In the late 19th century in western Canada there were two women who had a lot in common. Mary Schäffer Warren (1861-1939) and Mary Vaux Walcott (1860-1940) were both of Quaker families living in Philadelphia, arguably the center for science and culture in America at the time. They both developed strong interests in the natural world, and developed the skills to paint in watercolors the native plants they found.
They joined a trip of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences to the Rockies and Selkirk Mountains of eastern British Columbia and western Alberta in 1889, traveling together part of the way on the top of a box car! They brought this same adventuresome passion to hiking and exploring the peaks, returning every summer for many years. Much of their stories are found in “A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers and Native Plants of the West” by Mary-Beth Laviolette.
The pathways of the two Marys eventually diverged. Warren married her first husband, Charles Schäffer, whom she met in during one of these summer trips. He was an avid amateur botanist and together they continued their study of the local flora with the intent of publishing a field guide, using his text and her illustrations, both color paintings and black-and-white photographs.
Sadly, Charles Schäffer died before the book was completed, but his friend and fellow member of the Academy, botanist Stewardson Brown, completed the text. “Alpine Flora of the Canadian Rocky Mountains” was published in 1907. It profiles 163 plant species including trees, shrubs, and ferns, but the focus is on herbaceous wild flowers. The illustrations are lovely, but the book suffered by comparison to other popular field guides of the time by not quite satisfying either a professional or a general audience. The text is brief in its description of the flowers and foliage, and lacks the lyrical treatment of the guide published one year earlier by Julia Henshaw.
After that accomplishment, Warren became more of an explorer. Quoting author Laviolette, this “meant getting used to riding a horse, camping in all kinds of weather and travelling in the company of men who were neither family nor spouse.” She eventually moved to Banff, Alberta, married her second husband, guide Billy Warren, and is best known today for her mapping and discoveries in what is now Jasper and Banff National Parks.
Excerpted from the Winter 2022 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin