Jennifer Bristol – 2024
Portions of the history contained in this article appear in Jennifer Bristol’s up-coming book, Wild Women for Good: Stories of Conservation in the Lone Star State with Texas A&M University Press and Texas Women’s University. No portions of this article can be published or edited without permission from the author. The opinions are expressly that of the author.
There is a movement afoot to change the name of Audubon Societies across the country including the one I’m a member of – Travis Audubon. I wanted to take a moment to share a little bit of the history of the name and express my thoughts on the matter. I would like to start with the fact that the most important person that the Audubon Society was named for was, in fact, Lucy Audubon (1787-1874).
For more than 130 years the assumption has been that the society was names for her husband. While that is partly true, since John James Audubon (1808-1851) had the cache of painting beautiful images of the birds, thus raising the awareness of their existence, so much so, that by the time the society was named, the word Audubon was already associated closely with birds. However, the mixed-race artist died in 1851 before the surge of conservation efforts that took place in the late 1880s into the early 1900s.
Lucy Audubon worked as a teacher to earn money for the family both before and after J. J. Audubon died. She had supported the family for many years as her husband proved to be a gifted artist, but he and his sons lacked business sense. After her husband’s death, she leased, and later sold, a portion of her estate in New York to the Grinnell family.
One of her students was George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938.) Lucy taught Grinnell about the birds that lived on the property at Audubon Park (the name of their estate). She allowed him access to see her husband’s paintings and taxidermy bird and wildlife collection. Grinnell loved the outdoors even as a child and Lucy fanned those flames as best she could. Among her lessons, she taught him about the principles of self-denial and conservation. She taught that same lesson to dozens of other children, including her own grandchildren. Thankfully it took deep root with Grinnell. She loved nature and often taught her students about self-denial, resiliency and conservation by talking about what happens if you kill or harvest the last of something. What is left for future generations?
This seemingly simple lesson by today’s standards, was in direct opposition to the rampant manifest destiny that ruled American Society at the time. An avid hunter and fisherman, Grinnell took that lesson and put it into direct action once he became editor of Field and Stream Magazine and later Audubon Magazine.
By 1886, an ounce of feathers of a Snowy Egret were worth twice the price of an ounce of gold. The hat industry in the Americas and Europe had gone wild for the feathers of wild birds. Grinnell saw the demise of the birds every day as he passed by them on the heads of society women of New York City. He also saw the destruction as he traveled to coastal states, went on hunting trips out west, and on fishing expeditions along the Mississippi River watershed.
He knew he needed a grassroots army to fight the fashion industry. Honoring the teachings of Lucy Audubon and capitalizing on the cache of her husband’s influential paintings, Grinnell created the Audubon Society in 1886. By directly including women in the movement to stop the harvesting of birds for the millinery trade, Grinnell forever changed the conservation movement. Prior to his action, the realm of the outdoors was the sole purview of men. It was directly tied to the code and definition of masculinity.
Grinnell called upon women to save the birds for future generations. It was the perfect entre into the conservation world as it combined salvation of the very thing they wore on their heads. In doing so, Grinnell opened the door for women to be included in the conservation moment and outdoor recreation in general. Since women did not yet have the vote, they could only flex their might on social issues through club work and writing articles for magazines and newspapers.
In the late 1880s, Grinnell put the call out in his magazine, but also by corresponding and enlisting influential male and female citizens. It is not clear how the message arrived in Galveston, Texas (the second largest port in America at the time.) What we do know is that two young women, a 17-year-old and a 23- year- old, answered the call and formed the first Audubon Society in Texas and one of the first in the country. By 1898 they had 75 members and were writing letters and raising awareness to stop the harvesting of birds for their breeding plumage and eggs. Sadly, much of that history was lost in the devastating hurricane of 1900.
With the support of the Audubon Societies including the one in Galveston, Grinnell pressed for national legislation, the Lacy Act, to halt the poaching of birds. That legislation later folded into the Migratory Bird Act of 1918. After the Galveston Audubon disappeared in 1900, two young women in La Port, Texas form an Audubon Society. From that time forward, Audubon Societies, Garden Clubs, Outdoor Clubs and Humane Societies carried the mantle of species and habitat conservation in Texas and across the country.
Grinnell also put the teachings of Lucy Audubon into action in his call to protect Native Americans, American bison, and establish Glacier National Park among other monumental human rights and conservation actions. Grinnell and Lucy remained close friends throughout the rest of her life and she even willed him one of her husband’s paintings upon her death. The painting still hangs in the National Audubon offices.
In 1948, a woman named Magnolia Greene, a leader in the Texas Garden Clubs, organized the first Audubon Camp in Kerrville to train teachers and young people how to be conservation leaders. It became the model for additional camps across the country. In 1952, she organized Travis Audubon, which she served as president of for many years. Attending that first meeting was a who’s-who list of conservationists and civic leaders: Mrs. J. Frank Dobie, Mrs. Roy Bedichek, Mrs. I. W. Popham, Mrs. P.C. Oates, Mrs. J. B. Rutland, Mrs. Vera Digby, Mrs. E. T. Dawson, Mrs. Theresa Carrell, Miss Ruth Allen, Mr. Bradly Davis, and Mr. Everett Dawson.
In 1971, members of Travis Audubon formed a committee and, under the leadership of Al Giles, inventoried Travis County’s biodiversity that would be impacted by development along the four-lane highway known as Loop 360. In 1972, Travis Audubon released its report, emphasizing the importance of preserving lands along the hills and canyons where the Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo nested. The report also identified the creek systems as critical habitat where a matrix of conservation lands should be set aside to mitigate flooding and provide habitat, with additional lands set aside for recreation. Inspired by the report and the encroaching development, seven women championed the idea of establishing a preserve along Bee Creek which flowed through the heart of Golden-cheeked Warbler habitat closest to the city. After decades of raising money and fighting off development, the Wild Basin Preserve was established. It was the first of its kind in the county and inspired additional conservation lands.
Staying true to the mission of “recognizing the vital connection between conserving wildlife habitat and the ecological balance necessary for healthy, sustainable, and habitable communities,” Travis Audubon has built a trusted brand that the public can turn to for advocacy, education and community. The three preserves they manage create spaces where people can observe and understand species. The hundreds of quality education programs and field trips offered throughout the year build community, a sense of place, and an understanding of avian life.
Changing the name- diminishes the almost never talked about legacy of Lucy Audubon. Knowing that Grinnell wanted to honor her, and her teachings of the conservation ethic fills me with a since of devotion to honoring her legacy and helping move her out of the shadows of her controversial husband.
I also feel a sense of obligation to honor the legacy of Magnolia Greene and the first founders of Travis Audubon. That feeling of protection and obligation extends to all the members and volunteers who have worked to protect the birds of Central Texas. Changing the name cancels the women and men in Texas who joined the cause to save the birds and their habitats. Each of them, and their efforts, have saved millions of birds – many from the brink of extinction. And they did so under the banner of Travis Audubon.
I personally share the thoughts of Elizabeth Gray, CEO of Audubon (national). “In a letter, Elizabeth Gray, the organization’s CEO, explained the climate crisis was a more urgent priority than changing its branding, but said the society would set aside $25 million over the next five years towards a diversity initiative within the organization and its conservation efforts.” CNN Oct 25, 2023.
Rebranding is expensive. Like Elizabeth Gray, I would rather see those resources and energy go towards a culture shift and addressing the bigger issues of bird and habitat loss, human disconnection from nature, and pollution driven climate change.
For me- every person who has been part of an Audubon Society and put their mind, time and dime into the movement for avian conservation deserves to be remembered and honored. They are the faces and actions of Audubon. As for the mixed-race John James Audubon, (whose racists views on slavery and Native Americans I disagree with) – if it were not for Lucy Audubon and George Bird Grinnell, he would only be famous for painting and recording the lives of many of the birds that would now be long extinct.
References:
PBS George Bird Grinnell and Early Conservation Efforts
https://www.pbs.org/video/george-bird-grinnell-and-early-conservation-efforts
Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Bison, Knoff Press, 2023, Page 196
Richard E. McCabe, Outdoor Writers Association of America, George Bird Grinnell “The Noblest Roman of Them All” https://owaa.org/owaa-legends/george-bird-grinnell-the-noblest-roman-of-them-all/
Carolyn Merchant, Spare the Birds: George Bird Grinnell and the First Audubon Society, Yale University Press, 2016
CNN October 25, 2023 https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/25/us/midwestern-audubon-societys-change-name-citing-founders-racist-views-reaj
John Taliaferro, Grinnell America’s Environmental Pioneer and his Restless Drive to Save the West, Liverright Publishing, 2019
Of the 400 plus Audubon chapter across the country, only a handful have changed their name or are considering it.
