Tucked into two small, second-floor rooms at the Oysterponds Historical Society in Orient is the story of one extraordinary man, Roy Latham, and his lifelong passion for nature.
The exhibit, titled "Orient's Naturalist," tells the story of Roy Latham and his near-80-year-old dedication to collecting, identifying, and preserving thousands of plants, birds and Indigenous artifacts, amassing a vast account of the East End's natural history in the process. The exhibit runs until Friday, Oct. 31.
Born in 1881 and nurtured by a family of farmers and fishermen, Roy was already curious about the world at the age of 4, going on field trips and picking up insects and plants. By the time he turned 20, that passion became his legacy.
Mr. Latham only achieved the equivalent of a fourth-grade education; school was limited to three months a year in the winter, when farming was finished. Despite his lack of advanced education, his ornithological expertise was valued by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian and other prestigious institutions.
Mr. Latham was a potato farmer and commercial fisherman who spent his free time in the field, exploring the natural world and meticulously keeping a journal. "I heard the first Robin singing this morning," he wrote on March 13, 1909. "There is no song that stirs one to the very soul like this. I stood rooted to the spot, all my heartstrings seemed struggling to snap in the sweet, beautiful song."
The 62 journals, some handwritten, some typed, contain many other poetic descriptions of nature. Another entry, penned in 1911, details the changing of the seasons: "Perhaps man -- man with his greatest intelligence -- is the slowest to feel the life of Spring. Civilization stunts man's instincts and robs him of nature's keenest charms and purest joy. Nature within nature. So Spring touches and coaxes every living thing into greater life. Then caresses them all with her bright smiles of warm sunshine, her love."
Mr. Latham also kept detailed records on birds, local shells and turtles accompanied by his own photographs. He documented the spring and fall migrations -- when the birds arrived, when they rested and when they left.
"Collecting was a way of life for him," said John Holzapfel, an honorary trustee at Oysterponds. "Many people may not know him, but the North Fork was known because of him. His legacy needs to be brought to the forefront."
In 1969, Mr. Latham decided to give away the bulk of his collections to several institutions, including 10,000 birds to the New York State Museum in Albany and 30,000 indigenous artifacts to the Long Island Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association.
The exhibit in Orient houses pictures of one of the organisms he discovered -- a new species of tiny moth he named the Eucosma lathami. He gave his collection of over 100,000 insects to Cornell University, including the Calolydella lathami, a fly twice the size of a housefly, another new species he discovered.
Mr. Latham's daughter, Diana, donated his journals to Oysterponds two years ago. Mr. Holzapfel has transcribed them into a synopsis of over 2,600 pages, searchable on the society's website.
His last journal entry was a year before he died in 1979, when he was 98 years old.