Neltje Blanchan

Nellie Blanchan De Graff (October 23, 1865 – February 21, 1918) was a United States scientific historian and nature writer who wrote books on gardening and birds using the penname Neltje Blanchan. Her work is known for its synthesis of scientific interest with poetic phrasing. She was born in Chicago to Liverius De Graff and Alice Fair. She was educated at St. John's in New York City and Misses Masters' School in Dobbs Ferry , New York.

She married Frank Nelson Doubleday on June 9, 1886. They had two sons and one daughter: Felix Doubleday (adopted), Nelson Doubleday (1889–1949) and Dorothy Doubleday. Nellie's grandson Nelson Doubleday Jr. purchased the New York Mets in 1986. Some of her papers (1914–1918) are in the Frank N. Doubleday and Nelson Doubleday Collection at the Princeton University Library. There is a Neltje Blanchan Literary Award given by the Wyoming Arts Council, which is given annually to "a writer whose work, in any genre, is inspired by nature."

Published works

• Bird Neighbors (1897)
• Birds That Hunt and Are Hunted
• Nature's Garden (1900)
• "What the Basket Means to the Indian," a chapter in Mary White's How To Make Baskets (1901)
• Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors (1901)
• Birds Every Child Should Know (1907)
• The American Flower Garden (1909)
• Wild Flowers Worth Knowing (adapted by Asa Don Dickenson, 1917, 1922)
• Birds: Selected from the Writings of Neltje Blanchan (posthumously, 1930)

External links

• Works by Neltje Blanchan at Project Gutenberg
• The American Flower Garden (1909)

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Name	Blanchan, Neltje
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Date of birth	October 23, 1865
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Date of death	February 21, 1918
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