The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer

John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bio ...

(1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the

John Burroughs Association The John Burroughs Association was founded in 1921 to commemorate the life and works of author/naturalist John Burroughs (1837-1921). Administered out of offices at the American Museum of Natural History, the Association owns the John Burroughs Sanc ...

to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural history. Only twice has the award been given to a work of fiction.

List of recipients of the John Burroughs Medal

*1926 -

William Beebe Charles William Beebe ( ; July 29, 1877 – June 4, 1962) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological S ...

, ''Pheasants of the World'' *1927 -

Ernest Thompson Seton Ernest Thompson Seton (born Ernest Evan Thompson August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was an English-born Canadian-American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 (renamed Woodcraft League of America), and one of ...

, ''Lives of Game Animals'' *1928 - John Russell McCarthy, ''Nature Poems'' *1929 -

Frank M. Chapman Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864 – November 15, 1945) was an American ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides. Biography Chapman was born in West Englewood, New Jersey and attended Englewood Academy. He joined the staff of ...

, ''Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America'' (published 1906) *1930 -

Archibald Rutledge Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883–1973) was an American poet and educator, the first South Carolina poet laureate from 1934 to 1973. He wrote over 50 books and many poems, usually about his hunting and life experiences in South Carolina. Biogra ...

, ''Peace in the Heart'' *1931 - ''no award'' *1932 -

Frederick S. Dellenbaugh Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh (September 13, 1853 – January 29, 1935) was an American explorer. Biography He was born in McConnelsville, Ohio on September 13, 1853, and was educated in the United States and in Europe. An explorer of the Amer ...

, ''A Canyon Voyage: A Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition'', *1933 - Oliver P. Medsker, ''Spring'', ''Summer'', ''Fall'', ''Winter'' (set) *1934 - W.W. Christman, ''Wild Pasture Pine'' *1935 - ''no award'' *1936 -

Charles Crawford Gorst Charles Crawford Gorst (1885 - 1956) was an American performer, educator and a noted bird-call imitator. He called himself "The Bird Man" and travelled across the United States, giving talks to bird clubs, church gatherings, the Chautauqua assembli ...

, ''Recordings of Bird Calls'' *1937 - ''no award'' *1938 -

Robert Cushman Murphy The whaling ship, ''Daisy'', which Murphy traveled on to the Antarctic Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887 – March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on numer ...

, ''Oceanic Birds of South America'' *1939 -

T. Gilbert Pearson Thomas Gilbert Pearson (1873–1943), was an American Conservation movement, conservationist and one of the first faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was a founder of the National Association of Audubon Societies, ...

, ''Adventures in Bird Protection'' *1940 -

Arthur Cleveland Bent Arthur Cleveland Bent (November 25, 1866 – December 30, 1954) was an American ornithologist. He is notable for his encyclopedic 21-volume work, ''Life Histories of North American Birds'', published 1919-1968 and completed posthumously. Bent wa ...

, ''Life Histories of North American Birds'' (18 title series, United States Government Printing Office) *1941 -

Louis J. Halle, Jr. Louis Joseph Halle Jr. (17 November 1910, New York City – 13 August 1998, Geneva, Switzerland) was an American naturalist, author, U.S. State Department official, and professor of international studies in Geneva. Halle received his bachelor's d ...

, ''Birds Against Men'' *1942 - Edward A. Armstrong, ''Birds of the Grey Wind'' *1943 -

Edwin Way Teale Edwin Way Teale (June 2, 1899 – October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist, photographer and writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930–1980. He is perhaps be ...

, ''Near Horizons: The Story of an Insect Garden'' *1944 - ''no award'' *1945 -

Rutherford Platt Rutherford Hayes Platt, Jr. (11 August 1894, Columbus, Ohio – 28 May 1975, Boston) was an American nature writer, photographer, and advertising executive. Biography Platt served in WW I as a lieutenant in Battery F, Three Hundred Twenty-Third F ...

, ''This Green World'' *1946 -

Florence Page Jaques Florence Page Jaques (March 7, 1890 – January 1, 1972) was an American author who wrote nature and travel books for adults, and short stories and poetry for children. Born in Decatur, Illinois, she attended Millikin University in Decatur, compl ...

and

Francis Lee Jaques Francis Lee Jaques (September 28, 1887 - July 24, 1969) was an American wildlife painter. Jaques hunted and trapped with his father and connected with editors and writers from major hunting magazines. While still a teenager, Jacques paid ten dolla ...

(illustrator), ''Snowshoe Country'', *1947 - ''no award'' *1948 - Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher, ''Driftwood Valley'', *1949 - Helen G. Cruickshank, ''Flight Into Sunshine: Bird Experiences in Florida'' *1950 -

Roger Tory Peterson Roger Tory Peterson (August 28, 1908 – July 28, 1996) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, illustrator and educator, and one of the founding inspirations for the 20th-century environmental movement. Background Peterson was born in Jam ...

, ''Birds Over America'', *1951 - ''no award'' *1952 -

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental m ...

, ''

The Sea Around Us ''The Sea Around Us'' is a prize-winning and best-selling book by the American marine biologist Rachel Carson, first published as a whole by Oxford University Press in 1951. It reveals the science and poetry of the sea while ranging from its pr ...

'', *1953 -

Gilbert Klingel Gilbert Clarence Klingel (1908–1983) was a naturalist, boatbuilder, adventurer, photographer, author, inventor, contributor to the Baltimore Sun, for a time affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a member of the Ma ...

, ''The Bay'', *1954 -

Joseph Wood Krutch Joseph Wood Krutch (; November 25, 1893 – May 22, 1970) was an American author, critic, and naturalist who wrote nature books on the American Southwest. He is known for developing a pantheistic philosophy. Biography Born in Knoxville, Tenne ...

, ''The Desert Year'', *1955 -

Wallace Byron Grange Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name Wa ...

and Olaus J. Murie (illustrator), ''Those of the Forest'', *1956 -

Guy Murchie Guy Murchie (Jr.) (25 January 1907 – 8 July 1997) was an American writer about science and philosophy: aviation, astronomy, biology, and the meaning of life. He was, successively, a world traveler; a war correspondent; a photographer, staff a ...

, ''Song of the Sky'' *1957 -

Archie Fairly Carr Archie Fairly Carr, Jr. (June 16, 1909 – May 21, 1987) was an American herpetologist, ecologist, and conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida and an acclaimed writer on science and nature. He brought attentio ...

, ''The Windward Road: Adventures of a Naturalist on Remote Caribbean Shores'', *1958 -

Robert Porter Allen Robert Porter Allen (24 April 1905 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania – 28 June 1963) was an American ornithologist and environmentalist. He achieved worldwide attention for his rescue operations of the whooping crane (''Grus Americana'') in th ...

, ''On the Trail of the Vanishing Birds'' *1959 - ''no award'' *1960 -

John Kieran John Francis Kieran (August 2, 1892 – December 10, 1981) was an American author, journalist, amateur naturalist and radio and television personality. Early years A native of The Bronx, Kieran was the son of Dr. James M. Kieran and his wife, K ...

, ''A Natural History of New York City'', *1961 -

Loren Eiseley Loren Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s. He received many honorary degrees and was a fel ...

, ''The Firmament of Time'', *1962 - George Miksch Sutton, ''Iceland Summer: Adventures of a Bird Painter'', *1963 - Adolph Murie, ''A Naturalist in Alaska'', *1964 -

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...

, ''The Great Beach: A Naturalist Explores the Frontier Between Land and Sea on the Outer Reaches of Cape Cod'', *1965 -

Paul Brooks Paul Brooks is a British-born film producer. Brooks has a Humanities degree in English/Philosophy/Psychology and Sociology from the University of London. He then went into real estate development before moving into film. In 1992 he executive ...

, ''Roadless Area'', *1966 -

Louis Darling Louis Darling, Jr. (April 26, 1916 – January 21, 1970) was an American illustrator, writer, and environmentalist, best known for illustrating the Henry Huggins series and other children's books written by Beverly Cleary. He and his wife Lois p ...

, ''The Gull's Way'', *1967 - Charlton Ogburn, Jr., ''The Winter Beach'', *1968 - Hal Borland, ''Hill Country Harvest'' *1969 -

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Louise de Kiriline Lawrence (née Flach; January 30, 1894 – April 27, 1992) was a naturalist, author, and nurse. She was a frequent contributor to the National Audubon Society magazine ''Audubon''. Early life Louise de Kiriline Lawrence was b ...

, ''The Lovely and the Wild'', *1970 - Victor B. Scheffer, ''The Year of the Whale'' *1971 - John K. Terres, ''From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog'', *1972 - Robert S. Arbib, ''The Lord's Woods: The Passing of an American Woodland'', *1973 - Elizabeth Barlow, ''The Forests and Wetlands of New York City'' *1974 - Sigurd F. Olson, ''Wilderness Days'', *1975 - ''no award'' *1976 - Ann Haymond Zwinger, ''Run, River, Run'', *1977 -

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his ...

, ''

A Sand County Almanac ''A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There'' is a 1949 non-fiction book by American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Describing the land around the author's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, the collection of essa ...

'', *1978 -

Ruth Kirk Dame Lucy Ruth Kirk (née Miller, 28 April 1922 – 20 March 2000) was a New Zealand prominent anti-abortion campaigner. Her husband was New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Norman Kirk. Biography Lucy Ruth Miller was born in Taumarunui in 1 ...

, ''The American Southwest Desert'', *1979 - Barry Lopez, ''Of Wolves and Men'', *1980 - ''no award'' *1981 - Mary Durant and Michael Harwood, ''On the Road with John James Audubon'', *1982 - Peter Matthiessen, ''Sand Rivers'', *1983 - Alexander F. Skutch, ''A Naturalist on a Tropical Farm'', *1984 -

David Rains Wallace David Rains Wallace (born 1945) is an American writer who has published more than twenty books on conservation and natural history, including ''The Monkey's Bridge'' (a 1997 ''New York Times'' Notable Book) and '' The Klamath Knot'' (1984 Burroug ...

, ''The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution'', *1985 - Mark Owens and

Delia Owens Delia Owens (born c. 1949) is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel ''Where the Crawdads Sing''. Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true ...

, '' Cry of the Kalahari'', *1986 -

Gary Paul Nabhan Gary Paul Nabhan (born 1952) is an agricultural ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwestern United States, Southwest. He is considered ...

, ''Gathering the Desert'', *1987 -

Robert Michael Pyle Robert Michael Pyle (born 19 July 1947) is an American lepidopterist, writer, teacher, and founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Much of his life story is told in the 2020 feature film ''The Dark Divide'', where Pyle i ...

, ''Wintergreen: Rambles in a Ravaged Land'', *1988 -

Tom Horton Dr. Thomas Horton is a fictional character and patriarch of the Horton family on the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. He was played by Macdonald Carey from 1965 until his death in 1994. Storylines Tom Horton was born in 1910, married his w ...

and Charles R. Hazard (illustrator), ''Bay Country'', *1989 - Lawrence Kilham, ''On Watching Birds'', *1990 -

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth ...

, ''The Control of Nature'', *1991 - Richard Nelson, ''The Island Within'', *1992 -

Kenneth S. Norris Kenneth Stafford Norris or Kenneth S. Norris (August 11, 1924 – August 16, 1998) was an American marine mammal marine biology, biologist, conservationist, and naturalist. Norris did pioneering work on dolphin Animal echolocation, echolocation. ...

, ''Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin'', *1993 -

Vincent Dethier Vincent Gaston Dethier (February 20, 1915 – September 8, 1993) was an American physiologist and entomologist. Considered a leading expert in his field, he was a pioneer in the study of insect-plant interactions and wrote more than 170 academic ...

, ''Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos'', *1994 -

David G. Campbell David Grant Campbell (born December 6, 1952) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Early life and education Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Campbell received a Bachelor of Science ...

, ''The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica'', *1995 -

Craig Packer Craig Packer (born 1950, Fort Worth, Texas) is an American biologist, zoologist, and ecologist chiefly known for his research on lions in Serengeti National Park. He is the founder and director of both the Lion Research Center and Whole Village ...

, ''Into Africa'', *1996 - Bill Green, ''Water, Ice and Stone:Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes'', *1997 -

David Quammen David Quammen (born February 24, 1948) is an American science, nature, and travel writer and the author of fifteen books. His articles have appeared in ''Outside Magazine'', ''National Geographic'', '' Harper's'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The New York ...

, ''The Song Of The Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction'', *1998 - John Alcock, ''In a Desert Garden:Love and Death Among the Insects'', *1999 - Jan DeBlieu, ''Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land'', *2000 - Bernd Heinrich, ''Mind Of the Raven'', *2001 - David M. Carroll, ''Swampwalker's Journal'', *2002 -

Ken Lamberton Kenneth J. Lamberton (born November 8, 1958) is an American writer and former teacher. Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Lamberton attended the University of Arizona, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of Fine Arts in ...

, ''Wilderness and Razor Wire'', *2003 - Carl Safina, ''Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival'', *2004 - Ted Levin, ''Liquid Land: A Journey Through The Florida Everglades'', *2005 -

Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) is an American Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology; and Director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Scien ...

, ''Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses'', *2006 -

Donald Kroodsma Donald Eugene Kroodsma (born 7 July 1946 in Zeeland, Michigan) is an American author and ornithologist, one of the world's leading experts on the science of birdsong. Education and career He received in 1968 his B.A. from Hope College in Holland, ...

, ''The Singing Life of Birds'', *2007 -

Ellen Meloy Ellen Meloy (June 21, 1946, Pasadena, California – November 4, 2004, Bluff, Utah) was an American nature writer. Life She was born Ellen Louise Ditzler in Pasadena, California. She graduated from Goucher College with a degree in art, and ...

, ''Eating Stone: Imagination And The Loss Of The Wild'', *2008 -

Julia Whitty Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

, ''The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific'', *2009 - Franklin Burroughs, ''Confluence: Merrymeeting Bay'', *2010 - Michael Welland, ''Sand: The Never-Ending Story'', *2011 -

Elisabeth Tova Bailey Elisabeth Tova Bailey is the author of ''The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating'' (2010, Algonquin Books, ) which won the 2010 John Burroughs Medal, the Natural History Literature category of the 2010 National Outdoor Book Award The National Outdoor Bo ...

, ''

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a 2010 non-fiction book written by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. Summary The book describes the author's observations of an individual land snail in the species '' Neohelix albolabris'', which lived in a terrarium nex ...

'', *2012 - Edward (Ted) Hoagland, ''Sex and the River Styx'', *2013 - Thor Hanson, '' Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle'', *2014 - Kathleen Jamie, ''Sightlines'', *2015 - Sherry Simpson, ''Dominion of Bears'', *2016
Sharman Apt Russell
''Diary of a Citizen Scientist'', *2017 - Brian Doyle, ''Martin Marten'', *2018 -

David George Haskell David George Haskell is a British and American biologist, writer, and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Sewanee: The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist i ...

, ''The Songs of Trees'', ; a special John Burroughs Medal was given for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry to

Pattiann Rogers Pattiann Rogers (born 1940) is an American poet, and a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. In 2018, she was awarded a special John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry. Life Pattiann Rogers is an American po ...

*2020 - Marilyn Sigman, ''Entangled: People and Ecological Change in Alaska's Kachemak Bay'',

References

External links

* * {{official, http://www.johnburroughsassociation.org/ American literary awards Awards established in 1926 * Science writing awards