Anna Botsford Comstock

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Anna Botsford Comstock (1854–1930) was an American author, illustrator, and educator in natural studies. She became the first female professor at Cornell University, and her book The Handbook of Nature Study (1911) is a classic that has been reprinted many times and is still in use today.

Early life
Anna was born on September 1, 1854, in Otto, New York, to Marvin and Phebe Irish Botsford. Her family was self-sufficient and loved nature. Her mother, a Quaker, spent a lot of time with Anna exploring wildflowers, birds, and trees. Anna learned many plant and animal names and even constellations. She attended the Chamberlain Institute and Female College in Randolph, New York, where she developed her love of literature, speech, and language. There she met Martha Van Rensselaer, who would later become an important colleague.

College and marriage
In 1874 Anna entered Cornell University in Ithaca, among the first groups of women to live in the new Sage Hall. While at Cornell, she met John Henry Comstock, a young entomologist. Their friendship grew into marriage on October 7, 1878. Anna began helping with her husband’s work, illustrating his entomological papers and assisting with research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Back to school and art
In 1881 the Comstocks returned to Cornell. Anna was determined to finish her education in science, just as her husband had done. She earned a degree in natural history from Cornell in 1885. She had studied wood engraving in New York City so she could create drawings for her husband’s books. She drew hundreds of insect plates and contributed illustrations to many important works, including The Manual for the Study of Insects (1885) and later volumes. In 1888 she became one of the first four women admitted to the scientific society Sigma Xi.

Books, teaching, and outdoors
Anna wrote and illustrated several books. Her works include Ways of the Six-Footed (1903), How to Keep Bees (1905), The Handbook of Nature Study (1911), The Pet Book (1914), Trees at Leisure (1916), and a novel, Confessions to a Heathen Idol (1906). She was especially known for encouraging teachers and students to study nature outside, rather than only from books. The Handbook of Nature Study became a standard text for teachers and was translated into eight languages with many printings; it remains in print.

Public service and Cornell career
In 1895 Anna was named to the New York State Committee for the Promotion of Agriculture. She helped create a nature-study program for public schools, which Cornell extended to the wider state. Starting in 1897 she taught nature study at Cornell. Although she faced opposition as a woman, she continued her work and was promoted to assistant professor in 1898. She was briefly demoted due to trustee concerns about women in leadership roles, but she returned to higher rank and was finally recognized as a full professor in 1920. Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose became the first women with full professorships at Cornell in 1911.

Later life and legacy
Anna edited Nature-Study Review from 1917 to 1923 and worked with Country Life in America. She retired from Cornell in 1922 as professor emerita but kept teaching in the summer. In 1923 the League of Women Voters named her, along with Martha Van Rensselaer, as one of the twelve greatest living American women for their contributions to the world. She received an honorary doctorate from Hobart College in 1930. Anna Botsford Comstock died in Ithaca on August 24, 1930, at the age of 75.

Honors and remembrance
In 1988 she was inducted into the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Hall of Fame. Comstock Hall at Hobart and William Smith Colleges is named in her honor. A memoir about her and her husband, The Comstocks of Cornell, was first published in 1953 and was revised and expanded in a 2020 edition to better reflect Anna’s own voice and story.

Impact
Anna Botsford Comstock helped change how people learn about nature. By taking students outdoors and creating practical nature-study curricula, she inspired curiosity about the natural world and promoted conservation and science education that influenced teachers for generations.