Frank Bolles

Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, on October 31, 1856, Frank Bolles became known as an American naturalist, essayist, and Harvard administrator. Records from Harvard and related archives show that he served as Secretary to President Charles W. Eliot and later as Secretary of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during the late 1880s and early 1890s.

Bolles is remembered chiefly for his nature writing. Library and bibliographic records connect him with books including The Land of the Lingering Snow, At the North of Bearcamp Water, and From Blomidon to Smoky, and Other Papers, along with shorter pieces on birds and outdoor life. Contemporary notices also describe him as a close observer of the natural world whose writing grew out of walking, watching, and patient field study.

His life was short: Harvard's contemporary obituary reports that he died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 10, 1894. Even so, his work left a lasting impression on readers interested in American landscape writing, especially the woods and mountains of New England.