John Burroughs: Nature Writing and Nineteenth-Century Science

June 15 - 19, 2008; Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

Sunday, June 15

4:30ice breaker, mixer
5:30buffet dinner
7:00Lecture and Open House:
Warthin Museum of Geology and Natural History special exhibition: “The Evolution of the Natural Sciences: Selections from the Natural History Museum at Vassar College”
Lois Horst (museum curator) introduction and history of the museum.
Rick Jones (exhibit curator) – introduction to the exhibit.

Monday, June 16

8:30first seminar meeting of students with instructors
9:30welcome:
Jeff Walker (conference organizer)
Robert Suter (Associate Dean of Faculty)
Ron Patkus (Vassar Libraries Special Collections)
10:00academic paper session
11:30break for lunch
1:00keynote address - Charlotte Zoë Walker
“John Burroughs, Sharp Eyes and Reading the Book of Nature Today”
2:15break
2:30academic paper session or panel discussion
4:00free time*

Tuesday, June 17

8:30academic paper session
10:00coffee break
10:30plenary session
12:00lunch
1:30academic paper session
2:45coffee break
3:00academic paper session or panel discussion
4:00free time*
7:30film night (Taylor Hall 204)

Wednesday, June 18

7:00bird walk with Mary Ann Cunningham (Vassar Geography)
8:30academic paper session
10:00coffee break
10:30academic paper session
12:00lunch
1:30academic paper session
2:45coffee break
3:00academic paper session or panel discussion
4:00free time*
7:00dance with the Walker Family

Thursday, June 19

Field trip to Burroughs’s haunts in West Park, NY

9:00buses leave Vassar College, Ely Hall
Riverby property, West Park, New York
walk to Slabsides (1.5 miles, optional)
lunch at Slabsides
explore Slabsides, Nature Preserve, Pond House, etc.
3:30buses leave to return to Vassar
4:00free time*
6:30closing banquet
keynote address by Harry Stoneback
"John Burroughs--Regionalist (and Modernist?): A Meditation on Influences and Confluences"

Friday, June 20

all daylast meeting of student seminar
optional field trip (not included in meeting registration) to Troutbeck (house of Myron Benton) TENTATIVE

*free time will include opportunities for campus tours, for guided tours of the Vassar College Special Collections exhibition "John Burroughs and Walt Whitman: Literary Comrades" in the college library, for visits to Special Collections, and for exploring on your own.

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124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
845.437.7000