Donald C. Peattie facts for kids

Donald Culross Peattie (born June 21, 1898 – died November 16, 1964) was an American botanist, naturalist, and author. He wrote many popular books about nature. A famous writer, Joseph Wood Krutch, once called him "perhaps the most widely read of all contemporary American nature writers." Donald's brother, Roderick Peattie, was also a well-known writer and geographer.

Donald Peattie's Early Life and Studies

Donald Peattie was born in Chicago. His father, Robert Peattie, was a journalist. His mother, Elia W. Peattie, was a novelist. Donald first studied French poetry at the University of Chicago. After two years, he tried working in journalism and offices in New York.

Around 1919, he traveled along the Appalachian Mountains. He went from Virginia all the way to New Hampshire. During this trip, he collected and drew many different plants. He then went to Harvard University and graduated in 1922. There, he studied with a famous botanist named Merritt Lyndon Fernald.

Working as a Botanist

After college, Donald did field work in the Southern and Mid-Western United States. From 1922 to 1924, he worked as a botanist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He worked under David Fairchild. Later, he wrote a nature column for the Washington Star newspaper. He did this from 1924 to 1935.

His early field work for Harvard was in the Indiana dunes. He wrote about these dunes in books published in 1922 and 1930.

Life in France and Illinois

In 1928, Peattie and his wife, Louise Redfield, moved to Paris, France. They had two young children with them. Sadly, their daughter died shortly after they arrived. To find some sunshine, they moved to Vence, a town in southern France. Donald wrote a book about the history of Vence. Two more sons, Mark and Noel, were born while they lived in France.

After five years, they moved back to the United States. They settled in Kennicott Grove, Illinois. This was his wife's childhood home. Donald wrote about this home in his book A Prairie Grove. While living there, he also wrote An Almanac for Moderns. This book won an award and was expected to become a classic. In 1937, he moved to Montecito, California. He wrote Flowering Earth there. By 1942, he had moved to Santa Barbara, California.

Later Life and Conservation Work

Donald Peattie was a strong supporter of protecting the Indiana Dunes. These are important natural areas. In the late 1950s, he joined the Save the Dunes Council. He helped convince Senator Paul Douglas to join the effort. Their goal was to protect the Indiana Dunes from being used for factories.

Donald Peattie's Books and Writings

Peattie's nature writings are known for being poetic and thoughtful. They are also very accurate scientifically. His most famous books are about North American trees. These include A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950) and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953). These books have beautiful woodcut pictures by Paul Landacre.

Peattie wrote almost forty books in total. These included books for children and travel books. He also published an important book about the plants of the Indiana Dunes in 1930.

His Views on People

Donald Peattie sometimes wrote about his views on different groups of people. Some of his older writings show ideas about race that are not accepted today. For example, in "An Almanac for Moderns," he compared certain ants to people of African descent in a way that is now seen as wrong.

However, Peattie also showed signs of being against unfairness. For example, he wrote about Carl Linnaeus, who created the system for naming plants and animals. Peattie noted that Linnaeus was a genius even though he came from a small town. Peattie used this to criticize groups like the American Eugenics Society. This group promoted ideas about "racial betterment" that were based on false science.

Also, Peattie's grandson, David Peattie, said that Donald spoke out against the unfair treatment of Japanese Americans. This happened after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Donald saw a Japanese gardener he knew being sent to a camp. He wrote letters to newspapers to defend Japanese Americans. This shows that while he held some outdated views, he also stood up against injustice.

List of Books by Donald Culross Peattie

• Vence, the Story of a Provencal Town through Five Thousand Years (1930)
• Happy Kingdom (written with Louise Redfield Peattie)
• Flora of the Indiana Dunes (1930)
• Trees You Want to Know (1934)
• An Almanac for Moderns (1935)
• Singing in the Wilderness: A Salute to John James Audubon (1935)
• Green Laurels: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Naturalists (1936)
• A Book of Hours (1937)
• The Story of the New Lands (1937)
• This is Living, A View of Nature with Photographs (1938)
• A Prairie Grove (1938)
• Flowering Earth (1939)
• Audubon's America (1940)
• The Road of a Naturalist (1941)
• The Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge: The Story of the Southern Appalachians (1943)
• Journey into America (1943)
• Forward the Nation (1944)
• Immortal Village (1945, a new version of Vence)
• American Heartwood (1949)
• A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950)
• A Natural History of Western Trees (1953)
• Best in Children's Books (6) (1958, with other authors)
• The Rainbow Book of Nature (1957)
• A Natural History of North American Trees (2007, a shorter version of his tree books)

Donald Peattie's Legacy

Donald Peattie's writings and letters are kept at the University of California, Santa Barbara library. They are part of the Davidson Library's special collections. His work continues to teach people about nature and its importance.