author
Francis Harper
1886–1972
A wide-ranging American naturalist, he spent decades studying mammals, birds, and the landscapes they inhabit, from the Okefenokee Swamp to northern Canada. He also became known for careful scholarship on earlier naturalists, especially John and William Bartram.
1 Audiobook
The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin
by Francis Harper
About the author
Born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, on November 17, 1886, Francis Harper was an American naturalist and vertebrate zoologist whose work combined field observation with historical research. Over the course of his career, he studied wildlife and plant life in many parts of North America, including the northeastern United States, the Southeast, and northern Canada.
Harper is especially remembered for his research on the Okefenokee Swamp and for his interest in the writings and discoveries of the eighteenth-century naturalists John and William Bartram. His books and articles helped preserve older traditions of American natural history while also adding fresh scientific detail from his own travels and fieldwork.
He worked with a variety of museums, government agencies, and research institutions rather than following a single long academic path, which gave his career an unusually independent shape. He died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on November 17, 1972, leaving behind a large body of writing valued by readers interested in zoology, exploration, and the history of science.