Lee Mary, who she loved, 527 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: but this meant she was going back to being a parent, 528 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: years after her own daughter had gotten married and had 529 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: children of her own. Paramount released a silent film adaptation 530 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,959 Speaker 1: of her book Freckles in nineteen seventeen, which she really 531 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: did not like. Then, after the United States became involved 532 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: in World War One, her employee, Bill Thompson, who had 533 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: been sort of part driver, part handyman, part chauffeur, and 534 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: part field assistant, he went off to war, and because 535 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 1: of the war, she couldn't really replace him because Jean 536 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: Strattonporter couldn't drive. This meant she was stuck at home 537 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: a lot of the time, but once again people had 538 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: figured out where she lived. She not only was annoyed 539 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 1: by all of these unannounced intrusions into her privacy, but 540 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: also a lot of these visitors seemed content to just 541 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 1: trample all over her carefully transplanted and well tended plants. 542 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighteen, at the age of fifty four, Jean 543 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: went to the Clifton Spring Sanitarium and Clinic for the 544 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: sake of her health, and this had become a retreat 545 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: that catered to the wealthy and famous. She went with 546 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: her secretary and she stayed there for about a month 547 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: and seemed to be feeling better when she left. But 548 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: then in nineteen nineteen, she contracted the pandemic flu. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 549 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,320 Speaker 1: once she recovered from the flu, she wanted to make 550 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: a change, and in the spring of nineteen nineteen she 551 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,520 Speaker 1: went to California. She had siblings who already lived there, 552 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: and this also put her in proximity to the silent 553 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,360 Speaker 1: film industry. She kind of went back and forth between 554 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: the two places for a while, but she eventually moved 555 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: there permanently, and her husband, Charles didn't come with her. 556 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: He wound up living in a boarding house in Geneva. 557 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: None of the sources used in this episode really shed 558 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: much light onto the state of their relationship at this point. 559 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: My just sort of gut sense of it is that 560 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: it seems like he was really supportive of what she 561 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: wanted to do with her life, and she kind of 562 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:16,479 Speaker 1: got left behind at this point. Eventually, her daughter did 563 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: come to live with her, along with her grandchildren. That 564 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: was after Jeanette's own marriage had ended in divorce, and 565 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: Stratton Porter found that the things that had made her 566 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: feel like an outcast in Indiana really did not seem 567 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,759 Speaker 1: to raise eyebrows very much in California. She had more 568 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: friends there than she had had at any point in 569 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: her life. She also loved the light and the flowers, 570 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: and she started to think about how to make a 571 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: California version of her cabin at Wildflower Woods, complete with 572 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: its own nature preserves. She also continued writing, and in 573 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,320 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one she published a novel called Her Father's Daughter. 574 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: Unlike her previous novels that were mainly set around Limberlost 575 00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: Swamp and really drew from her deep knowledge of the 576 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: natural landscape there, this one was said in Los Angeles, 577 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: where she'd only been for a couple of years. She 578 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: dedicated it to her niece's husband, James sweetsir Lache, and 579 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 1: she said, quote to whom I owe all that I 580 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: know about the flowers of California. So one of the 581 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: plot lines in Her Father's Daughter is about its protagonist, 582 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: Linda Strong, and her white classmates and their antipathy for 583 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: a Japanese student who is at the top of the class. 584 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 1: Linda talks a lot about the so called Yellow Peril, 585 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,880 Speaker 1: the idea that Asians presented a threat to white society, 586 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: and starting on the first page, she repeatedly references her 587 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 1: Japanese classmate using a slur that was in widespread use 588 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: at the time, and she makes unquestionably bigoted statements about 589 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: people of other non white races as well. Eventually, in 590 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: the story, the Japanese student is revealed to be a 591 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 1: grown man who has pretended to be a high schooler 592 00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 1: for nefarious reasons, and after being discovered, he tries to 593 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 1: kill Linda and some of her classmates by crushing them 594 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: with a boulder, but instead he falls from a cliff 595 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: and dies. It just keeps getting worse. It's like every 596 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: sentence of the synopsis is worse than the one before it. 597 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: Jean Strattenporter wrote this book at a time of intense 598 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: and escalating prejudice and racism against Japanese people in the 599 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:28,720 Speaker 1: United States. This was particularly pronounced on the West Coast. 600 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: This is something we have many episodes referencing in the archive. 601 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 1: And overall, this book, which sounds horrific, was really well 602 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:46,239 Speaker 1: received in this climate. Her Father's Daughter reached number two 603 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: on the publisher's weekly bestseller list, and ads for the 604 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: book that ran the following year said that it had 605 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,839 Speaker 1: sold a million copies. A number of reviews by white 606 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 1: writers were really positive. They described the book and the 607 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,399 Speaker 1: character of Into Strong as her best one so far. 608 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:09,080 Speaker 1: The one exception that was found by various sources used 609 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: for the episode was in the Bookman, an article titled 610 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,800 Speaker 1: the Why of the best seller by Yale English professor 611 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,120 Speaker 1: William Lyon Phelps. He described the book as quote sadly 612 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 1: marred by anti Japanese propaganda, continuing quote, somebody in California 613 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,839 Speaker 1: has been stuffing our novelist, who is more gullible in 614 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 1: international politics than in the study of nature. An article 615 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: that was published in nineteen seventy one speculates that Stratton 616 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: Porter took inspiration from a real Japanese student who was 617 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: a commencement speaker at his graduation in Riverside, California, in 618 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 1: nineteen oh five. His speech was on his birthplace of Japan, 619 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: which he had recently visited. Meanwhile, one of the other 620 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: speakers was a white student named Nelly, who spoke on 621 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: the so called white man's burden to carry the load 622 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,160 Speaker 1: of inferior races. And there are a couple of later 623 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,960 Speaker 1: publications that have picked up this speculation, which is just 624 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,240 Speaker 1: that as though it were fact. Yeah, a Japanese student 625 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: with good grades and a white girl being racist seemed 626 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 1: to be the extent of the similarities between this high 627 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:17,880 Speaker 1: school graduation that happened in real life and Jean Stratton 628 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,560 Speaker 1: Porter's novel. And there's not really like evidence to back 629 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,040 Speaker 1: up the idea that this could have been her inspiration. 630 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 1: It's not clear how she would have known about it, 631 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 1: that graduation ceremony in Riverside that had happened for real. 632 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 1: That was almost fifteen years before Jean Strattonporter moved to California. 633 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 1: Stratton Porter had also started writing and publishing more poetry 634 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,319 Speaker 1: while she was in California, and in nineteen twenty two 635 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,279 Speaker 1: she wrote a book in Verse called The Firebird that 636 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: was inspired in part by the photography work of Edward S. Curtis. 637 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 1: Curtis published photographs of Indigenous people between nineteen oh seven 638 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: and nineteen thirty. Eventually this total twenty volumes and was 639 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of pictures. Curtis has his own complicated legacy. 640 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,800 Speaker 1: He was working from the perspective of someone who thought 641 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,759 Speaker 1: he was documenting vanishing peoples, and to that end, he 642 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: staged photos that used cultural objects and items without regard 643 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 1: to whether they actually belonged to the communities that he 644 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:21,919 Speaker 1: was photographing. This had some similarities to The Firebird because 645 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: Stratton Porter seems to have intended this as a sympathetic 646 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,080 Speaker 1: depiction of Indigenous people, but she was appropriating their stories 647 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,680 Speaker 1: and intermingling aspects of different indigenous traditions into one work. 648 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 1: By nineteen twenty four, Stratton Porter had started her own 649 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,719 Speaker 1: movie production company, Jean Stratton Porter Productions. This was one 650 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,560 Speaker 1: of the first movie production companies in the United States 651 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,360 Speaker 1: to be owned by a woman. One of the directors 652 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,439 Speaker 1: she employed was James Leomeihan, who had married her daughter 653 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: Jeanette in nineteen twenty three. Here is Jeannette's description of 654 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,400 Speaker 1: her mother's efforts to get her books made into movies. Quote. 655 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 1: Mother encountered the same difficulties with her first pictures that 656 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,879 Speaker 1: she did with her first books. She was assured by 657 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 1: producers that they would not be popular because there was 658 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,279 Speaker 1: not sufficient action. There were no hair raising thrills, there 659 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 1: were no violent sex problems, and there was too much 660 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: nature and too much sugary romance. But mother went serenely 661 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: on her way with her same old motto of be 662 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:24,000 Speaker 1: sure that you are right and then go ahead, and 663 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,680 Speaker 1: she trusted people to like the pictures just as they 664 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,160 Speaker 1: liked the books. Time has proved that she was eminently correct. 665 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:35,319 Speaker 1: I heard the quote about no hair raising thrills and 666 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 1: no violent sex problems in short documentary about her, and 667 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:41,040 Speaker 1: I was like, I've got to go find more of this, 668 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 1: more of this quote. One of her last novels, Keeper 669 00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:49,040 Speaker 1: of the Bees, was written with the specific goal of 670 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 1: turning it into a movie. This told the story of 671 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,560 Speaker 1: a World War One veteran recovering from the physical and 672 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: mental after effects of the war by becoming a bee keeper. 673 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,320 Speaker 1: One of its character is a plucky girl named Little Scout, 674 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: who was patterned after Stratton Porter's granddaughter, Jean, to whom 675 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,839 Speaker 1: she also dedicated the book. Jean Stratton Porter Productions made 676 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,160 Speaker 1: this into a film in nineteen twenty five. In nineteen 677 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:16,319 Speaker 1: twenty four, Jean Stratton Porter started building a mansion in 678 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,240 Speaker 1: what would become bel Air, which would have separate quarters 679 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:21,919 Speaker 1: for her husband, Charles, as well as a vacation home 680 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. I said, 681 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,919 Speaker 1: Los Angeles with a tea. I don't know what's going 682 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 1: on there. I'm gonna make it fencey. But on December 683 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,359 Speaker 1: sixth of nineteen twenty four, she died at the age 684 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: of sixty one when the chauffeurd car that she was 685 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,880 Speaker 1: riding in collided with a street car. Initially her body 686 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 1: was held in a temporary vault before being buried in California. Then, 687 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine, the remains of both Jean Stratton 688 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:52,799 Speaker 1: Porter and her daughter Jeanette were exhumed and reinterred in 689 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 1: a monument on the grounds of the Cabinet Wildflower Woods. 690 00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: This was done after years of fundraising and with the 691 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,919 Speaker 1: involved of Jeanette's sons. At the time of her death, 692 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,959 Speaker 1: Jean Strattonporter was one of the most famous and best 693 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,239 Speaker 1: selling writers in the United States. During her lifetime, she 694 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 1: wrote twelve novels, seven nonfiction nature books, and numerous poems, articles, columns, 695 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 1: and essays. Her work was translated into more than a 696 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 1: dozen languages. Seven films had been made of her books 697 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 1: prior to her death, and then there were many, many 698 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,400 Speaker 1: more of them later on. Her books reached an estimated 699 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 1: fifty million readers, and people like Rachel Carson cited her 700 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:36,440 Speaker 1: as an influence. Her impact on people's interest in nature 701 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 1: and conservation was compared to that of Teddy Roosevelt, but 702 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:44,000 Speaker 1: her work was not really taken seriously by literary critics. 703 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,120 Speaker 1: They saw it as formulaic and overly sentimental. Here's an 704 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,319 Speaker 1: example of what she had to say to someone who 705 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:55,359 Speaker 1: called it molasses fiction quote, what a wonderful compliment all 706 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: the world love sweets a field, bears as well as 707 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:02,120 Speaker 1: flies would drown in it. Molasses is more necessary to 708 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,239 Speaker 1: the happiness of human and beast than vinegar, and over 709 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,240 Speaker 1: indulgence in it not nearly so harmful to the system. 710 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,680 Speaker 1: I am a molasses person myself, So is my family, 711 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: So was my father's family. So are most of my friends, 712 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,160 Speaker 1: all of them who are happy. As a matter of fact. 713 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,359 Speaker 1: So I shall keep straight on writing of the love 714 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,480 Speaker 1: and joy of life I have found in the world. 715 00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: And when I have used the last drop of my molasses, 716 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:32,640 Speaker 1: I shall stop writing. Her work as a writer started 717 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,160 Speaker 1: out when she and her husband were living largely on 718 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,840 Speaker 1: oil money, which can feel a little contradictory, and she 719 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:43,920 Speaker 1: also wasn't taken seriously by most naturalists and ornithologists because 720 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: she had no formal training and no advanced education. But 721 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:51,280 Speaker 1: she spent so much of her life carefully and lovingly 722 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,719 Speaker 1: documenting the flora and fauna of Limberlost Swamp and the 723 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:59,640 Speaker 1: surrounding areas, and advocating for conservation in the environment. In 724 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:03,799 Speaker 1: addition to laws allowing the drainage of state owned wetlands 725 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,600 Speaker 1: that we talked about before. She wrote to President Calvin 726 00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: Coolidge advocating against a plant to drain Mississippi bottom land. 727 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:15,279 Speaker 1: She advocated for preservation of things like eagle habitats. She 728 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,920 Speaker 1: didn't really know the science behind it, but she correctly 729 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: connected the mass destructions of forests and wetlands to the 730 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:27,960 Speaker 1: disruption of rainfall patterns and a warming climate. She had 731 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 1: actually tried to get the state of Indiana to purchase 732 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:34,719 Speaker 1: Wildflower Woods as a nature preserve before she moved to California, 733 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:37,520 Speaker 1: and that sale did not happen at the time. But 734 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,279 Speaker 1: today the Cabinet Wildflower Woods is Jean Stratton Porter State 735 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,279 Speaker 1: Historic Site and it includes one hundred and forty eight 736 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 1: acres of gardens, fields, and forests. The cabin preserves much 737 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,280 Speaker 1: of her furniture and decor, including her collection of moths. 738 00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:56,080 Speaker 1: There have been efforts to reverse the draining of parts 739 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,360 Speaker 1: of Limberlost Swamp and to protect and conserve these and 740 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:05,920 Speaker 1: other wetland. This includes Limberlost Historic Site, Limberlost Swamp Wetland Preserve, 741 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 1: Music of the Wild Nature Preserve. It's named after some 742 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:12,880 Speaker 1: of her work, I Think and lob Lolly Marsh Nature 743 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:22,400 Speaker 1: Preserve and that is Jean Stratton Porter. So that was 744 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:26,759 Speaker 1: our live show that we recorded in Indianapolis. Thanks so 745 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:30,760 Speaker 1: much to the staff of the Eugene and Marylandlick, Indiana 746 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,879 Speaker 1: History Center. They have been such a treat to work 747 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,040 Speaker 1: with both times we have been there. In lieu of 748 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,839 Speaker 1: regular listener mail, I also just wanted to shout out 749 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:42,880 Speaker 1: to every single person who came to the meet and 750 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,080 Speaker 1: greet and talk to us beforehand. Yes, we had such 751 00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,080 Speaker 1: a good time. I know we were not one hundred 752 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:53,239 Speaker 1: percent awesome at meeting out how much time people got 753 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:54,879 Speaker 1: in the beginning, so some of it at the end 754 00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,360 Speaker 1: got kind of a rushed experience. I also wanted to 755 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,120 Speaker 1: make sure there was someone that did not come to 756 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:01,920 Speaker 1: the meet and greet, but they hand it off gifts 757 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:05,359 Speaker 1: for us. Yeah, to our contact, and I believe their 758 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:07,960 Speaker 1: name is Carol. I think Carol is what it looks 759 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:11,520 Speaker 1: like on the on the bag. Yeah. Mine. I couldn't 760 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,440 Speaker 1: read very well to begin with, and then in the 761 00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 1: ride home some of it got rebuffs. So Carol, thank 762 00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,000 Speaker 1: you so much. It is so thoughtful and sweet and 763 00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:21,280 Speaker 1: I'm sorry we weren't able to collect those in person 764 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,600 Speaker 1: and the person who brought us stickers. Also, the stickers 765 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,120 Speaker 1: are in my bag, so I cannot refresh my memory 766 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,120 Speaker 1: on their name either, but thank you. Also, yes, stickers 767 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,480 Speaker 1: key to my heart. Yeah. So thanks everyone who came 768 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:37,399 Speaker 1: to the show. Thanks everyone who came to the meet 769 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,360 Speaker 1: and greet. Thanks again, staff at the Eugene and Marylyn 770 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:44,040 Speaker 1: Click Indiana History Center. If you would like to drop 771 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: us a note about this or any other podcast or 772 00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:48,960 Speaker 1: history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com and we're all over 773 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:52,319 Speaker 1: social media at miss and History. You can subscribe to 774 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:55,200 Speaker 1: our show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever else you'd 775 00:46:55,239 --> 00:47:03,080 Speaker 1: like to get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History 776 00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:07,480 Speaker 1: Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 777 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:11,240 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 778 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:12,280 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.