The Process of Discovery

At "A Book in Hand" author's forum in Dennis, Massachusetts, I spoke last month to a group of writers about the process of discovery throughout four and a half years of working on Nature's Ambassador. Here are a few points I covered:

Readers may not realize the enormous amount of revelation that takes place during the writing process. Even we writers can be taken aback by the discovery of new information that our original plan must unexpectedly accommodate. Not long ago I listened to novelist Dennis Lehane (Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone) humorously describe his surprise, irritation, resistance, and finally acceptance of the discovery that a minor character in one of his blockbuster novels simply refused to be eliminated. The author had to yield to his own fictitious character!

I had notebooks full of information about my subject when I started work on Nature's Ambassador. However, if the final published version were limited to what I knew then about Thornton Burgess' life and career, it would have been one-third of its eventual size. I was more than a year into my work before I had to accept the fact that I was not writing the tabletop book my publisher and I had envisioned, but a legitimate biography. As I told the publisher, I had not deviated structurally from the four-part outline of my book proposal, but, of necessity, my depth and range of detail had evolved. I had serious concerns. What if I pursued essential leads, but got seriously off track? Then again, what if I held to my plan, but ignored the massive momentum of my research? In the end, I resigned my self to letting the story lead me, as Lehane had done. 

What revelations occurred in my writing process? I knew Burgess had a popular radio program in the 1920s and 30s, but I didn't know it may have been the first children's nature program on radio. I knew the children's author was an ardent conservationist, but was unaware of the extraordinary extent of his effort. He conceived of and implemented through the popular People's Home Journal a private land conservation program that posted five million acres for bird sanctuaries. I found letters that heartily congratulated Thornton Burgess for his assistance in passage of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I learned he was honored by the prestigious New York Zoological Society for influencing the environmental values of "millions of children." I remember thinking, "What's that figure again - millions? In 1919?" That was less than a decade into his career as a children's author. He wrote for forty-six more years. 

Photo: Dr. William T. Hornaday, director of New York Zoological

Society, credited Thornton Burgess with influencing the environmental values

of "millions of children." Courtesy of Greg Dehler.   

I was startled to learn the children's author had attended the 1931 Matamek Conference on Biological Cycles in Labrador, a meeting that assembled leading scientists from Europe and North America to consider the same environmental issues we study today. (Thornton Burgess, by the way, was equally startled to learn that these eminent scientists were quite familiar with and approved of his nature-based books and newspaper columns; his chagrined account of their insistence that he tell them a story is hilarious.)

Discovering Burgess' friendship and collaboration with distinguished Smithsonian curator Austin Clark added terrific detail. But when I was provided copies of their animated, near-daily correspondence through the generous assistance of Smithsonian researcher Marcel LaFollette, author of Science on the Air, and curator Dr. David Pawson and his wife Doris at the National Museum of Natural History, it required a marvelous new chapter: "Austin Clark and the Radio Nature League."

I knew Burgess had written dozens of books. (In Nature's Ambassador I clear up the confusion between 70 or 170 total books.) But I was astounded to discover those books had sold possibly eleven million copies by the mid-1960s. Booksellers have verified that this was an impressive sales figure at that time. I would learn he had multiple publishers, his last book came out the year he was 91, and that more than half of Burgess' books are still  in print, which booksellers say is also remarkable for early 20th century books. 

New research changed not just the shape and size, but the very purpose of my book. It solidified my growing conviction that an important children's author and conservationist had been significantly overlooked in the history of two fields. Without new discoveries, the last sentence in my introduction could not have been written!

So, I've come to expect and welcome discovery in the writing process, and wonder if all writers find this true?

A Writer's Firsts!

Every writer has dreams. A few dreams of mine have become reality in recent months. Let me share with you writing "firsts" that have come about since the publication of Nature's Ambassador, my biography of Thornton W. Burgess.

FIRST: Book sighting in a store

In the four and a half years I worked on Nature's Ambassaror, I always knew what would signify that the project was really finished: seeing my books in Titcomb's Bookshop. 

Titcomb's is a beloved family-owned bookstore in East Sandwich on Cape Cod. It has a wonderful, warm, welcoming atmosphere, complete with shelves stacked with books you're suddenly dying to read and toys you realize are perfect for any child you know. The staff is marvelously friendly, enthusiastic, and helpful; the fact that they wrap presents is alone reason to come here. Needless to say, I was delighted when owner Vicky Titcomb Uminewicz said she would love to host the official launch of Nature's Ambassador. 

A few days before the launch, I was driving past Titcomb’s on an errand when I spotted a large white sign near the road. It read “Christie Lowrance, Burgess Book Signing, Sunday 2-4.” I decided to stop in the bookstore on the return trip to thank the staff (and admire the sign!). As I walked up the stone path to the bookstore, I realized that the upper panes of its broad display window were ALL filled with copies of my book. Beaming, I opened the door and stepped inside. On a table near the front door nestled between Nancy Rubin Stuart’s outstanding Revolutionary War-era Defiant Brides and Susan Branch’s beautifully illustrated new book, A Fine Romance was a stack of my books. Oh my. What a gorgeous sight. So colorful! So celebratory! So …legitimate. 

The smile on my face lasted halfway home, but the smile in my writer’s heart lasted for weeks. 

FIRST: Book launch

A few days later the launch for Nature's Ambassador was held at Titcomb's Bookshop on a glorious blue-sky, late summer Cape Cod afternoon. With Nancy Titcomb and her husband Ralph, who had opened the bookstore decades ago, I greeted arrivals beneath a small canopy outside the front of the store. Later we would consume root beer floats, Thornton Burgess' favorite drink, and a huge sheet cake iced on top with a bold colored replication of the Harrison Cady illustration on the front cover of Nature's Ambassador.

Elizabeth Merritt, generally considered Titcomb's literary authority, invited everyone to go upstairs for my talk, and guests found a seat among the bookshelves in the upper level of the bookstore. I looked out at friends and neighbors seated smiling and expectant before me. My son Rob was grinning broadly, his wife Kimberly was snapping pictures, and their two children waved at Nana. As I waited for Elizabeth to introduce me, I realized I was relaxed, extremely happy, and completely ready for this moment.

The day held so many unique pleasures! How many people have the opportunity to dedicate a work to those they cherish? I am blessed with four grandchildren, "the ones Thornton Burgess wrote for." When I started this book, K was 3, R was 2, and G and J weren't yet born. K now stands up to my shoulders, R somewhat below him, J speaks French, and G can sing six verses of "Down by the Bay." To call two dear grandchildren forward, give them a Nana squeeze, and introduce them to those gathered at the launch was a golden moment in my life.  

It felt wonderful to present a copy of Nature's Ambassador to Nancy Titcomb, founder of the Thornton W. Burgess Society, who has believed so fervently in his message of love and stewardship to nature and wildlife. It seemed a privilege to provide a special thank you to someone who had done so much to promote the Burgess legacy. 

Photo: Christie Lowrance and Nancy Titcomb at book launch, by Kimberly Lowrance

It felt wonderful to present a copy of Nature's Ambassador to Wayne Wright, the research librarian at the New York Historical Association who wrote Burgess' complete bibliography (2000) and was such a great help in confirming countless details about the author's literary work. A childhood reader of Burgess books, Wayne had traveled from Oneonta, New York to attend the book launch at Titcomb's!

Photo: Christie Lowrance presenting book to Wayne Wright, by Kimberly Lowrance

As a professional writer for more than thirty years, I have savored many exquisite moments, but the book launch of Nature's Ambassador: The Legacy of Thornton W. Burgess will remain one of the most purely happy days of my life.

WHO NAMED PETER RABBIT?

Harrison Cady illustration, permission by Thornton W. Burgess Society




 If you have been introduced to a delightful animal character named Peter Rabbit in the works of both Beatrix Potter and Thornton Burgess, you may have wondered which author named him. It is a sticky and confusing question, sometimes raised with the suggestion of copyright infringement. Here’s what my research for Nature’s Ambassador showed: 

 

In his autobiography Thornton Burgess clearly and unmistakably identifies Beatrix Potter as first to use the name Peter Rabbit when she self-published The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1901. Its instant success led Frederick Warne & Company to publish her charming little book in England. Her popularity spread across the Atlantic, but because Warne did not properly secure a U.S. copyright, both authorized and unauthorized versions appeared. Like countless other parents, Thornton Burgess read the captivating story of a naughty bunny to his young son Thornton W. Burgess III, for whom all rabbits soon became Peter. 

 

In 1910, nine years after Beatrix Potter’s book came out, Thornton Burgess’ first children’s book, Old Mother West Wind, was published by Little, Brown & Company. It introduced an American rabbit that Burgess, then a hard-working journalist, had named Peter to please his three-year-old son whose mother had died the day he was born.   

 

Both The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Old Mother West Wind became children’s classics, but neither had been composed as a literary effort.  Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated her Peter Rabbit story to comfort a sick child.  Burgess wrote the chapters of Old Mother West Wind as bedtime stories sent to Thornton who was away from home visiting relatives for a month. The headstrong English Peter Rabbit was a central Potter character from the beginning, but the naïve and inquisitive American bunny did not get his own book until 1914. Burgess’ character lived in the wild in a credibly depicted ecosystem with other mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. He and his friends and neighbors Jimmy Skunk, Grandfather Frog, Reddy Fox, and Sammy Jay, among dozens of other creatures, were presumably quite unfamiliar with hot chamomile tea.

 Did Burgess plagiarize the Potter character? That assessment depends on what standards you apply. According to some children’s literature and library science authorities, such borrowed usage is unacceptable and would be considered plagiarism by today’s publishers. Others, however, note that Burgess borrowed a name, not a character, not an uncommon practice in the early days of children’s literature when Burgess began writing. Incidentally, children’s literature historian David Mitchell says he knows of use of Burgess’ Peter Rabbit in a 1914 school reader. The story of “How Peter Rabbit Ran Away” by R. H. Bowles also mentions “Farmer Brown’s Boy,” another main Burgess character.

 Regardless of how you see the issue, one Smithsonian researcher told me that Nature’s Ambassador is one of the few books in which the controversy over Peter Rabbit’s name is discussed in detail.  Let me know what you think about the naming of Peter Rabbit!

 

…  A note from my research files:

Suzanne Price, an Oregon bookseller who specializes in children’s books, references the 2012 A Bibliography of Unauthorised American Editions of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in citing 308 instances by 80 publishers of “piracy” of Beatrix Potter’s children’s classic.  “Warne (Potter’s authorized UK and US publisher) made some errors in registering the copyright correctly for the US in their New York office,” says Price, “and they were not able to rectify their mistake fast enough.  Altemus was first to issue an unauthorized version in 1904.  People commonly call these unauthorized versions ‘piracies,’ but they are legal, as Peter Rabbit remained in the public domain.”