Her love of nature led Anna Botsford Comstock (1854-1930) to become a natural science artist and educator. During the 1890s, she was instrumental in bringing nature study to elementary education in the United States.

Anna Botsford Comstock is said to have been a conservationist before people knew what conservation was. Her love of nature began on her parents' farm, where she and her Quaker mother spent many days examining the wildflowers, birds and trees in the countryside. These lessons helped instill in Comstock a love for nature that led her to a career as a natural science artist, writer and educator.

Anna Botsford was born on Sept. 1, 1854, in Otto, New York. Her parents, Marvin and Phebe Irish Botsford, were prosperous farmers. Botsford, an only child, was gracious, happy and loved to learn. After attending the Chamberlain Institute and Female College, a Methodist school in Randolph, New York, she...