The Correspondence of John Bartram, 1734-1777 (review)

Abstract

132Quaker History reminders that Quakers have not always lived up to their high calling. Mollie Grubb provides a useful general introduction to the volume briefly summarizing and interpreting the patterns she has observed, as well as introductions to each excerpt. This composite portrait ofhow the Society has been viewed by the general public should be of interest to historians of religion and of social attitudes as well as to Friends. Eastern CollegeCaroline L. Cherry 77ie Correspondence ofJohn Bartram, 1 734-1 777. Ed. by Edmund Berkeley and Dorothy Smith Berkeley. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1992. xv + 809 pp. Illustrations, appendices, glossary of names, notes, bibliography, and index. $125.00. Beginning in the 1730s, John Bartram (1699-1777) achieved fame in international botany circles for his tireless labors in exploring wild, uncharted American territories, identifying countless new American species of flora and fauna, and supplying King George III and other notables with plants for their gardens. Long cherished for his scientific labors, Bartram is also important to the history of Quakers in America. While this birthright Friend was disowned in 1 758 for failing to follow the marriage discipline and to accept that Jesus was the son of God, Bartram faithfully attended Quaker worship meetings until his death. This new collection of correspondence does a great service for Bartram aficionados; the sole previously published compilation, William Darlington's Memorials ofJohn Bartram and Humphry Marshall (Philadelphia, 1849), used only the letters kept at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and suffered serious flaws in its transcriptions. The Berkeleys have collected and transcribed an additional 300 letters not included in the earlier publication and presented more faithful renditions ofthe old letters, particularly as to punctuation and capitalization . This new material will be a boon to individuals concerned with the Society of Friends or the history of science and naturalism. In addition, this collection will better enable historians to recognize Bartram's import as a figure in whom the American trends ofsecular enlightenment and religious mysticism coalesced. For instance, Bartram revealed his basic accord with Quaker views in 1 743 when he commented on affairs in Connecticut by praising the law for encouraging people to live more peaceably than they might otherwise be inclined and criticizing religious pretension and ceremony for distracting people from focusing on "Love Resignation & humility to the Eternal Power" (p. 222). With regard to his achievements as a taxonomer and naturalist, Bartram's 1740 letter describing his travels through territories in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be of particular note. His delight in finding the unique lilliputian trees of the Jersey pine barrens shows that Bartram was among the first to seize upon the uniqueness of the American natural environment (p. 141). Among the most remarkable letters are those illustrating the overlap between Bartram's interests in science and religion. These views appear in this 1762 letter to Peter Collinson, to whom Bartram confided that "my head runs all upon the works of God in nature [#] it is through that telescope I see god in his glory" (p. 579). Occasionally in these new letters, Bartram turns philosophic and comments on Book Reviews133 people rather than plants. For a briefmoment in 1 745, the botanist became a social critic lamenting the divisions between what he saw as the nation's three classes, the first focused upon "laying up large estates," the second concerned with "spending in Luxury all they can come at," and the third dedicated to "hard labour" so as to create a "modérât & happy maintainance ofthairfamily" (p. 252). Only this latter class received the approval of America's first Quaker botanist. Hiram CollegeNancy F. Rosenberg Peace as a Women 's Issue: A History ofthe U.S. Movementfor World Peace and Women's Rights. By Harriet Hyman Alonso. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1993. xix + 340 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Paper, $17.95; cloth, $39.95. Until recently, historians afforded little attention to women's role in the American peace movement. The past fifteen years, however, have witnessed the emergence of a significant body of scholarship on the subject. Now, with the publication of Harriet Hyman Alonso's Peace as a Women 's Issue, the field has reached...