Travels through a Distant Landscape: the Bartram Trail Conference and the Construction of a Memory (2010)

Undergraduate: Thomas Valone

Faculty Advisor: Timothy Marr
Department: History

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The popular memory of the botanist, natural historian, and writer William Bartram has become occluded, perhaps subsumed by a litany of more recognizable naturalists. Although a number of organizations might lend insight into the ways in which Bartram's memory has been "revived," re-imagined, and yes, occluded, the Bartram Trail Conference, Inc. proves unique in its ability to draw on a usable past for the demands (in this case, environmental and preservational) of the present. In essence, the Conference's role as a "memory organization" demands further examination. If one is to comprehend not only the figure of William Bartram, but also the ways in which his memory has been invoked for a myriad of purposes well into the twenty first century.
Thus, the central objective of this research inquiry concerns the question of how the Bartram Trail Conference has employed the cultural heritage of William Bartram--and particularly his travels through the American South--as a means of "[promoting] interest in developing public access recreational trails (hiking, canoeing, biking and horseback riding)." In doing so, this research project strives to delineate the variety of memories (geographic, literary, and environmental) associated with one of Colonial America's most formative thinkers.