William Bartram

For other people with similar names, see William Bertram.

William Bartram
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale
Born(1739-04-20)April 20, 1739
Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedJuly 22, 1823(1823-07-22) (aged 84)
Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Known forBartram's Travels
Parents
Scientific career
Fieldsnaturalist
Author abbrev. (botany)W.Bartram
Signature

William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, writer and explorer.[1] Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title Bartram's Travels, which chronicled his explorations of the Southern Colonies of British North America from 1773 to 1777.[2] Bartram has been described as "the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida".[3]

Bartram was one of the first ornithologists born in America.[4] In 1756, at the age of 17, he collected the type specimens of 14 species of American birds,[5] which were illustrated and described by the English naturalist George Edwards in Gleanings of Natural History vol. 2 (1760).[6] These accounts formed the basis of the scientific descriptions of Linnaeus (1707–1778), Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748–1804) and John Latham (1740–1837). Bartram also made significant contributions to botanical literature.[7] Like his father, he was a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768.[8]

The standard author abbreviation W.Bartram is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[9]

  1. ^ Johnson, Allen, ed. (1929). "Bartram, William". Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 2 (Barsotti- Brazer). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 28–29. Retrieved August 25, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Bartram, William (1791). Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, east & west Florida, the Cherokee country, the extensive territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the country of the Chactaws : containing an account of the soil and natural productions of those regions, together with observations on the manners of the Indians : embellished with copper-plates. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: James & Johnson.
  3. ^ Squier, E.G. (1848). Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. p. 46.
  4. ^ Allen, Elsa Guerdrum (1951). The history of American ornithology before Audubon. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society ;new ser., v. 41, pt. 3. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
  5. ^ Berkeley, E., and D. S. Berkeley (Eds.) (1992). The correspondence of John Bartram, 1734–1777. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813011233.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Edwards, George; Barker, Edmond; Du Plessis, J.; Bevere, P. C. de; Miller, John; Linné, Carl von (1758). Gleanings of natural history : exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants &c., most of which have not, till now, been either figured or described : with descriptions of seventy different subjects. London: Royal College of Physicians.
  7. ^ Barnhart, John Hendley (1930). "Bartram Bibliography". Bartonia (12): 51–67. ISSN 0198-7356. JSTOR 44898643 – via JSTOR.
  8. ^ Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, I:49, 50, 61, 305, 414, 414-24, II:165-66, III:291, 557, 562, 563.
  9. ^ International Plant Names Index.  W.Bartram.