Elizabeth C. Wright (1826-1882) graduated from Alfred University in 1855. She was an environmental scientist, educator, author, and social reform activist. Emily E. VanDette is Professor of English at the State University of New York at Fredonia and the author of Sibling Romance in American Fiction, 1835-1900. Laurie Lounsberry Meehan is Librarian and University Archivist at Alfred University.

An important and prescient early example of US environmental writing with a profound sense of consciousness and appreciation for the natural world.