#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.
“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).
