In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we would like to highlight a field book that documents Native American knowledge of natural resources. The field book was created by William J. Fisher, who lived in southern Alaska from 1879 until his death in 1903.

Fisher’s notebook documents his final years collecting and looks at the relationship between the Alutiiq (Aleut) and their plants by recording medicinal and food uses for 48 specimens. Only a handful of the specimen entries include the taxonomic names of plants; instead, entries focus on recording the Russian and Sugpiat/Alutiiq names of plants, how the plants were used, and plant distribution. Detail varies, as seen below in entries three and forty-seven.

Entry three describes Fritullaria kamschathensis [Fritillaria camschatcensis], also known as the Kamchatka Fritillary, and lists general use and preparation: “Used as an article of food by natives. The bulbs are boiled mashed and after a liberal supply of seal or whale oil has been thoroughly mixed therewith, it is put away for winter’s use.”

Specimen entry three from “Notes accompanying collection of useful plants made by W. J. Fisher at [Kodiak] in 1899,” Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA Acc. 12-038. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46428854. Digitized by Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Image of Fritillaria camschatcensis from Encyclopedia of Life, provided by Biopix. http://eol.org/data_objects/19162439.

Entry forty-seven for Ledum palustre [Rhododendron tomentosum], also known as Northern Labrador Tea (also pictured below), takes up an entire page describing the plant’s habitat, the appearance of its flowers, and multiple local medicinal applications: “(1) As a tea it is freely drunk in alleviating the hacking cough of consumptives. (2) As a gargle in sore throat. (3) Administered as tea it is efficacious in relieving asthmatic complaints.”

Specimen entry forty-seven, from “Notes accompanying collection of useful plants made by W. J. Fisher at [Kodiak] in 1899,” Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA Acc. 12-038. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46428831. Digitized by Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Image of Rhododendron tomentosum (Northern Labrador Tea), from Encyclopedia of Life. Image by Biopix. http://eol.org/data_objects/19183248.

Fisher’s ethnographic focus while collecting plants is clear. The field book provides detailed information regarding local names and knowledge, but leaves out basic information often found in botany field books like date and detailed locality information. This lack of information may relate to a note Fisher wrote on the title page: “dried plants with Mr. Kearney, alcoholics in seed collection.” “Mr. Kearney” was Thomas Henry Kearney (1874-1956), a botanist with the Bureau of Plant Industry at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Kearney was in Alaska to work with Frederick Coville from April 1898 – August 1899, and along the Northwest Coast from Puget Sound to the Bering Strait in 1899. He then served as a member of the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899.

It is unclear how the two men became acquainted. Fisher had a relationship with the Smithsonian Institution; Coville as a USDA employee worked with Smithsonian, and perhaps he introduced the two. Whatever the reason, Kearney’s field notes for his work in Alaska are also available on BHL through the Smithsonian Field Book Project, and they provide a tantalizing overlap in content and geographical coverage.

A field book at the end of a collecting career

Fisher’s field book is also interesting because it document’s his collecting focus and interests as they evolved over a lifetime. Fisher’s initial scientific interest was in marine biology. During the 1870’s he was a curator of conchology at the California Academy of Sciences and served as a marine biologist for the U.S. Fish Commission on several cruises in the Pacific headed by William Healey Dall.

In 1879, Fisher accepted a position as tidal recorder in St. Paul, now known as the city of Kodiak, Alaska. After accepting the position, he wrote to Dall, who was affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and offered to collect natural history specimens. The offer was accepted, and Fisher was instructed that the museum was also interested in ethnographic artifacts from the region.

The town of St. Paul where Fisher settled was originally established by the Russians as a center for fur trading. By the time Fisher arrived, it was a town of approximately 500 residents, primarily of Russian and Native Alaskan heritage. According to an article in Arctic Anthropology (no. 1, 1992) the community was still significantly mixed regarding the adoption of European culture in terms of religion, language, and beliefs.

Fisher initially focused on collecting natural history specimens, but as he began to correspond with Smithsonian’s Secretary Spencer Baird, his interest and collecting shifted to ethnography. He even began to commission works by Native Alaskans. Fisher’s main source of income was his position as tidal recorder; Smithsonian was frequently unable to finance his work. This lack of funding apparently did not dim Fisher’s enthusiasm, but it did lead to financial hardship. During an extended collecting trip to Bristol Bay in the summer of 1885, his assistant successfully petitioned for Fisher’s job. Fisher’s collecting came to an end by the 1890’s; the ethnobotany field notes document the end of his work with the Smithsonian Institution.

Interested in learning more? We encourage you to learn about the William J. Fisher collection at the National Museum of Natural History, which was highlighted as part of a book Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People, in the online exhibit featuring artifacts created by the Alutiiq people and collected by Fisher during his years in Alaska.

Other resources include:

Aron L. Crowell, 1992, Postcontact Koniag Ceremonialism on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula: Evidence from the Fisher Collection. Arctic Anthropology 29(1):18-37. Retrieved on November 16, 2016 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40316240?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents

Highlights of the William J. Fisher collection at the National Museum of Natural History: http://naturalhistory.si.edu/arctic/features/fisher/collect.html

The field books of William Healey Dall, available on Biodiversity Heritage Library: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/search?searchTerm=Dall+%22field+notes%22#/titles

Field Book Project blog post by Sonoe Nakasone: http://nmnh.typepad.com/fieldbooks/2012/02/sharing-culture-through-plants.html

He has been praised as “saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism.” Remembered as the Father of the National Parks, he was instrumental in establishing the Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. He founded the Sierra Club, one of the largest and most influential conservation organizations in the United States. Though born in Scotland, he is acclaimed as “one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity.” His travel notes, amassed within the publication Travels in Alaska, represent an extremelyheartfelt account of the Alaskan frontier. He is none other than John Muir, one of the most important nature advocates America has ever known.

A Personal Journey Towards American Preservation

John Muir

Born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland, in 1838, Muir moved to Wisconsin with his family in 1849. Just before his 29th birthday, following an accident in a sawmill that nearly cost him his sight, Muir embraced his true calling in life – the study and conservation of nature. That same year, Muir embarked on his first wild adventure – a 1,000 mile walk from Indiana to Florida, documented in his book A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf. However, it was his subsequent trip to California that sparked the true passion of Muir’s career – the untamed beauty of the American mountain wilderness.

In March, 1868, Muir had his first encounter with Yosemite, an experience that shaped the rest of his life. On seeing the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Muir exclaimed, “No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite…The grandest of all special temples of nature.” Muir spent the rest of his years in the shadows of mountainous peaks, devoting his life to studying nature and raising awareness about the implications of human activities. He formed relationships with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Roosevelt and Louis Agassiz. He worked diligently to limit grazing activities in Yosemite, which eventually led to the introduction of a bill that established Yosemite as a national park. His assertion, backed by Louis Agassiz, that the valley in Yosemite was the result of glacial activity, not, as was formerly purported, an earthquake, helped establish his name in the scientific community.

Preservation, not Conservation

Though known for his conservation work, Muir identified himself as a preservationist, rather than a conservationist. The distinction resulted from a fall-out with his former friend, Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot, a renowned conservationist, focused on managing natural resources for sustainable commercial use. Muir ardently opposed this view, believing that nature should be preserved in-tact, not managed for human consumption. To Muir, nature was a spiritual experience, not one to be exploited.

Celebrating American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month with Muir

Muir visited Alaska for the first time in 1879. He returned to “nature’s last frontier” repeatedly over the next 30+ years of his life, amassing a mountain of notes on his travels. His study of Alaskan glaciers was instrumental in the development of theories on landscape formation via glacial activity. Muir viewed the native people of Alaska and their reverential relationship with the Earth as an inspirational example of co-dependency with nature. He spent the last months of his life aggregating his notes into his book Travels in Alaska, which was completed posthumously by Marion Randall Parsons. In celebration of National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, we highlight this tender account of one man’s journeys through the Alaskan wilderness.

 The Glaciers that Move Mountains

Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay covers 1,375 square miles, and the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve represents the largest UNESCO protected biosphere in the world. Muir first encountered Glacier Bay during his first trip to Alaska. Long-interested in the impact of glacial activity on landmasses, Muir was eager to validate Agassiz’s earlier theory that much of the earth had once been covered by glaciers, and that their movement and retreat was responsible for many of the land features we see today. On a brisk Sunday morning, venturing out from his camp alone and burdened by damp clothes and tired limbs, Muir climbed 1,500 feet to catch his first glimpse of Glacier Bay:

“This was my first general view of Glacier Bay, a solitude of ice and snow and newborn rocks, dim, dreary, mysterious. I held the ground I had so dearly won for an hour or two, sheltering myself from the blast as best I could, while with benumbed fingers I sketched what I could see of the landscape, and wrote a few lines in my notebook. Then, breasting the snow again, crossing the shifting avalanche slopes and torrents, I reached camp about dark, wet and weary and glad.”

At the time of his first visit, the Bay was 44 miles from the sea. Muir returned to the Bay in 1899 with the Harriman Alaskan Expedition. This trip was instrumental in documenting the extreme retreat of the Bay, which now stands at 65 miles from the sea. This represents the fastest documented glacial retreat in history.

Alaska Through Native Eyes

Totem Pole at Stickeen Village

During his voyages through Alaska, Muir encountered many of the indigenous people of the land – namely, the Thlinkit (Tlingit) tribes. The Tlingit people have occupied the Alaskan territory for approximately 10,000 years. Muir wrote that the Tlingit people were compassionate and honorable, validating this assertion with a recount of the valor of one of their chiefs. 20-30 years before Muir’s arrival, a war ensued between a Tlingit tribe and the Sitka tribe. The fighting lasted through the summer months, preventing any tribal members from gathering food supplies for the winter. As the cold months approached, it became apparent that the tribes would starve if the fighting did not cease.

“At this crisis one of the Stickeen chiefs came out of his block-house fort into an open space midway between their fortified camps, and shouted that he wished to speak to the leader of the Sitkas.

When the Sitka chief appeared he said: ‘My people are hungry. They dare not go to the salmon-streams or berry-fields for winter supplies, and if this war goes on much longer most of my people will die of hunger. We have fought long enough; let us make peace. You brave Sitka warriors go home, and we will go home, and we will all set out to dry salmon and berries before it is too late.’

The Sitka chief replied: ‘You may well say let us stop fighting, when you have had the best of it. You have killed ten more of my tribe than we have killed of yours. Give us ten Stickeen men to balance our blood-account; then, and not till then, we will make peace and go home.’

‘Very well,’ replied the Stickeen chief, ‘You know my rank. You know that I am worth ten common men and more. Take me and make peace.’

This noble offer was promptly accepted; the Stickeen chief stepped forward and was shot down in sight of the fighting bands. Peace was thus established, and all made haste to their homes and ordinary work. That chief literally gave himself a sacrifice for his people. He died that they might live.”

Native Alaskans in Canoes near Wrangell Island

Over the course of his visits to Alaska, Muir established a friendship with a member of the Stickeen tribe named Toyatte. Killed trying to bring peace in a feud between his and a neighboring tribe, Muir wrote at his death, “Thus died for his people the noblest old Roman of them all.” Of Toyatte, Muir revealed,

He often deplored the fact that he had no son to take his name at his death, and expressed himself very grateful when I told him that his name would not be forgotten, – that I had named one of the Stickeen glaciers for him.

A Legacy Not Forgotten

John Muir died of pneumonia at age 76. His legacy, however, remains in the parks he tirelessly worked to preserve, in the 12 books and over 300 articles he penned, in his captivating accounts of the Alaskan wilderness, and through the Sierra Club, which to this day works to continue the cause Muir dedicated his life to achieving – the humble appreciation and passionate enjoyment of nature. And today, as such a man would have desired, Muir slumbers “among trees planted by his own hand.”

We hope you enjoyed this post. Interested in guest-blogging for BHL? We’d love that! Natural history, biodiversity and conservation topics are especially welcomed. Email us your ideas at[email protected]