ENV 305: BARTRAM, ECOLOGY, AND MEMORY

The actvites of John and William Bartram cover a century, from the colonial period through the revolutonary period and into natonal history. The published and unpublished writngs of the two botanists can be studied through the lens of memory studies and environmental psychology. They are a case study in the relatonship between humans and the natural world, and the relatonship between environment and memory. During their travels, they collected and discovered dozens of new plants and animals and introduced many of these to other countries (especially England). When they traveled, various Natve American groups controlled large territories and the Bartrams both personally interacted with the Native individuals and were guests of delegatons sent to negotate with Natve groups. Their recorded perceptons and memories of the Native Americans they encountered make them ideally suited to introduce us to the intertwined history, geography, biology and Native American cultures of colonial America.