Pacific Grove: A Late 19th Century Hub of the Nature Study Movement And Marine Research

Gate to the Pacific Grove Methodist Camp Retreat, (ca.1881). Joseph Oscar Johnson, superintendent of the Grove Retreat in foreground. Photograph courtesy of California State Library, Sacramento, California.
Gate to the Pacific Grove Methodist Camp Retreat, (ca.1881). Joseph Oscar Johnson, superintendent of the Grove Retreat in foreground. Photograph courtesy of California State Library, Sacramento, California.

Today the Pacific Grove/Monterey Bay area is a hub for people and organizations who wish to inspire stewardship of the environment in general and the ocean in particular. This focus in Pacific Grove,  on nature and the ocean, has a long history dating back to the late 1800s. The Chautauqua Assemblies held in Pacific Grove, beginning in the 1880s, served to influence the ethos of the appreciation and preservation  of nature, throughout the state of California and the American society at large.

Donald Kohrs is Branch Library Specialist at the Miller Library of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. He has researched three important components of this history and has made his findings and draft book chapters available on three websites.

Chautauqua: The Nature Study Movement in Pacific Grove, California outlines in twelve chapters, the history associated with the summer gatherings of the Chautauqua Assemblies in Pacific Grove. He draws particular attention to the strong emphasis the founders of the assembly placed on the instruction of the natural sciences, romantic literature, and the arts. It was California’s first summer school of science, held at California’s first seaside laboratory, where the goal was not the advancement of scientific research, but the training of schoolteachers in the proper method of nature study.

Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, (ca. 1894) Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California. Photograph Courtesy of Stanford University Archives.
Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, (ca. 1894) Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California. Photograph Courtesy of Stanford University Archives.

The Hopkins Seaside Laboratory (1892-1917) Pacific Grove, California, eight chapters document the early history of Stanford University’s first marine science facility, when it was initially positioned at Lovers Point Park.  This summer education and research facility would relocate to China Point and become, what is  today, the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University.

Bust of Edward F. Ricketts’ at the site of his fatal 1948 car-train collision along Cannery Row in Monterey. People continually place flowers in his hand, which holds a starfish. Photo by Amadscientist courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Bust of Edward F. Ricketts’ at the site of his fatal 1948 car-train collision along Cannery Row in Monterey. People continually place flowers in his hand, which holds a starfish. Photo by Amadscientist courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Science and Philosophy of Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts (1897-1948)

This site is a collection of the meta-data of the books, art, people and more that influenced the thinking of Ed Ricketts.  Ed Ricketts is one of California’s most renowned marine biologists, though he never acquired a college degree. He lwas great friends with John Steinbeck who based the character “Doc” in his novel “Cannery Row” after him. He is best known for the publication Between Pacific Tides (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology.

Useful Resources

Don Kohrs researched these book chapters based on searches of digitized books and newspaper articles made available by the Google Books Project (http://books.google.com/books), Internet Archive  (www.archive.org), the California Digital Newspaper Collection (http://cdnc.ucr.edu/) and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America Historical Newspaper Project (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/).

  1. Sources Used

    • Personal Communication with Donald Kohrs, Branch Library Specialist at the Miller Library of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, CA, 2013.

About The Author

I really enjoy field trips. I love being in a cool place and having someone tell me about it. The problem is, you can’t always find a professor or park ranger-type to tell you all they know about the local rocks, plants, and history. So I decided to combine my love of things natural with mobile technology.

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2 Comments

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