The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Beard, Daniel Carter
1850–1941, American illustrator and naturalist, b. Cincinnati, Ohio, studied at the Art Students League, New York City. He illustrated many books (among them the first edition of Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court) and taught animal drawing. He became interested in work for boys, and his best-known book, The American Boys’ Handy Book, was published in 1882. One of the founders (1910) of the Boy Scouts of America, he served for the remainder of his life as national scout commissioner. To boys all over the country he was known as Uncle Dan. Mt. Beard, adjoining Mt. McKinley, is named for him. In addition to many articles on woodcraft and nature study, Beard wrote Boy Pioneers and Sons of Daniel Boone (1909), American Boys’ Book of Wild Animals (1921), and Wisdom of the Woods (1927).
