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The Poweshiek Skipper Project | |
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Lake Hawthorne ©Rayford Ratcliff
Introduction Information about the butterfly
O.
poweshiek, Legacy butterfly Legacy
of Chief Poweshiek
H.W. Parker's writings Von Blixum's Heroic Experiment
Iowa's
biological diversity
The Poweshiek Skipper Project |
The Legacy of H. W. Parker Had you lived in New York in the 1840s and 1850s, you might have purchased or subscribed to a magazine called "American Review: A Whig Journal." This periodical was first published in January, 1845 and ended publication in 1852. During its short lifespan it was also called "The American Review" and "American Whig Review". Had you picked up the February, 1845 issue, you might have read a poem by someone named "Quarles". The poem was about lost love and death. Had you picked up the March, 1846 issue, you might have read a quirky story called "Von Blixum's Heroic Experiment" which resembles what we now call science fiction, about an experiment in teleportation that goes horribly wrong. That story was by one Henry W. Parker. Had you subscribed to the entire run of the magazine, you would have seen the poems "The Loom of Life" and "The Elm-Sylph" by Henry W. Parker as well. The poem by Quarles was entitled "The Raven" and started with the lines:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, . . .
Quarles was a pseudonym for Edgar Allan Poe, and this was the first authorized publication of his poem. Henry W. Parker was the guy who discovered our butterfly. Henry W. Parker was born in Danby, New York in 1822. He was a minister and a published poet. He was a professor at Iowa College (now Grinnell College) from 1865 to 1870, then became the first Chaplain for Amherst College in Massachusetts. He returned to Iowa College from 1879 to 1889. At Iowa College he taught a huge variety of courses, including most of the natural sciences. He started a natural history museum. And of course he discovered a butterfly. Henry W. Parker was a part of Iowa's legacy, also. He contributed to the success of Grinnell College. He was one of the early members of the Iowa Academy of Science. He discovered and described a small butterfly. And he left some interesting examples of his writing. Here are some links to poems and prose-poems that were published in the book Poems by H. W. Parker, published in 1850 by Auburn: James M. Alden, 67 Genesee St. and printed by Knapp & Peck, Auburn, N.Y. "Von Blixum's Heroic Experiment" ended up as "Von Blitzen's Experiment" in the book. The version from The American Whig Review is repeated here. |
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