Audubon author Danny Heitman to speak at 2023 annual dinner of Natchez Historical Society

#VisitNatchez

Danny Heitman
Author, "A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House" (LSU Press, 2008)

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Danny Heitman, a nationally recognized writer on John James Audubon, will be the featured speaker at the 2023 annual dinner meeting of the Natchez Historical Society. Heitman will speak on the topic, “John James Audubon in Natchez: How a Fabled River Town Shaped His Life and Art.”

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Natchez Grand Hotel, 111 N. Broadway St. Registration and cash bar will begin at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Reservations to attend the meeting must be made by Jan. 10.

The meeting will include a presentation of NHS’s Historic Preservation Award to a local person of outstanding and enduring achievement in preserving the history of the Natchez area.
 

“Audubon's 19th century odyssey in documenting American bird life depended on the Mississippi River, which allowed him to cover vast terrain in a relatively short time,” said Heitman. “Natchez was a memorable stop in that journey, full of adventure -- and at least one misadventure.”

Audubon is well known for his artistic work on the birds of North America, but there is little known about his time in Natchez, according to Alan Wolf, an NHS director. That will change during the dinner when “Audubon will be brought to life in Natchez,” he said.

Among other things, Heitman’s talk will show the vital role that Natchez played in Audubon’s work, Wolf said.

“Mr. Heitman tells us that Natchez was a significant point in Audubon’s depictions of bird life along the frontier of the Mississippi River, full of adventure, and at least one misadventure,” Wolf explained. “Among other insights into Audubon and Natchez, Mr. Heitman will describe how Natchez helped sustain Audubon’s history-making ornithological project - and, at one point, nearly upset it.”

Heitman, who lives in Baton Rouge, La., with his wife, Catherine, said he has made several visits to Natchez. However, his upcoming engagement will be his first visit as a speaker.

“I’m looking forward to visiting because of the great Mississippi writer Eudora Welty’s thoughts on Natchez and the river country, and the way the past informs the present, and how it gave me a way to think about Audubon and the book I wrote,” Heitman said.

Heitman is the author of "A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House" (LSU Press, 2008). A quote by Welty appears at the beginning of the book.

“A place that ever was lived in is like a fire that never goes out,” Welty wrote. “It flares up, it smolders for a time, it is fanned or smothered by circumstance, but its being is intact, forever fluttering within it, the result of some original ignition. Sometimes it gives out glory, sometimes its little light must be sought out to be seen, small and tender as a candle flame, but as certain.”

This quote, which Heitman calls “a preamble to my Audubon book,” was taken from the essay, “Some Notes on River Country,” which discusses the history of the Natchez area and surrounding river country.

Heitman is a veteran journalist whose work spans multiple decades. His writings have appeared in local, regional, and national publications. In addition to being an award-winning columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Louisiana, he is the editor of Phi Kappa Phi's Forum magazine. Heitman’s essays and book reviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Smithsonian, among other publications.

Heitman is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He graduated from California State University-Dominguez Hills with a master’s degree in Humanities. In 2014, he served as adjunct professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.

More information:
 
Reservations to attend the dinner may be made in advance by mailing checks to: Natchez Historical Society, P. O. Box 49, Natchez, MS 39121, or by emailing: bowser2222@aol.com. Dinner is $35 per person. Membership dues for 2023 also may be included: $20 per person or $35 per couple. Please include names and phone numbers with checks.

NOTE: Heitman’s book,  "A Summer of Birds - John James Audubon at Oakley House" (2008, LSU Press), will be available for sale at the event. Price is $23 (cash or checks, only).