Blog Archives

Celebrating Hoosier Women at Work

4/30/2017

By Nicky Ball

In its second year, the Hoosier Women at Work conference was held at the Indiana State Library on April 1. This event celebrates Indiana women’s history, with this year’s theme being women in science, technology, and medicine.

Upon arrival, attendees gathered to hear from event organizer, Jeannie Regan-Dinius who works for the DNR’s Division of Historic Preservation. Among those in attendance was our own “Songstress of the Limberlost” Adrienne Provenzano. (Adrienne and I were both excited to learn that the theme for next year’s conference would be women in the arts!) After a warm welcome and overview of the day, it was time for the first round of break-out sessions.

My presentation on Gene Stratton-Porter was one of three from which participants could choose for the first session. Speaking to a group of around 25 people, I had the opportunity to share Gene’s story, addressing her work in nature studies, conservation, photography and film-making— aspects of Gene’s career that embraced the science-focused theme of the conference. After my presentation, the audience had time to ask questions—which to led to a great discussion about Gene’s work, the Limberlost Swamp restoration efforts, and both historic sites dedicated to her.

In the second round of break-out sessions, I chose to attend one that featured Kristina Kimmick, program developer at the Culbertson Mansion State Historic Site. Kristina’s presentation brought to light the work of Dr. Emma Culbertson, one of the top surgeons of the Victorian era. Emma’s story was fascinating and—because of Kristina’s curiosity and extensive research—is now a part of the interpretation of the Culbertson Mansion. As I learned about Dr. Culbertson, I couldn’t help but see parallels to Gene Stratton-Porter, as both Hoosier women broke free from gender stereotypes as they fearlessly pursued their passions.

After lunch, we gathered in the auditorium of the Indiana Historical Society to hear the keynote speaker Sharra Vostrel of Purdue University. Professor Vostrel’s presentation on Toxic Shock Syndrome was eye-opening—and she brought humor and a personal side to a very scientific and important topic. (You can listen to the keynote address here.)

It was a beautiful spring day in Indianapolis, and I was proud and honored to bring the story of Gene Stratton-Porter to a new audience. Mrs. Porter certainly embodied a Hoosier working woman and was an advocate for science and the technology of her time. I think she would be pleased to see the number of women working in science, technology, and medicine today and the positive impacts their work has had on our everyday life.

The Golden Easter Egg Hunt

4/23/2017

By Terri Gorney

The Golden Easter Egg Hunt has become a tradition with some families. The Limberlost Cabin yard is beautiful with spring flowers blooming and colorful eggs spread throughout. It is one of Limberlost State Historic Site’s largest events during the year. It is more than an egg hunt. There is a petting zoo, bunny class, and games in the yard. With more than 2000 eggs hidden with small treats inside each, there is plenty for every child.

This year it was a perfect day for hunting eggs in the yard. The yard is divided into three age groups. Why is it called the Golden Easter Egg Hunt? In addition to the 2000 eggs hidden in the yard are two Golden eggs in each age category. Those eggs are turned in for an Easter basket filled with goodies. There were six lucky youngsters who took home the big baskets.

The Roll Family Petting Zoo is set up in the Limberlost Carriage House and is a great addition to this event. Who does not love to pet cute, furry critters. This year there were bunnies, a ferret, and a baby goat named Willow. Thank you to Kimberley Roll and her family and friends who help every year by volunteering their time and animals.

The Limberlost Harebrain class that Naturalist Curt Burnette teaches in the large classroom at the Limberlost Visitor Center is always a big hit. Curt makes learning fun.

This would not be possible without all our sponsors. They are: Berne Ready Mix, Crossroads Pantry, CVS of Berne, Dreams on Wings, M & M Market, Walgreens of Portland and Friends of the Limberlost.

The Limberlost Staff and thirteen volunteers helped with this year’s Golden Easter Egg Hunt.

Thank you to all and we hope to see you at next year’s hunt!

Mrs. Porter and the Purple Martins

4/16/2017

By Terri Gorney

Gene Stratton-Porter wrote that there were three birds that she could depend on every spring to return to the Limberlost cabin and nest in the yard. They were: robins, bluebirds and purple martins.

Gene said that the purple martins liked to perch on the windmill in their backyard. She had placed a martin complex for eight families on the windmill and enjoyed watching the martins all summer long. She had “the most wonderful grouping of martins, circling the mill or perching.” If you are a big fan, as I am, of purple martins, you can imagine the happy chattering sounds of the birds while they were in flight or perched around the Limberlost Cabin. Reading Gene’s comments about this amazing bird, you know without a doubt that she enjoyed her “pets of the windmill.” Gene wrote that she enjoyed illustrating and painting the birds from the back porch of the Limberlost Cabin.

Unfortunately, Gene could not photograph the birds on the windmill due to the harsh lighting. However, while on a 20 foot ladder, she was able to photograph the birds sitting on the telephone wires or perched on top of a dead wild cherry tree near their nesting boxes. She would also get on the ladder and use a wire to clean out the nesting boxes of any materials that house sparrows would put in there until they gave up nest building. House sparrows, a bird for which Gene had very little sympathy, is known to harass native birds, like martins and bluebirds, taking over their nesting sites.

In late February 1905, she wrote it was the earliest that a purple martin “scout” had arrived from its wintering grounds. He looked exhausted after his long journey. When she spoke with a tenant on the farm that the Porters owned a couple miles west of Geneva, he noted that a purple martin arrived on the same day there. Writing that purple martin flocks return between May 1st and 15th every year, this is an indication of just how much Gene liked to study bird life. I certainly share Gene’s excitement with spring migration, and I can relate to her record-keeping. Gene would be pleased to know that purple martins have a robust population around Geneva in the summer.

For the first time this past summer of 2016, I was able to watch and photograph young martins. A local Amish farmer, John Hilty, whose tidy farm is located just east of Geneva, invited Randy Lehman and myself to see his 40 + pairs of nesting martins. Our friend, Sherrida Woodley, was here from Cheney Washington and able to accompany us. There was happy chatter in the air all over his yard and flying in and out of the bird house complex. It is an experience that I will not forget. John is what Gene would have called one of her “faithful.” John said after sharing spring and summer with the martins, their departure in the fall for their wintering grounds, always results in a very quiet September which takes some getting used to---a sentiment I can imagine Gene would feel just as keenly.

If you would like to read more about Gene and her experiences with birds, you could read What I Have Done with Birds and Friends in Feathers. The story of the purple martins was in both. Friends in Feathers is available at the Friends of the Limberlost Gift Shop.

Moths of the Limberlost

4/10/2017

By Gene Stratton-Porter

This is a sample from Chapter One of Gene’s book, “Moths of the Limberlost.” We hope the reader will enjoy and want to read more and visit the Limberlost Cabin in Geneva. This nature study book has stood the test of time.

Primarily, I went to the swamp to study and reproduce the birds. I never thought they could have a rival in my heart. But these fragile night wanderers, these moon-flowers of June’s darkness, literally “Thrust themselves upon me.” When my cameras were placed before the home of a pair of birds, the bushes parted to admit light, and clinging to them I found a creature, often having the bird’s sweep of wing, of color pale green with decorations of lavender and yellow or running the gamut from palest tans to darkest browns, with markings of pink or dozens of other irresistible combinations of color, the feathered folk found a competitor that often outdistanced them in my affections, for I am captivated easily by color and beauty of form.

At first, because these moths made studies of exquisite beauty, I merely stopped a few seconds to reproduce them, before proceeding with my work. Soon I found myself filling the waiting time, when birds were slow in coming before the cameras, when clouds obscured the light too much for fast exposures, or on gray days, by searching moths. Then in collecting abandoned nests, cocoons were found on limbs, inside stumps, among leaves when gathering nuts, or queer shining pupae cases came to light as I lifted wild flowers in the fall. All these were carried to my little conservatory, placed in as natural conditions as possible, and studies were made from the moths that emerged the following spring. I am not sure but that “Moths of the Limberlost Cabin” would be the most appropriate title for this book.

Kindred Spirits: Gene Stratton-Porter and Carrie Jacobs-Bond

4/2/2017

By Adrienne Provenzano and Terri Gorney

“When you come to the end of a perfect day,

And you sit alone with your thought,

While the chimes ring out with a carol gay,

For the joy that the day has brought,

Do you think what the end of a perfect day

Can mean to a tired heart,

When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,

And the dear friends have to part?

The composer and publisher Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862- 1946) penned those words while staying at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California in 1909 after watching a sunset with friends. A few months later, she added a melody. In her autobiography, The Roads of Melody, she notes “ I was crossing the Mohave Desert, in the moonlight, with some more nature-loving friends; and without realizing that I had memorized those words, I began singing them to the original tune.”

The song “A Perfect Day “ was released in 1910 and went on to sell millions of copies and was very popular during World War I. It is one of Jacobs-Bond's most enduring and heartfelt compositions. “I Love You Truly” is another of her 175 songs. Gene Stratton-Porter sent some poems to Carrie Jacobs-Bond to set to music, but no such settings were ever published, if even composed.

Carrie Jacobs-Bond was born in 1862 in Janesville, Wisconsin. She eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois and later to Hollywood, California. A pianist and singer, she composed music as a way to supplement her income when widowed to help support her young son. The difficulty of finding a publisher led her to publish her own music, starting the company in her small apartment, and eventually The Bond Shop was a very successful publishing company. It is easy to imagine that Gene Stratton-Porter may well have owned some of Jacobs-Bond's sheet music and perhaps played and sang it in the music room of Limberlost Cabin. A watercolorist and china painter, Carrie Jacobs-Bond often decorated the covers of her music with her own paintings of roses and other flowers.

Detective work by Terri Gorney in various historical archives reveals that both Gene Stratton-Porter and Carrie Jacobs-Bond were guests of honor at several events in California in 1922 and 1923. On Sunday, December 10, 1922, a dinner party was given in honor of both women at a home on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles at home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Eugene Verbeck, he was an art photographer and she was a vocalist. Mentioned in the “society” pages of the Covina California “Argus” there was an interesting group in attendance, including musicians and actors. One can imagine lively and fascinating dinner conversations between this gathering of creative people.

In a letter now in the Indiana Historical Society's collection, from Gene Stratton-Porter to one of her sisters, she describes in detail the “wonderful bouquet of old fashioned things” given to her at a Press Club of Los Angeles reception at which there were 500 people in attendance and she and Carrie Jacobs-Bond were guests of honor. “Mine began with a center of rosebuds, then a round of white sweet peas.” As Stratton-Porter notes, Mrs. Bond also received a bouquet - “all lavender and purple.”

Both women enjoyed music, were poets and painters, liked nature, were successful business women, were wives and mothers, and moved from the midwest to California to pursue their careers. Jacobs-Bond struggled with ill health at various times of her life, and didn't have the financial stability that Stratton-Porter had, but both were able to succeed financially and artistically. Jacobs-Bond was invited to perform for both President Theodore Roosevelt and President Warren G. Harding. She enjoyed the works of Hoosier author James Whitcomb Riley and was certainly familiar with Gene Stratton-Porter. In many ways, Jacobs-Bond embodied the grit, perseverance, and resilience of many of Stratton-Porter's characters.

To celebrate Women's History Month, Adrienne Provenzano, otherwise known as the Songstress of the Limberlost, recorded a performance of “A Perfect Day” and Bill Hubbard, part-time naturalist at the Limberlost State Historic Site, put together a slideshow to accompany the music. You can see and hear it at limberlost.weebly.com and on the Friends of the Limberlost Facebook Page. We like to think there are many such “perfect days” at the Limberlost! Now that Spring is here, we invite you to come and experience some!

Well, this is the end of a perfect day,

Near the end of a journey, too;

But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,

With a wish that is kind and true.

For mem'ry has painted this perfect day

With colors that never face,

And we find, at the end of a perfect day,

The soul of a friend we've made.

Celebrating Hoosier Women at Work

The Golden Easter Egg Hunt

Mrs. Porter and the Purple Martins

Moths of the Limberlost

Kindred Spirits: Gene Stratton-Porter and Carrie Jacobs-Bond

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