Cultivators: Mary Vaux Walcott

Mary Vaux Walcott (1860-1940) was an American artist, botanist, and naturalist known as the “Audubon of Botany” for her detailed watercolor illustrations of North American wildflowers. She was also a pioneer in photography, glacial studies, and mountaineering.

For Further Reading:

• Mary Vaux Walcott | Banff, AB - Official Website
• Mary Vaux Walcott - Conservation HeritageConservation Heritage
• A Delicate Art: Artists and Nature

This month, we’re talking about cultivators — women who nurtured, cross-pollinated, experimented, or went to great lengths to better understand and protect the natural world.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello, I'm Mattie Foley. I'm a producer here at Wonder
Media Network, and I'm so excited to be guest hosting
this episode of Womenica. This month, we're talking about cultivators,
women who nurtured, cross pollinated, experimented, or went to great
lengths to better understand and protect the natural world. Today,

(00:27):
we're talking about a woman who found the sacred in
the sun drenched mountains. Originally from Philadelphia, she devoted much
of her life to studying the rocky mountains in Canada,
scaling high peaks, photographing glaciers, and painting wildflower blooms. Please

(00:48):
welcome Mary Vox Walcott. Mary Vox was born in eighteen
sixty to a family of prominent Pennsylvania Quakers. Mary's family
valued above all else, modesty, devotion to God, and the
pursuit of knowledge. In this spirit, Mary's parents ensured that

(01:10):
she and her two brothers would receive a good education. However,
Mary never got the chance to go to college. Her
mother died when she was young, leaving Mary with the
responsibility of running family matters and attending to the family farm.
When Mary was twenty seven years old, she took a

(01:31):
cross continent trip with her family. Riding the Canadian Pacific Railway.
They passed through mountain ranges, prairies, rolling hills, scenic lakesides,
and towering forests. In the Rocky Mountains, Mary and her
brothers were captivated by the ill assilhouette glacier. They sketched, measured,

(01:53):
and photographed the glacier, Still captivated by what they saw
in the Rockies. Seven years later, Vox family returned to
the glacier only to find that it had receded significantly.
Mary and her brothers decided to return summer after summer
to measure and document the changes. Mary's primary job was

(02:14):
to stay in the tent and develop the negatives, producing crisp,
black and white images that are still lauded for their
quality today. Between eighteen ninety seven and nineteen twelve, they
took roughly two thousand and five hundred photographs. This was
one of the first thorough records of glacial studies in Canada.

(02:34):
In exchange for free rail passes and guided service, Mary
and her family wrote and illustrated a pamphlet for the
Canadian Pacific Railway, showcasing all they had come to know
and love about the Rockies. The siblings became founding members
of the Alpine Club of Canada and were frequent mountaineers.
After climbing Mount Stephen, Mary was named the first woman

(02:57):
in Canada to ascend a mountain over ten thousand feet.
To commemorate this achievement, a mountain was named after her
in Jasper National Park in Alberta. Around nineteen twelve, Mary
took on the mantle of glacier research alone. Her youngest
brother passed away in nineteen oh eight and her older
brother's life turned hectic, But no matter. Mary was happy

(03:21):
in the clear aired solitude of the Rockies. The wilderness
was a sacred place where she could, in the words
of a contemporary Quaker, take in her creator's handiwork. It
was among the trees that Mary started to paint watercolors. Generally,
the Quaker community considered art to be fagne and unnecessary.

(03:44):
Art as a means of scientific exploration and documentation, however,
was a different story. Mary embraced this mix of her
two loves, art and natural sciences and painted countless alpine wildflowers.
She'd travel around by horseback, painting materials and camera equipments,

(04:05):
strapped carefully to her saddle. Mary didn't need to sketch first.
She'd just look at the flower and get to work,
pressing cool wet brush to paint and men paper. Sometimes
she'd light a fire to keep her fingers warm while
she worked. Other times she'd save a few blooms in

(04:30):
a cup of water to paint them by daylight. Through
frequent travel and careful documentation, she painted flowers with even
the shortest growing seasons all across the United States and Canada.
Mary was single for much of her life as she
was dedicated to caring for her elderly father, but she

(04:51):
did rebel against her beloved father when she married a
non Quaker man later in her life. His name was
doctor Charles Walcott and as a geologist, paleontologist, and administrator
of the Smithsonian Institution. They met during field research when
Charles discovered invertebrate fossils and the Burgess Shale. It's now

(05:12):
part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The couple shared
a fondness for science, art, and the outdoors. They split
their time between Washington, d c. And the mountains in
the West. In nineteen twenty five, Mary's watercolour works were
compiled into a five volume series entitled North American Wildflowers.

(05:32):
The book earned her the reputation as the Audubon of
the floral world. When Mary wasn't communing with nature, she
was giving talks and serving on boards to discuss nature.
In nineteen thirty six, two thousand people gathered in Toronto
to hear her speak about wildflowers. In nineteen forty, Mary

(05:53):
passed away. Upon her death, she bequeathed four hundred thousand
dollars the Smithsonian Institution. All month, we're talking about cultivators.
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Womanica Podcast. Thanks to co creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan
for letting me guest host. As always, we're taking a

(06:15):
break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday.