Science journalist Melissa Sevigny will discuss her new book, Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, at a July 13 program hosted by Cline Library Special Collections and Archives – home of the archival materials that inspired it.
Booklist described Brave the Wild River as a “breath-catching, enlightening, and significant work of scientific, environmental, and women’s history.” A chance encounter with a pith helmet in the archives led Sevigny to write the book, which chronicles the 1938 journey down the Colorado River of pioneering botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter. The women conducted the first formal survey of the plant life of the Grand Canyon on their 43-day trip.
Special Collections and Archives holds diaries, papers, films and more documenting Clover and Jotter’s pioneering expedition, including a pith helmet that Jotter wore on the river. The program will include a screening of Clover’s 1938 river running films and comments from Special Collections and Archives staff and other guest speakers.
Join us to learn more about the book and the author, and NAU’s archives and archivists behind the story. The program will be held Thursday, July 13, from 4 – 5:30 p.m., in Special Collections and Archives on the second floor of Cline Library. A reception with light refreshments will follow.