Field clubs

 Nan Shepherd, the star of yesterday’s note, was a member of the Deeside Field Club.

Field clubs, alas, were a creation of an earlier day. The one in northeast Scotland was founded in Aberdeen in 1920. It was a group of people interested in the place: its topography, natural history, folklore, literature, archeology.

The summer programs of the club involved field trips. The winter programs were for articles, papers and notes. (Collectors of notes, such as the proprietor of this site, will take heart at the acknowledgement of intellectual life below the levels of articles and papers.)

The club’s magazine came out every three years.

The club made it to the 21^st century but was dissolved in 2005.

I like the idea of a group focused on place. A field club in Stone Mountain, Ga. would have been a gift from heaven to a transplanted Texan.