Published by Primary Source Microfilm

This collection, based on the Bibliography of American Natural History 1769-1865 (1924-29) by Max Meisel, encompasses the writing from explorers' journals and travelers' accounts during American frontier days. American Natural History, 1769-1865 presents the writings of explorers and settlers who examined, identified and classified specimens of every sort - from animal and plant life to the varied aspects of geology. The records of such notable naturalists as John Charles Fremont, Matthew Calbraith Perry, Meriweather Lewis, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and Zebulon Montgomery Pike, among others, have formed a descriptive literature that is an integral part of the written history of this country.

The material derived from Max Meisel's work - articles on botany, geology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology - has been collected from the numerous scientific journals, federal reports and publications of science organizations and societies that developed since the late eighteenth century in an effort to organize scientific inquiry. Among the institutions and papers included are:

• Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Journal of Agriculture and Science
• American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Transactions
• Annual of Scientific Discovery
• Foster & Whitney's U.S. Survey to the Lake Superior Land District
• Ohio Agricultural Reports
• United States Department of Agriculture
• Wilkes' U.S. Exploring Expedition
• Wislizenus's Tour to Northern Mexico

• Periodicals and Academy Publications
• State Geological and Natural History Surveys
• Reports of Explorations