Victorian Lady Naturalists' Summer Reading

19th-century lady naturalists read a lot (and frequently alongside ferns.) Read: How The Victorian Fern Hunting Craze Led to Adventure, Romance, and Crime.

A Lady, Jennifer Schnakenberg, Partnership Coordinator at Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, guest posts with summer reading suggestions for lady scientists, pteridomaniacs (fern obsessives),
Victorian natural historians, and the people who love them:

It seems whenever our fearless Victorian Lady Naturalist-in-residence Elizabeth Miller Bastos posts her musings and observations, I chime in with a book recommendation. Perhaps I missed my calling and should have been a librarian rather than an environmental educator. In any event, dear reader, below please find a summer reading list replete with lady scientists of ages past.

Tracy Chevalier is known for her richly-imagined historical fiction, and I freely admit to not having read any of it (not even Girl with a Pearl Earring, the “it” book of 2005) until Remarkable Creatures came along. Finally, in fossil hunter Mary Anning, a young fossil hunter on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, Chevalier found a character and subject that spoke to me. Chevalier intertwines Mary’s story with that of an older woman, Elizabeth Philpot, and this relationship also gives the reader entree into some of the debates roiling the English science establishment in the pre-Darwinian era, as well as highlighting the challenges facing women of different classes in the 19th century. Although the details are fictionalized, both Mary and Elizabeth are historical figures.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things provides an American lens on some of the same themes, following the birth-to-death adventures of the fictional Alma Whittaker and her remarkable botanical family. Born in 1800 to a wealthy scientist-merchant outside Philadelphia, Alma’s life, studies, and musings capture the intellectual spirit of the enlightenment and the uphill work of building a life of meaning as a woman in 19th century America.

Any list of science-historical fiction would be incomplete without mention of the incomparable Andrea Barrett. Although the short stories in Ship Fever, Archangel, and Servants of the Map range widely through time and space, and not all feature female protagonists, Barrett returns frequently to the 19th and early 20th centuries, and her deep humanism suffuses all of her stories. As a bonus, many of the characters and plots overlap and touch upon each other in surprisingly rich ways. These collections are definitely more than the sum of their parts.

For the younger set (or, say, a light beach read -- well-shaded by your parasol, of course), turn to Jacqueline Kelly’s Calpurnia Tate novels, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate. Opening in 1899 Texas, these young adult novels follow the coming-of-age of a curious, resourceful, quirky, and smart heroine. Calpurnia’s large family provide support (her beloved grandfather, in correspondence with Charles Darwin), challenges (her mother’s desire to raise a proper young lady), and comic relief (she has 6 brothers: ‘nuff said).

I’m a firm believer in an exception to every rule, and here’s my cheat: Lily King’s Euphoria is set in the 1930’s, but for lady scientists, it’s plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Main character Nell Stone is based on Margaret Mead, and her adventures, anthropological and otherwise, in Papua New Guinea are not to be missed.

You can find all these books (and vote on your favorites) in the GoodReads list Victorian Lady Naturalists.