Garden and Forest A Forgotten Magazine and the Urban Roots of American Environmentalism

Hou, S.

This article examines an integrative vision of the relationship between nature and the city appearing in a late nineteenth-century American weekly magazine entitled Garden and Forest (1888–97). Edited by Charles S. Sargent-a Harvard botanist-and William A. Stiles-a New York journalist-this magazine served as a collective voice for various environmental concerns and issues during the early period of the conservation movement. It promoted a "city natural" ideal that tried to civilize the nation by creating a more harmonious fit of cities within their natural habitat. While promoting the application of professional knowledge and training to manage nature and conserve natural resources, it felt unashamed to argue for the indispensability of nature's beauty in an urban age. An analysis of this early environmental magazine reveals a more complicated and distinctly urban origin of environmentalism than we have fully realized.