John James Audubon (1785-1851), known as the American Woodsman, is a legend as a naturalist and bird artist. He was not the first person to attempt to paint and describe all the birds in America, but his unique technique of depicting his subjects dramatically contributed to his renown. His technique of painting freshly killed specimens surrounded by their natural habitats added a wealth of knowledge to the emerging discipline of ornithology in the nineteenth century.

Audubon was born April 26, 1785 in Santo Domingo (now Haiti) to a French naval captain, Jean Audubon, and his mistress, Jeanne Rabine. Formally adopted in 1794, Jean-Jacques Fougere Audubon was raised by the Captain's wife, Anne Moynet Audubon, and lived in France till 1803. In that year, Audubon came to America to escape conscription into Napoleon's army. He oversaw his father's farm, Mill Grove, in Pennsylvania, twenty-four miles northwest of Philadelphia. In these happy days, hunting, fishing, drawing and music completely occupied the naturalist. It was at this time, that he developed his technique for passing wires through freshly killed birds to fix them in characteristic poses on which he based his life-like sketches.

After marrying Lucy Bakewell in 1808, Audubon sold Mill Grove Farm and moved to Kentucky to try his hand in business. While there, Lucy gave birth to two sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse. After several failed commercial ventures, Audubon, at thirty-four years old, settled down to his life's ambition, to paint every bird in the United States and its territories. His plan was to have prints made from his paintings, which he would sell on a subscription basis.

In 1824, Audubon made his way to Philadelphia, portfolio in hand, to find an engraver and publisher for his work. While his decision to depict all the birds in America was an ambitious one, it was not original. Noted Scottish Naturalist, Alexander Wilson, had published a nine-volume set titled, American Ornithology, between 1808 and 1814. James Mease, curator of the American Philosophical Society, introduced Audubon to some influential individuals in the city. One of these individuals was the nephew of Napoleon, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a knowledgeable ornithologist and artist. Bonaparte then presented him to the members of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Audubon offended this august group by disparaging Wilson's work. The Academy members had intellectual, as well as, financial interest in Wilson's work. Many of the members of the Academy, particularly George Ord, saw to it that Audubon would not receive the support he sought.

As a result, in 1826, Audubon sailed to Great Britain to seek his fame and fortune. His works were more successfully received in England and Scotland. He first employed W.H. Lizars of Edinburgh to engrave copper plates and pull prints. But due to labor unrest in Lizars firm, he turned to Robert Havell & Son, of London, to do the majority of the work.

Audubon's masterpiece, The Birds of America, a four-volume elephant folio with four hundred and thirty-five colored plates of 1,065 individual birds in life-size depictions measuring more than two by three feet, accompanied by a synopsis and index was completed in June, 1838. The text to The Birds of America was published separately as a five-volume work entitled Ornithological Biography. Done in collaboration with the Scottish ornithologist, William MacGillivray, it describes life histories of each of the species with anecdotes of Audubon's adventures. This work was completed in 1839 as a companion to the elephant folio edition. Following the completion of the double elephant folio, a seven-volume octavo edition of The Birds of America was published and completed by 1844. The size, ten and a half by six and a half inches, was more popular and more affordable than the larger edition.

With the publication of the first volume of The Birds of America, Audubon's reputation in the scientific community was secured. He was elected to membership of the American Philosophical Society in 1831 and even the Academy of Natural Sciences elected him an honorary member. Each institution then subscribed to Audubon's work and both still own original copies of the elephant folio edition.

The four volumes of The Birds of America were published over a ten-year period (1827-1838). During 1831 and 1834, Audubon made additional trips for collections and paintings to Florida, South Carolina, and Labrador. It was during 1832 that Victor sailed to England to become his father's business agent. Audubon spent much of 1834 and 1835 in England working on The Birds of America and Ornithological Biography.

Audubon, over this ten-year period, acquired many helpers and friends. George Lehman, Maria Martin, and Joseph Mason are some of the artists who painted backgrounds to be incorporated into the overall work. Robert Havell not only engraved the copper plates but also completed some of Audubon's paintings. But Audubon's most loyal American supporter was the Naturalist Rev. John Bachman of Charleston, South Carolina. He supplied many specimens for The Birds of America and later collaborated with him on his final work, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.

In 1839, Audubon and his family settled in New York City and in 1842 they built their first permanent home along the Hudson River, called "Minnie's Land." Work on the Quadrupeds began in 1840. A mammal project, John Bachman wrote much of the scientific text. Audubon undertook a final expedition up the Missouri River from March to September 1843 to gather specimens for this work. He then returned east to paint and travel to solicit subscriptions.

By the mid-1840s, Audubon had turned over much of his pursuits to his sons. John contributed substantial artistic talent to the Quadrupeds and Victor continued to be his father's business manager. Audubon died at Minnie's Land at the age of sixty-six on January 27, 1851. His sons completed publication of the Quadrupeds. Lucy Audubon, finding herself in financial straits, in 1863, sold Minnie's Land and the original drawings of The Birds of America to the New York Historical Society.

Though John James Audubon during his lifetime disconcerted both the artistic and scientific communities, his legacy is that he forever changed the way in which birds are illustrated. His ability to replicate their physical features made birds come alive in their natural environment. The freshness of his life-size images displays his genius as a meticulous ornithological recorder and as an exceptional artist.

The John James Audubon Papers is comprised primarily of correspondence between Audubon and his wife, Lucy Bakewell Audubon, 1826-1832, and his son, Victor Gifford Audubon, 1833-1834 and 1840-1844, with sporadic contact with both between 1836-1839. There are a few partial journal entries and letters to other correspondents including: John James Abert, John Bachman, William Cooper, Richard Harlan, Thomas McCulloch, Jr., The Earl of Shrewsbury, Sir J. Walthen Waller, Henry McMurtry, Baron Rothschild. The majority of these letters are one time correspondence to each name listed.

Of the fifty-six letters sent to Lucy Audubon between 1826-1832, most of them describe the day-to-day effort of Audubon to accomplish his goal of publishing The Birds of America. From 1826-1829, he relates his first trip to Great Britain, which includes his arrival in Liverpool, his trip to Edinburgh, his touring for subscribers in England and in France, and his employment of W.H. Lizars and Robert Havell. Upon returning to America in 1829, he writes of his work while painting in Great Egg Harbor and the Great Pine Forest. Lucy returns to England with Audubon in April 1830 but he continues to communicate his progress as he travels and she remains in Liverpool. These letters conclude with their return to America, and his trips to Charleston, S.C., where he first meets John Bachman, and to Florida in 1831-32.

There are 108 letters to Victor G. Audubon between 1833-1834, 1840-1844. With Victor in London, the majority of 1833 letters concern the completion of the prints, the exchanging of money, and directions on how to proceed with Havell and others. Letters of 1833 and 1834 contain a discussion of George Ord's and Charles Waterton's attack on his credibility with Audubon and Bachman's planned response.

In 1837, while Lucy remains in London with Victor, Audubon returns to America and communicates his southern expedition with John W. Audubon and Edward Harris. The family is together in England between mid-1837 to September 1839.

The remaining correspondence, 1840-1844, are to Victor and the family now settled in New York. Audubon travels to New England, Baltimore, Washington, and Montreal recruiting subscribers. Of particular note, the collection contains no letters from March to September 1843, the time-span of Audubon's Quadrupeds expedition.

As both Lucy Audubon and Victor Audubon served as business agents for John James Audubon, much of the content of the collection is business-like. Descriptions of his financial status, plans on how to proceed, lists with names of subscribers, and reports of work in progress are the overall content.

Some names of note within the collection include: Nicholas Berthoud, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, John George Children, Edward Harris, Robert Havell, Jr., George Ord, William Rathbone, Charles Waterson, Alexander Wilson, and those names listed as other correspondents.

Half of this collection is published in Letters of John James Audubon, 1826-1840, edited by Howard Corning. Boston: Club of Odd Volumes, 2 v., 1930. The May 31, 1821 journal entry has various publications including "The Fair Incognito" in Audubon by Himself, edited by Alice Ford. Garden City, N.Y.: The American Museum of Natural History, 1969. These two publications are invaluable companion research tools. Also, there are typed transcriptions contained within for some of the letters.

Provenance

Formerly owned by Victor Morris Tyler, great-grandson of John James Audubon, this collection was purchased from Mary A. Benjamin in 1949.

Preferred citation

Cite as: John James Audubon, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by Ann Reinhardt, 2002.

Alternate formats available

The Audubon Papers are also available on microfilm (Film 1301).

Related material

The American Philosophical Society Library's catalog lists 123 items related to John James Audubon. Included in our manuscript collection are the papers of George Ord, some papers of Charles Waterton, and in the print materials the paper John Bachman wrote in Audubon's defense, as read before the Boston Society of Natural History, February 5, 1834.

Other major manuscript collections are held at the American Museum of Natural History, New York; The Audubon Museum, Henderson, Kentucky; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; Princeton University Library; and Yale University Library (particularly the Morris Tyler Family Collection).

Bibliography

In addition to the above mentioned Howard Corning work he also edited:The principle biographies include:

Naval History Note

The Audubon Papers contain at least one item which may be of interest to naval historians:

Audubon, John James. Letter to Victor G. Audubon. 1842 July 17. Reports on travel in the United States. News of Washington. Saw Wilkes sketches, etc. 3 pages.

Early American History Note

This fairly large collection (over 200 letters) of John James Audubon material consists primarily of John’s correspondence with his wife Lucy and son Victor. The collection shows a personal side of Audubon who kept his wife and son informed of all aspects of his work and travels. The letters to his wife – “my dearest friend” – are particularly affectionate and open.

John James Audubon was the best-known ornithologist in the nineteenth century and perhaps still is today. Audubon’s rise to fame was anything but clear-cut, however. He was born in Haiti in 1793. His father was a French naval officer who met Audubon’s mother while stationed in Haiti – and while already with a wife in France. Audubon was accepted by his father’s wife, however, and he spent much of his youth in France with her. After emigrating to the United States in 1803 to take over his father’s farm in Mill Grove, Pennsylvania and to avoid the Napoleonic Wars, Audubon soon developed a method for posing and painting birds. Seeking greater economic opportunity, he moved to Kentucky in 1808, setting up as a merchant. Financial difficulty forced him to continue moving throughout the Greater Ohio River Valley and Louisiana, plying a variety of trades to keep his family afloat. During this time, Audubon continued to collect and paint bird specimens in an attempt to create the most complete collection of North American birds ever assembled.

By 1824, Audubon began seeking a publisher for his paintings and began promoting his work in established intellectual circles. He traveled first to Philadelphia, where he was rebuffed, and then to England. After finding a captive audience and publisher in England, Audubon’s The Birds of America, a massive four volume elephant folio published in 1831, established him as an international sensation and financial success. Audubon continued to produce works of ornithology and branched out beyond birds in works such as Quadrupeds. Like many who ultimately find popular success, the scientific and artistic world eventually became critical of Audubon’s work and technique. His popular success, however, never faltered, and his work continues to be admired and studied.

The early portion (1826-1829) of the collection at the APS contains letters written while Audubon was in Britain working on Birds of North America. The collection provides a clear picture of both Audubon’s time in England working on the publication of his masterpiece and his close relationship with his wife and son. This correspondence casts Audubon in a different light than normal. Audubon has been depicted as a remarkable scientist, naturalist, adventurer, and artist. What comes out through his correspondence to his family while in England is how much he was a calculating businessman and self-promoter as well as artist and scientist. Audubon saw his Birds of North America not only as an important scientific work but also a commercial venture, and the story of Audubon the entrepreneur is depicted in this collection.

The bulk of the correspondence from 1829-1834 involves Audubon’s life during his return to America. Among this collection are accounts of Audubon’s travels throughout North America, often the south, as he sought additional drawings to finish Birds of North America. These too are often personal letters written to either his wife or son Victor. These letters often convey observations of the areas he visited and describe some of the natural life he observed. An account of his trip to Richmond in October, 1831, for instance, makes reference to the “Negro disturbances,” a reference to Nat Turner’s Rebellion, as well as providing a description of the city and the surroundings. Most of the collection’s later letters (1834 and 1841-1844) are from Audubon, stationed in America, writing to his son Victor, who was serving as Audubon’s business agent in England.

The collection also contains a significant fragment of Audubon’s account of his time working in New Orleans as a painter for hire in 1822. The document, sold to the APS by Audubon’s family after his death, is marked “not used and not for general reading as we decided.” In it, Audubon recounts a wild tale to his wife in which a beautiful and wealthy woman in New Orleans requested he paint her nude under very strange and secretive circumstances. The story of this encounter is told in Richard Rhodes’ John James Audubon.

As with most of Audubon’s correspondence, many of the letters contained in the collection have been printed in edited volumes

Genre(s)

• Art
• Business Records and Accounts
• Family Correspondence
• General Correspondence

Personal Name(s)

• Abert, John James, 1788-1863
• Audubon, John James, 1785-1851
• Audubon, John Woodhouse, 1812-1862
• Audubon, Lucy Green Bakewell, 1788-1874
• Audubon, Victor Gifford, 1809-1860
• Bachman, John, 1790-1874
• Bakewell, William
• Berthoud, Nicholas
• Bonaparte, Charles Lucian Jule
• Brewster, Thomas
• Chetwynd, Henry John, Earl of Shrewsbury
• Children, John George, 1777-1852
• Cooper, William, 1798?-1864
• Gaston, William
• Harlan, Richard, 1796-1843
• Harris, Edward
• Havell, Robert, Jr. 1793-1878
• Lehman, George
• Lizars, W. H. (William Home), 1788-1859
• Martin, Maria, 1794-1863
• McCulloch, Thomas, Jr.
• McMurtry, Henry
• Ord, George, 1781-1866
• Rathbone, William
• Rothschild, Baron Nathan Mayer de
• Waller, J. Walthen
• Waterton , Charles, 1782-1865
• Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813

Subject(s)

• Birds--North America
• Business and Skilled Trades
• Literature, Arts, and Culture
• Natural History
• Natural History--North America
• Naturalist
• Ornithologist
• Ornithology--North America
• Printing and Publishing
• Science and Technology