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Francis Harper (17 November 1886 – 17 November 1972) was an American naturalist known for the study of the 18th-century American naturalists
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
and
William Bartram William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title ''Bartram's Travels'', which chronicled ...
. His research included studies of the
Okefenokee Swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee ...
and fieldwork in the north eastern
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and in northern
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and authored new combinations for two species originally described by William Bartram, ''
Garberia heterophylla ''Garberia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing the single species ''Garberia heterophylla''.
'' and '' Roystonea elata''.


Biography

Harper received an
A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in 1914 and a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in 1925 from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
. He taught briefly at
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...
, but beyond that he worked for museums, government agencies and research agencies. In 1914 Harper made his first trip to northern Canada on an expedition to
Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , "herethere are plants one after another") is located in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake ...
working as a zoologist for the
Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...
. Between 1917 and 1919 Harper served as a rodent control officer in France with the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
's 79th Division. He returned to Athabasca in 1920,
Nueltin Lake Nueltin Lake (Chipewyan: , meaning "sleeping island lake") straddles the Manitoba-Nunavut border in Canada. The lake, which has an area of , is predominantly in Nunavut's Kivalliq Region, and on the Manitoba side there is the Nueltin Lake Airport ...
in southern Keewatin in 1947 and the
Ungava Peninsula The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is Cape W ...
in 1953, his last trip north. Harper published notable works on the
caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
of Keewatin, the birds of the Ungava Peninsula, and the Montagnais of the Ungava.


Research

From 1917 through the 1950s Harper spent significant time researching the work of the early North American naturalists
John Bartram John Bartram (March 23, 1699 – September 22, 1777) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest na ...
and his son
William Bartram William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title ''Bartram's Travels'', which chronicled ...
. Harper traced the Bartrams' travels in the American South and helped revive both scientific and popular interest in the Bartrams' work, while keeping notebooks on his fieldworks as early as in 1912. Harper's research into the Bartrams was funded by grants from the John Bartram Association in Philadelphia, the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, and the Guggenheim Foundation among others. Extensive publications on both of the Bartrams included annotated editions of John Bartram's "Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida 1765-1766"; William Bartram's "Report to Dr. John Fothergill 1773-1774" and an annotated ''The Travels of William Bartram: Naturalist’s Edition'' first published in Philadelphia in 1791. Harper published on the mammals and folklore of the Okefenokee Swamp, including recordings of the local music. He also published on the "extinct and vanishing" mammals of the old world. His papers are held in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
.


Publications

Harper authored about 135 publications including: *"The Vultur Sacra of William Bartram", written by William Bartram, edited by F. Harper. Swarthmore, Pa, 1936? , *"The Bartram trail through the southeastern states",
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, 1939. *"Some works of Bartram, Daudin, Latreille, and Sonnini, and their bearing upon North American herpetological nomenclature", Notre Dame:
Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...
, 1940. *"William Bartram's names of birds", Rochester: , 1942? *"''John Bartram's Diary ; and William Bartram's Travels'', edited by F. Harper, "Transactions of American Philosophy Society", n.s., 33 (1-2), Philadelphia: APS, 1944. *"Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, from July 1, 1765 to April 10, 1766" edited by F. Harper. *"Travels in Georgia and Florida, 1773-74. A Report to Dr. John Fothergill" edited by Francis Harper. *''The Travels of William Bartram: Naturalist’s Edition'', edited by Francis Harper, University of Georgia Press: (30 September 1998), .


Bibliography

* *


Footnotes


Notes


References


Further reading

* ''The American Committee and the First Inventory of Extinction'' in "Nature's Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology", Barrow, Mark V.,
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 2009. pp. 159–163. , * "Bartram Heritage: A Study of the Life of William Bartram : Including the Report to the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, U.S. Department of the Interior", by Bartram Trail Conference ; Brad Sanders, 1979. * "John and William Bartram's America" by Cruickshank, Helen Gere, Nueva York : The American Museum of Natural History, 1957. * ''Chapter 5: Okefenokee Swampers'' in "Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp", Nelson, Megan Kate, University of Georgia Press, 2005. *
On Harper's Trail: Roland McMillan Harper, Pioneering Botanist of the Southern Coastal Plain
, Shores, Elizabeth F.,
University of Georgia Press The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and la ...
, 2008. On Francis' brother Roland, who sometimes accompanied Francis and often discussed with him as a botanist on natural history.


External links

* *
Francis Harper Papers
at th
Kenneth Spencer Research Library
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Francis 1886 births 1972 deaths American biologists Cornell University alumni People from Southbridge, Massachusetts 20th-century biologists