Colonial Williamsburg

"Largest White Bill’d Woodpecker," by Mark Catesby, in Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, London England, 1731–1734. Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

CONTENTS

The next
Electronic Field Trip is

The Will of the People
October 16, 2008

Born in Sudbury, England, Mark Catesby felt an "early Inclination . . . to search after Plants, and other productions of Nature," hindered only by his distance from "the centre of all Science," London. Despite these impediments, Catesby acquired a sound scientific education that kindled a "passionate Desire" to see the native flora and fauna of the exotic American colonies first hand.

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After two scientific trips to North America and the Caribbean in 1712 and 1722, English naturalist Mark Catesby (ca. 1682–1749) published his two-volume work, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. Published in sections between 1731 and 1743, it was the first major report of its kind on the natural history of the British colonies.

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Most people have heard of John James Audubon (1785–1851), the wildlife artist who created more than 400 images of American wildlife in the 1800s. In the early 1700s—long before Audubon—another man, naturalist Mark Catesby, worked to document North American flora and fauna. In this lesson, students will work with Catesby’s image of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker to learn how artists enlarge their work using the grid enlargement technique.

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Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials dealing with 18th-century life, including:

• Nature, Art, and Science (video, teacher guide, and Web activities)
• The Colonial Naturalist (video)

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Over the past several years, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Department of Education Outreach has worked closely with the staff of the Newsweek Education Program. We were sorry to learn that Newsweek has discontinued that program as of June 2008. Our education partners enrich the resources we offer to teachers and students; the loss of the NEP will certainly be felt in classrooms around the country. We wish our friends in the Newsweek Education Program the best of luck in the future. For more information on the changes at Newsweek, please visit the Newsweek Education Program Web site.

—Charles Bonnet, The Contemplation of Nature,
Vol. 2, 1766