According to the
Roger Tory Peterson Institute's mission statement:
The mission of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History is to continue the legacy of Roger Tory Peterson by promoting the teaching and study of nature, and to thereby create knowledge of and appreciation and responsibility for the natural world.
Named in honor of America’s preeminent naturalist of the twentieth century, the Institute is based in Jamestown, NY, the birthplace of Dr. Peterson. The facility was built, in part, to house the lifetime body of work of this great naturalist. The primary objective of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is to promote nature study in the classroom. Teaming with Nature, Nature Journals Workshop and NaturKind are just a few of the programs currently being offered by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.
In addition to Dr. Peterson’s collection, the Institute offers a variety of exhibitions, programs and special events all designed to encourage an increased awareness and appreciation of the natural world.
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The education library provides materials with a focus on the natural world. Included are teaching aids for use in a traditional school setting as well as materials designed to encourage the use of nature as the classroom. Books, videocassettes and sound recordings are available. These materials can be used to spur creativity as it relates to the natural world as well as to encourage scientific inquiry and environmental awareness. These items include classroom activities, science experiments, outdoor projects, nature journaling, photography and art projects. A collection of junior books also has a nature focus with such authors as Jane Yolen, Lynne Cherry, Virginia Kroll, Jim Arnosky, Laurence Pringle and Jennifer Dewey.
The reference library offers a varied selection of materials devoted to the study and understanding of the natural world. Included in the collection are titles on ornithology and birding, environmental science and conservation, ecology, wildlife, endangered and extinct species, natural history, the sciences, including life sciences, botany, entomology, and zoology, and activities allowing for interaction with the natural world such as nature art, photography, and gardening.
The Institute houses a portion of the personal library of Roger Tory Peterson. In the collection are books and monographs both written and illustrated by Dr. Peterson or to which he contributed. The library also includes a representative collection of titles by other renowned naturalists and notables in the world of ornithology, including Olin Sewall Pettingill, Arthur Cleveland Bent, Guy Mountfort, Frank M. Chapman, Ludlow Griscom, Allan Cruickshank, George M. Sutton, Sir Peter Scott, James Fisher, and John James Audubon. Numerous periodicals and journals focusing on birding and the natural world subscribed to by Dr. Peterson round out a retrospective panorama of the world of nature study and ornithology. A clipping file of writings by Dr. Peterson extracted from numerous journals and periodicals is also available.
The Institute’s Special Collections include manuscript, iconographic, film, audio and artificatual collections of Roger Tory Peterson, Olin Sewall Pettingill, and Fran Hall, among others. Also in the collection are a number of Dr. Peterson’s prints. These items can be accessed at RTPI headquarters.
The institutes address and contact information is:
Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History
311 Curtis St.
Jamestown, NY 14701-9620
(800)758.6841
(716)665.2473
(716)665.3794 Fax
information@rtpi.org
www.rtpi.org