Ernest Thompson Seton

Who Was Ernest Thompson Seton?

Artist, author, scientist and conservationist, Ernest Thompson Seton is acknowledged, along with Bartram, Audubon, Burroughs and Muir, as one of America’s most influential naturalists. A prolific writer, Seton authored some 60 books and probably more than 1,000 magazine articles and short stories, and drew or painted some 6,000 works of art. His book Wild Animals I Have Known has been continuously in print since it was first published in 1898. His teachings, writings and illustrations have informed numerous generations about natural history and he is credited with being the seminal figure in the emergence of the American conservation philosophy in the early 20th century.

Seton was born in England in 1860, moved to Canada with his family when he was six, and eventually settled in the United States as an adult. As a young man he immersed himself in the study of the natural world and first peoples, eventually training himself as a naturalist, skilled in wilderness lore and survival. Schooled in fine art, Seton became a prolific writer and illustrator, documenting his observations and his adventures.

Throughout his life Seton was committed to educating people about nature and the environmental consciousness and skills of Native Americans. He worked to instill an appreciation of nature and a deeper understanding of the natural world in America’s youth at a time when the frontiers of the nation had been closed, the nation was rapidly industrializing, and the contents of its vast wilderness regions were finally recognized as finite rather than inexhaustible resources. Seton was co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America and author of the first Boy Scout Handbook. In addition, he founded the Woodcraft League, which has had an influence on the lives of young people worldwide. The code of ethics he formulated for that organization has informed generations of individuals as they trained to the highest standards of woodcraft, human development and service.

Seton conceived the idea for ‘an academy of outdoor-life’ in 1930, shortly after he moved to Santa Fe, NM. He designed the Castle at the heart of his 2,500-acre ranch in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and it served as his residence until his death in 1946. At that time the property included a museum, library, art gallery and lecture hall for the small community of Seton Village that developed as friends and colleagues settled on the original property.