Edwin Way Teale

Edwin Way Teale (June 2, 1899 - October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist, photographer and writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930–1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons.

Early years and education Born Edwin Alfred Teale in Joliet, Illinois, to Oliver Cromwell Teale and Clara Louise (Way) Teale, his interest in the natural world was fostered by childhood summers spent at his grandparents' "Lone Oak" farm in Indiana's dune country—experiences recalled in his book Dune Boy (1943). At the age of nine, Teale declared himself a naturalist and at 12 changed his name to Edwin Way Teale.

He received a B.A. from Earlham College in English literature in 1922, then took a job at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Teale taught at Friends from 1922–1924 and served as men's and women's debate coach, yearbook adviser and chairman of the campus Peace Contest. In 1923 he married Nellie Imogene Donovan, also on the Friends faculty, whom he had met while at Earlham College.

In March 1945 Edwin's son David was killed in action in Germany.

On February 14, 1947, the Teales set off in their black Buick for a roadtrip. They headed first to the Florida Everglades, then zigzagged northward following the advance of spring. Teale wrote about the adventure in North with the Spring. The book was followed by three others on the North American seasons: Journey Into Summer, Autumn Across America, and Wandering Through Winter, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1966.

Teale served as president of the New York Entomological Society from 1944–1949 and the Brooklyn Entomological Society (later incorporated into the New York Entomological Society ) from 1949–1953.

Teale worked as a co-writer for a segment titled "Vernal Equinox" on the March 20, 1955 episode of Omnibus, a TV-Radio Workshop of the Ford Foundation produced by Robert Saudek and hosted by Alistair Cooke on the CBS Television Network.

Teale became president of the Thoreau Society in 1958, the same year that Autumn Across America was presented to the White House Library. He received an Indiana Author's Day award in 1960 and the Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) honorary degree from Indiana University in 1970. Earlham College honored Teale with an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

In 1975, Teale received the Ecology Award from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Conservation Medal from the New England Wildflower Society.

Teale was an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Sciences, and an associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

Death In 1980 while working with author Ann Zwinger on the book A Conscious Stillness: Two Naturalists on Thoreau's Rivers, Teale died. Teale's portion of the book was nearly complete at the time of his death, and he was included as co-author when the book was published in 1982. Nellie Teale died in July, 1993 at the age of 92.

Recognition In 2009, the Indiana Historical Bureau installed a historic marker in Porter County, Indiana, near Teale's grandparents’ farm where he spent summers. Teale wrote that his interest in nature was inspired during his stays at the farm.

Archives University of Connecticut library director John P. McDonald's longstanding friendship with Teale was instrumental in the eventual addition of many of Teale's papers to UConn's special collections.

Teale's papers consume in the University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center in Storrs, Connecticut and include:

... field notes and drafts for each of his books, early childhood writings, professional writings for magazines, newspapers and book reviews, correspondence- both personal and professional, personal and family documents, scrapbooks, and memorabilia, as well as his photographs (prints, negatives, and transparencies) and his personal library. There is also one box of original John Burroughs material Teale collected over the years.

Teale's last will and testament of September, 1980, bequested to The Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Massachusetts, his

... collection of Henry Thoreau books, letters, correspondence, momentos [sic] and any other material dealing with Henry Thoreau, all ... material dealing with Ralph Waldo Emerson and all other material ... dealing with or relating to Concord, Massachusetts. The collection consumes including 12 containers, plus 108 printed books and pamphlets.