XI. “How to Know Butterflies” and the “Confessions to a Heathen Idol”

Abstract

This chapter discusses the teaching experiences of Anna Botsford and John Henry Comstock at Chautauqua. At Chautauqua, they had a very large field class and they were both tired when they returned to Ithaca early in August of 1903. Henry had 33 classes in his summer term that year. He gave a course of lectures on spiders, which was very popular. Meanwhile, Anna's problem in the Chautauqua classes was a difficult one. The teachers had no background of science, and it seemed best to get each one in the class interested in some phase of nature that they could follow by themselves later. Anna found trees, ferns, birds, and butterflies adapted for this work. However, all the butterfly books were too advanced for use in these courses. As such, Anna besought her husband to write one with her. On November 13, 1903, she accepted the trusteeship of William Smith College.