Since beginning my graduate studies in September, nearly everything has fallen in to place. I have met the most amazing, like-minded group of individuals in my class, we are working alongside organizations I've always wanted to work with, and developing professional skills. I'm also amazed by the synchronisities in the learning we are doing. Many topics, like museums and archives and digital media, overlap and form a cohesive representation of the public history sphere. But one thing is missing. One thing that is near and dear to my heart, yet worlds away from my life as an (almost) historian: NATURE!
I'm having an identity crisis trying to bridge my two loves: history and nature. I know there's an answer to the equation, but I just can't help but wonder why we historians don't turn to the natural world more? Natural resources, like soil and trees and rocks, are historic records. Methods of conservation and preservation are etched into landscapes, not to mention so many of the artifacts we are charged with protecting come directly from the environment. Fossils, clay, minerals, paper, bones, people, and societies are all intrinsically connected to nature - so why aren't more historians also naturalists? I believe that as historians, we hold a unique position within society that could help to mitigate climate change and it's effect on our future when a relationship to nature and stewardship is developed. This could also be extremely beneficial in more contemporary ways like developing greater support, resources, and awareness of Indigenous epistemologies and the project of de-colonizing Turtle Island.
If there is one thing historians and naturalists have in common it's a love for nomenclature and knowledge. Put me on a hiking trail somewhere and I will competitively list off every species I can name, pointing enthusiastically at mushrooms and wading through tall grass looking for snakes to pick up (please don't do that unless you know your reptiles!). Historians are the same, we get a thrill from facts and intellectual clout. There is a comfort in knowing that naturalists and historians share in order to make sense of the world. Or as I know it, the sweet sweet ego boost you get when you beat Grandma to the correct answer while watching Jeopardy.
Historians and naturalists also share a deep love and respect for material culture. These define our professions and research interests, and give our work a sense of place and purpose. Have you ever worked in an archive or handled historic objects before? I'm sure the person with you was standing close by making sure you followed every rule to the T. Naturalists are the same way, everything we handle must be treated with the upmost care and respect. Just try catching, bagging, and releasing a rattlesnake and you'll know what I'm talking about.
However, despite these similarities there are also a lot of differences which put historians and naturalists at odds. The first is likely fear, either world sounds scary and impossible to navigate. There are always going to species you can't identify or animals you can't save from harm, and there are always going to be things lost to the past or dates you'll get mixed up (or even worse - maybe you accidentally break a Victorian oil lamp like I did). The second is the distance between departments or studies in academia. Both biologists and historians are notoriously keen to stay in their ivory towers, but those who work in the public sector know the true value of applied knowledge, sharing experiences with others who may want to learn more.
I would love this same sharing to take place between naturalists and historians, imagine the theories and practices that could be developed if there was an open dialogue in this relationship! Entire philosophies, methods, jobs, and epistemologies could come out of the wood work. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, because I don't want to get carried away imagining a future that may never exist. Instead, I'm here to convince you - my Historian friends - to become a naturalist.
How does one become a naturalist? Great question!
Do you own a Nalgene water bottle yet? Is it covered in stickers? Start there.
Crocs are essential. That's how naturalists are able to identify each other.
Find a nature-niche. Mine is herpetology (reptiles and amphibians) but I'm also on a real mushroom ID kick lately which has been fun!
I'm totally kidding don't do any of these things.
Do this instead:
Get outside. Imagine natural spaces as historic ones. Imagine historic spaces as natural ones. Pay attention to the earth beneath your feet - what critters live there?
One example of this was something that crossed my mind every day while on the morning boat ride to work at Georgian Bay Islands National Park this summer. The constant disruption and displacement of the water in Lake Huron makes for large swells (large for a lake, of course) and at times a bumpy boat ride. Some days, especially after a weekend, the water would be so active. On others, early mornings on a weekday, it would look like glass stretching out towards the horizon. I started to think back to the days before motorized boats and yachts and sea-doos. I started to think about the Wendat and Anishinaabe people who would canoe to the islands for trade or gathering resources. With no motors was the water always calm and still? Or did the wind ever stir up huge swells? Were the fish species and populations different without the pollution from gas engines? Slowly, a picture of the lake without modern technology appeared in my mind, prompting me to look further in to the history of trade routes, settlements, and resource extraction in Georgian Bay before settler contact.
"Champlain in Georgian Bay (Lake Huron, Ontario) circa. 1615" by J. D. Kelly, 1895
Slowly begin to realize that nature and history are nearly the same. The earth has been the same throughout all of time, and time is therefore happening all at once around us. History is our record of the earth, helping us to make sense of the natural world and it's seasons. Start to realize there is nothing you need to know to appreciate nature. Then, apply this to your work as a historian. Be an advocate for all things, even inanimate ones. Be present with the objects or stories you are working with. The best thing you can be in almost any profession is like a kid, always in awe of the things around them even if you don't understand it. Never, ever, become that historian in a stuffy archive with a furrowed brow and a bad attitude - at least I certainly don't plan on it.
On a more practical note, have fun with learning! Download this amazing app Seek, which lets you use your camera to identify any species. Pretty soon you will be amazed with what you've learned!
The more we connect nature and history, the more we protect all of our most valuable resources while also creating harmony and community. Share your love of nature with other historians, or share your love of history with a naturalist. I think you'll realize you're basically the same people with slightly different interests.
If you're looking for a naturalist friend, I'm right here! Come for a walk with me! Just reach out and explore, it's that easy.
Until next week, historians!