Frank Bolles articles and research

Frank Bolles biography, writings, and research

(Updated through 18 Sep 2005.)

1. A comprehensive biography and appreciation of Frank Bolles is web-published here. I had the great pleasure and privilege of preparing a biography and appreciation (18,000 words) of this interesting man, extracts from which have been published in Appalachia. Perhaps the full version will be formally published some day (it is better!). For now, I hope people will enjoy Bolles' writing in this web-publication of the full version (v. 25 Jan 2003). The opening paragraphs of the longer version read as follows:

FRANK BOLLES OF CHOCORUA AND CAMBRIDGE:
Writer, naturalist, and educator (1856-1894)

Frank Bolles was a meteor that flashed across Chocorua's skies. Like some before and many more later, he was a city dweller whose heart and hearth were in the White Mountains, to which he would return to restore his spirit.

His profession was writer. His consuming avocation was to observe and describe birds and nature with great care. His job titles were journalist and Secretary of Harvard University. His charge to himself was to live an eager, purposeful life and benefit humankind. His principal legacies are two books about the countryside and its wildlife near Boston and near Mount Chocorua. These books are honored by their inclusion on the Library of Congress' list of American scenic and wilderness literature. Memories of his life and work have faded. Since, a century apart, the paths of our lives have crossed too many times for it to be coincidence, I heeded a distant call to learn about this man.

The full text, with notes hyperlinked, is available as a web page (176k): click here. The full text is also available for download (right-click PC or control-click-hold MAC and chose the command to save target to disk or similar command) -- as a PDF file (300k; open with Adobe Reader) or in | Microsoft Word format (160k) | or generic word processing RTF format (180k) |. (Comments are more than welcome.)

2. Appalachia article. A shorter (6000 words) version of the above appeared in December 2002 in Appalachia, the conservation and mountaineering journal of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Copies of this interesting and attractive journal ("America's longest-running journal of mountaineering and conservation") are available from Appalachia, AMC, 5 Joy Street; Boston, MA 02108; phone: 617-523-0636. The article's citation is "From Boston's Hills to Chocorua's Heights, Frank Bolles Wrote From the Land," Appalachia, v. LIV (n.s.): 2 (#215, Appalachian Mountain Club, Dec. 15, 2002) pp. 92-112. I eventually will link [here] the text. I'm not as pleased with it as I am the longer biography (above). For those that liked the Appalachia article, they might also enjoy the extra detail and quotations (as I do) of the longer piece.

For those that have read the Appalachia article, I've since discovered a few more interesting things: for example, that Lily Swan vacationed with Bolles, his mother, and sister on their first visit to Chocorua, and climbed the mountain with brother and sister. So the engagement a month later was connected to this landscape. Also, I learned that Bolles in 1893 was working actively (though unsuccessfully) to create a New Hampshire version of the Trustees of Public Reservations. And that additional libraries hold Bolles papers: the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College (Bolles manuscripts and papers); and the American Antiquarian Society (re youthful writing). These items are incorporated in my longer manuscript above.

3. Current availability of Bolles's writings. Though three of Frank Bolles's books are out of print, it is fortunate that two books are available through a print-on-demand house. Also, some of Bolles's best articles are currently available for download on the web. Click here for their URLs and a brief bibliography of his principal writings.

4. A reissue of a Bolles book. I was pleased to see that North of Bearcamp Water came back into print in 2004 through one of these modern reprint houses (see above link). There also should be a modern anthology of Bolles' writings.

5. Biographical sources. Click here.