This unique natural history exploration of Florida by members and correspondents of America's first research natural history museum, Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, reveals the science of discovery and collection of unknown plants, animals, fossils, and artifacts of ancient peoples.
The work of William Bartram, a colonial explorer of the American Southeast, inspired a group of pioneering naturalists to establish the nation's first research natural history musem in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1812. The discoveries and collections made by Bartram and those who followed him created databases for research and understanding of Florida's natural heritage, current, and future ecosystems.
