Philip Henry Gosse: English Naturalist and Artist in Dallas County, Alabama 1838

Speaker: Dr. Gary Mullen
When: Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. EST
Where: Lanier Room, H. Grady Bradshaw Library, Valley, AL

Program Description
Dr. Gary Mullen holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Auburn University where he specializes in medical veterinary entomology.

For many years he has been interested in the life and work of the English zoologist-naturalist Philip Henry Gosse (1810-1888) and was instrumental in bringing an exhibition of Gosse's watercolors of Alabama insects to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn in 2006-2007.

As a scientist, author and Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Gosse and his bestselling books fed a public fascinated by the natural world. He was a contemporary of Audubon and engaged with Darwin in the debate about the relationship of science and religion. Gosse spent a brief time in the Black Belt region of Dallas County, Alabama in 1838. He studied and beautifully illustrated local insects. His intention was to publish his watercolor paintings when he returned to England, but other projects took precedence. His sketchbook, "Entomologia Alabamensis," remains unpublished to this day. The work is held by The British Library.