In June and July, 1914, Dr. Laubscher had repeatedly applied to the French Foreign Office, through the American Embassy at Paris, for permission to examine the dossier of Jean Audubon in the archives of the Department of the Marine, in order to verify certain dates in his naval career and to obtain the personal reports which he submitted upon his numerous battles at sea, but at that period of strain it was impossible to gain further access to the papers sought.
Having told the story of the way in which these unique and important records came into my possession, I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Laubscher for his able cooperation in securing transcriptions and photographs, and to Monsieur Lavigne for his kind permission to use them, as well as for his careful response to numerous questions which arose in the course of the investigation.
In dealing with letters and documents, of whatever kind, in manuscript, I have made it my invariable rule to reproduce the form and substance of the record as it exists as exactly as possible; in translations, however, no attempt has been made to preserve any minor idiosyncrasies of the writer. The source of all scientific, literary or historical material previously published is indicated in footnotes, and the reader will find copious references to hitherto unpublished documents, which in their complete and original form, with or without translations, together with an annotated Bibliography, have been gathered in Appendices at the end of [Volume II]. For convenience of reference each chapter has been treated as a unit so far as the footnotes are concerned, and the quoted author's name, with the title of his work in addition to the bibliographic number, has been given in nearly every instance.
Besides the many coadjutors whose friendly aid has been gladly acknowledged in the body of this work, I now wish to offer my sincere thanks, in particular, to the Misses Maria R. and Florence Audubon, granddaughters of the naturalist, who have shown me many courtesies, and to the Hon. Myron T. Herrick, late American Ambassador to France, for his kindly assistance in obtaining documentary transcripts from the Department of the Marine at Paris. I am under special obligations also to the librarians of the British Museum and Oxford University, the Linnæan and Zoölogical Societies of London, the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the Public Libraries of Boston and New York, and the libraries of the Historical Societies of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Louisiana, as well as to the Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy of Harvard University, and to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, for photographs of paintings and other objects, for permission to read or copy manuscripts, and for favors of various sorts. Furthermore, I am indebted to the good offices of Mr. Ferdinand Lathrop Mayer, Secretary of Legation, Port-au-Prince, and of M. Fontaine, American Consular Agent at Les Cayes, Haiti, for a series of photographs made expressly to represent Les Cayes as it appears today. I would also acknowledge the courtesy of the Corporation of Trinity Parish, New York, through Mr. Pendleton Dudley, for an excellent photograph of the Audubon Monument.
I cannot express too fully my appreciation of the hearty response which the publishers of these volumes have given to every question concerned with their presentation in an adequate and attractive form, and particularly to Mr. Francis G. Wickware, of D. Appleton and Company, to whose knowledge, skill, and unabated interest the reader, like myself, is indebted in manifold ways.
My friend, Mr. Ruthven Deane, well known for his investigations in Auduboniana and American ornithological literature, has not only read the proofs of the text, but has generously placed at my disposal many valuable notes, references, pictures, letters and other documents, drawn from his own researches and valuable personal collections. I wish to express in the most particular manner also my appreciation of the generous spirit in which Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes has opened the treasures in his possession, embracing not only large numbers of hitherto unpublished letters, but an unrivaled collection of early unpublished Audubonian drawings, for the enrichment and embellishment of these pages. For the loan or transcription of other original manuscript material, or for supplying much needed data of every description, I am further most indebted to Mr. Welton H. Rozier, of St. Louis; Mr. Tom J. Rozier, of Ste. Geneviève; Mr. C. A. Rozier, of St. Louis; the Secretary of the Linnæan Society of London, through my friend, Mr. George E. Bullen, of St. Albans; Mr. Henry R. Rowland of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, of Buffalo; Mr. William Beer, of the Howard Memorial Library, of New Orleans; and Mr. W. H. Wetherill, of Philadelphia. For the use of new photographic and other illustrative material, I am further indebted to Mr. Stanley Clisby Arthur, of the Conservation Commission of Louisiana, and to Cassinia, the medium of publication of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.
Through the kindness of Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons I have been permitted to draw rather freely from Audubon and His Journals, by Miss Maria R. Audubon and Elliott Coues, and to reproduce three portraits therefrom; original photographs of two of these have been kindly supplied by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. I also owe to the courtesy of the Girard Trust Company, of Philadelphia, the privilege of quoting certain letters contained in William Healey Dall's Spencer Fullerton Baird.
To my esteemed colleague, Professor Benjamin P. Bourland, I am under particular obligations for his invaluable aid in revising translations from the French and in the transliteration of manuscripts, as well as for his kindly assistance in correspondence on related subjects. I have derived much benefit also from my sister, Miss Elizabeth A. Herrick, who has made many valuable suggestions. To all others who have aided me by will or deed in the course of this work I wish to express my cordial thanks.
Francis H. Herrick.
Western Reserve University,
Cleveland.