John Bartram (1699-1777) was the self-taught “Father of American Botany.” Bartram’s career as a botanist began with the creation of his garden in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania. While Bartram’s botanical garden was probably not the first in America, it soon became the largest and most impressive. He traveled extensively throughout the eastern United States collecting plant specimens. His first expedition was through Maryland and Virginia, where he traveled up the James River and into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Other trips led Bartram through the Catskill Mountains and Oswego, New York, to Lake Ontario, and later to the Carolinas. Bartram’s final trip, in 1765, took him to Florida, where he served as King George’s royal botanist.
Of John Bartram’s nine children, William (1739-1823) is the best known. He attended the Philadelphia Academy for four years, beginning in 1752. Despite his father’s desire that he learn a trade, William was fascinated by botany and pursued his love of nature throughout his life. He accompanied his father on the 1765 expedition in Florida and, in 1773, returned to further explore the state. William spent nearly four years in the southern United States and later published an account of his travels. Two of John Bartram’s other children, Moses and Isaac Bartram, were Philadelphia merchants.
This is a collection of the papers of the John Bartram and his sons William, Isaac, and Moses.
The majority of materials relate to John and William Bartram. Items of note in the collection
include the incoming correspondence of John, incoming and outgoing correspondence of William
Bartram and fragments of the journals both men kept during various exploratory missions. Among
the correspondents represented are William Byrd, Alexander Calhoun, Mark Catesby, Peter
Collinson, Benjamin Franklin and John Fothergill. Texts written by John Bartram consist of his
"Journal through the Catskill mountains with Billy," 1753; a portion of his observations made on
his journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, 1765; and the full text of the diary,
1765-1766, transcribed by William Darlington, "with illustrative notes from his correspondence."
William Bartram's writings are represented by his "Travels through the Carolinas, Georgia and
East and West Floridas, 1773-1777" and his Engravings of Plants add a visual representation of
his work to the collection. Items such as William Bartram's commonplace book and
Papers of Isaac and Moses Bartram comprise a small section of the collection. The materials representing these two men includes a letter book, 1790-1814, of Isaac Bartram, four of Moses Bartram's diplomas, 1782-1790, and several family letters.
Photostats of items at the British Museum may not be published without written consent of the British Museum. Materials on deposit for the John Bartram High School may not be published without written consent of the High School..
Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Bartram Family Papers (Collection 36), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
This collection was revisited as part of the EAD finding aid project in January 2001. Items improperly housed were put in archival folders and boxes. The incomplete inventory was expanded into a complete inventory and finding aid. The collection, however, is not completely processed and the current arrangement should be revisited.
William Bartram Travels, manuscript draft, part 3 (Volume 4) formerly had the call number Am .0173.
William Bartram
John Bartram diary, 1765-1766 [copy] (Volume 9) formerly had the call number Am .0171.
John Bartram family bible (Volumes 11-12) formerly had the call number Wzz .258.
John Bartram Association and John Bartram Correspondence are located at the American Philosophical Society. Additional materials relating to John and William Bartram can be found at the British Museum in London.