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Mary Vaux Walcott
Mary Vaux Walcott

Mary Vaux Walcott

American, 1860-1940
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Mary Morris Vaux Walcott was an American artist and naturalist known for her watercolor paintings of wildflowers. She has been called the "Audubon of Botany."

Mary Morris Vaux was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a wealthy Quaker family. After graduating from the Friends Select School in Philadelphia in 1879, she took an interest in watercolor painting. When she was not working on the family farm, she began painting illustrations of wildflowers that she saw on family trips to the Rocky Mountains of Canada. During the family summer trips, she and her brothers studied mineralogy and recorded the flow of glaciers in drawings and photographs. The trips to the Canadian Rockies sparked her interest in geology.

In 1880, at the age of nineteen, Vaux took on the responsibility of caring for her father and two younger brothers when her mother died. After 1887, she and her brothers went back to western Canada almost every summer. During this time she became an active mountain climber, outdoors woman, and photographer. Asked one summer to paint a rare blooming arnica by a botanist, she was encouraged to concentrate on botanical illustration. She spent many years exploring the rugged terrain of the Canadian Rockies to find important flowering species to paint. On these trips, Vaux became the first women to accomplish the over 10,000 feet ascent of Mount Stephen. In 1887, on her first transcontinental trip via rail, she wrote an engaging travel journal of the family's four-month trek through the American West and the Canadian Rockies.

Over her father's fierce objections, Mary Vaux married the paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott, who was the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in 1914, when she was 54. She played an active part in her husband's projects, returning to the Rockies with him several times and continuing to paint wildflowers. In 1925, the Smithsonian published some 400 of her illustrations, accompanied by brief descriptions, in a five-volume work entitled North American Wild Flowers. In Washington, Mary became a close friend of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover and raised money to erect the Florida Avenue Meeting House, so that the first Quaker President and his wife would have a proper place to worship. From 1927 to 1932, Mary Vaux Walcott served on the federal Board of Indian Commissioners and, driven by her chauffeur, traveled extensively throughout the American West, diligently visiting reservations.

When she was 75, she made her first trip abroad to Japan to visit lifelong friend and fellow Philadelphia Quaker, Mary Elkington Nitobe, who had married Japanese diplomat Inazo Nitobe.

She was elected president of the Society of Woman Geographers in 1933. In 1935, the Smithsonian published Illustrations of North American Pitcher-Plants, which included 15 paintings by Walcott. Following the death of her husband in 1927, Walcott established the Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal in his honor. It is awarded for scientific work on pre-Cambrian and Cambrian life and history. Walcott died in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.

1168 items

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Prickly Currant (fruit) (Ribes lacustre)

Prickly Currant (fruit) (Ribes lacustre) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Prickly Currant (flower) (Ribes lacustre)

Prickly Currant (flower) (Ribes lacustre) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Roundleaf Orchis (Orchis rotundifolia)

Roundleaf Orchis (Orchis rotundifolia) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Bronzebells (Stenanthium occidentale)

Bronzebells (Stenanthium occidentale) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale)

Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Labrador-tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

Labrador-tea (Ledum groenlandicum) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Pink Fleabane (Erigeron caespitosus)

Pink Fleabane (Erigeron caespitosus) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Bearberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata)

Bearberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Quakerladies (Houstonia caerulea)

Quakerladies (Houstonia caerulea) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Pale Ladyslipper (Cypripedium acaule)

Pale Ladyslipper (Cypripedium acaule) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Arethusa (Arethusa bulbosa)

Arethusa (Arethusa bulbosa) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
a Kruhsea (fruit) (Kruhsea streptopoides)

a Kruhsea (fruit) (Kruhsea streptopoides) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Kruhsea (flower) (Kruhsea streptopoides)

Kruhsea (flower) (Kruhsea streptopoides) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Sweet Azalea (Azalea arborescens)

Sweet Azalea (Azalea arborescens) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Prairie-smoke (Sieversia ciliata)

Prairie-smoke (Sieversia ciliata) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Pitcherplant (Sarracenia purpurea)

Pitcherplant (Sarracenia purpurea) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Wild Sweet Crab (Malus coronaria)

Wild Sweet Crab (Malus coronaria) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Prairie Pentstemon (Pentstemon erianthera)

Prairie Pentstemon (Pentstemon erianthera) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Shootingstar (Dodecatheon meadia)

Shootingstar (Dodecatheon meadia) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Rose Paintbrush (Castilleja pallida)

Rose Paintbrush (Castilleja pallida) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Rabbitbean (Cracca virginiana)

Rabbitbean (Cracca virginiana) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Flame Azalea (Azalea lutea)

Flame Azalea (Azalea lutea) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia)

Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Leatherflower (Clematis viorna)

Leatherflower (Clematis viorna) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana)

Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
Birdsfoot Violet (Viola pedata)

Birdsfoot Violet (Viola pedata) (1925)

Mary Vaux Walcott (American, 1860-1940)
Nature
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