In the United States, taxonomic biology, the study of plants and animals, was reformed by resident academic naturalists who had little field experience and little interest in the theoretical contributions of field naturalists.¹ Despite these changes in the profession, the public image of the traveling naturalists did not change, and in the late 1820s, the United States government continued to seek their advice for staffing exploring expeditions.²

Exploring naturalists were criticized by their scientific colleagues for undue commitment to field work at the expense of conventional museum studies.³ Nuttall, Say, and Peale diverted and amused their readers in their travel journals, but even their critics did not question their scientific accuracy.⁴ Indeed, ability to separate science from non-science without disregarding nature’s beauty was one of their lasting contributions to American culture.

Nuttall, Say, Peale, and other exploring naturalists may have lacked Audubon’s genius, but they were men of courage. Their travel observations gave their work an appeal which was absent from the studies of their armchair colleagues. The exact impact of their frontier experiences upon their subsequent relationships with the resident scientific community is difficult to assess.

It is clear that after their return, these explorers were unable to pursue successful scientific careers in this country and to varying degrees became social misfits.⁵ Their descriptions or landscapes, Indian peoples, and the wealth of new species failed to substantiate conventional ideals about nature. Scientific insights they gained on the margin of settlement remained on the margin. The scientific establishment welcomed their collections, but incorporated little of their thought into the mainstream of American natural history.⁶