“…In our modern world nothing may be taken for granted – not even the spring songs that herald the return of the birds.”
- Rachel Carson, Letter to the Editor, Washington Post, April 1959
OUR NAME
Springsong refers to the vital sounds of the spring season, the sonic proof of the annual return of life, which have inspired poetry, music, visual art, scientific inquiry, and much more throughout human history. From childhood onwards, Rachel Carson wrote about birdsong and the chirps of frogs and other species as an accompanying, sustaining, and motivating force. It is signals the opposite of a silent spring, that poisoned reality Carson warns against in her final book. Springsong makes a gentle nod to Silver Spring, the suburb where Carson resided and wrote her most famous books and Springsong Museum will be built.
Finally, springsong refers to a collective voice that remains today, reminding us of nature’s continued presence and resilience — of our own shared, multi-faceted work to care for it.
SPRINGSONG’S LOGO
The Springsong Museum logo design is based on one square inch of endpaper artwork, attributed to Carson colleague Shirley Briggs, which enclosed the Audubon Naturalist Society's** quarterly publications. As an active member and Board member, Carson was a long-time editor of this Atlantic Naturalist and its predecessor The Wood Thrush, where she oversaw articles covering some of the most critical regional ecology and conservation topics of the day.
To us, the image illustrates the physical location of the museum at Burnt Mills, which sits on Nacotchtank land, where moving water and ancient boulders meet at the geologic "fall line." Just as important, the logo represents Rachel Carson's genius as one that combined science and literature into something both wonder-filled and wholly impactful. Some may also see a shape of a bird: a nod to the birds of prey that are once again nearly ubiquitous in our region, thanks to the reduction in use of DDT that followed Carson's heroic exposé.
** ANS is now named Nature Forward.
