Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924), born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American writer, nature photographer, and naturalist from Wabash County, Indiana.

Geneva's eleven siblings included Catherine, Mary Ann, Anastasia, Florence, Ada, Jerome, Irvin, Leander, and Lemon, in addition to two sisters, Samira and Louisa Jane, who died at a young age.

Because she was failing her classes, she made the decision on her own to quit, later claiming that she had left school to care for Anastasia, who was terminally ill with cancer and receiving treatment in Illinois.

[10] In 1884 thirty-four-year-old Charles Dorwin Porter saw Gene Stratton during her trip to Sylvan Lake, Indiana, where she was attending the Island Park Assembly, a Chautauqua gathering.

Meehan attempted to help the daughter Gene Stratton Monroe find work in talking pictures by encouraging her to act on stage at Harold Lloyd's showcase, Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals, and naming her in his column for the Motion Picture Herald called "From Hollywood," saying she wanted more film work, particularly in new films based on her grandmother's books.

[18] In 1888 Stratton-Porter persuaded her husband, Charles, to move their family from Decatur to Geneva in Adams County, Indiana, where he would be closer to his businesses.

[20][21] In 1912, with the profits she made from her best-selling novels and successful writing career, Stratton-Porter purchased property along Sylvan Lake, near Rome City in Noble County, Indiana, and built the Cabin at Wildflower Woods estate, which eventually encompassed 150 acres (61 hectares).

[24][25] While residing in Geneva, Stratton-Porter spent much time exploring, observing nature, sketching, and making photographs at the Limberlost Swamp.

She moved into the large, two-story, cedar-log cabin in February 1914; her husband, Charles, who remained at their home in Geneva, commuted to the lakeside property on weekends.

Stratton-Porter enjoyed an active social life in the Los Angeles area, made new friends, began to publish her poetry, and continued to write novels and magazine articles.

[40] By March 1924 Stratton-Porter had selected a site for an estate home in southern California in an undeveloped area west of present-day Beverly Hills that became Bel Air.

[41] While her marriage to Charles Porter provided financial security and personal independence, Gene sought additional roles beyond those of wife and mother.

She began her literary career by observing and writing about birdlife of the upper Wabash River valley and the nature she had seen during visits to the Limberlost Swamp, less than a mile from her home in Geneva, Indiana.

Stratton-Porter's writing also included poetry and children's stories, in addition to essays and editorials that were published in magazines with nationwide circulation such as McCall's and Good Housekeeping.

Its central character, Elnora Comstock, a lonely, poverty-stricken girl living on a farm in Adams County, goes to the Limberlost Swamp to escape from her troubles and earns money to pay for her education by collecting and selling moth specimens.

"[59][60] The White Flag (1923), criticized as an old-fashioned melodrama, failed to make the bestseller list; however, the story was serialized in Good Housekeeping magazine beginning in 1923, in advance of the book's release.

[69] While literary critics called her novels overly sentimental, academics dismissed her nature writing because they felt that her research methods were unscientific.

[70] Stratton-Porter regularly contributed articles and photographs to magazines that included Metropolitan, Recreation, Outing, Country Life in America, and Ladies' Home Journal.

She also agreed to write a series of editorials for McCall's magazine in a monthly column called the "Gene Stratton-Porter's Page," beginning in January 1922.

[75] In addition to writing, Stratton-Porter was an accomplished artist and wildlife photographer, specializing in the birds and moths that lived in the Limberlost Swamp, one of the last of the wetlands of the lower Great Lakes Basin.

"[77] Stratton-Porter began photographing birds in the Limberlost Swamp and along the Wabash River near her home in Geneva, Indiana, after her husband, Charles, and daughter, Jeannette, presented her with a camera as a Christmas gift in 1895.

After the turn of the twentieth century, when the Limberlost Swamp's trees were cut for timber and its shrubs and vines were killed, the resulting commercial development, which included oil drilling, destroyed its wildlife.

[82] In 1917 Stratton-Porter became more active in the conservation movement when the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation to allow drainage of state-owned swamps in Noble and LaGrange Counties.

[50][83] In 1922 Stratton-Porter became a founding member of the Izaak Walton League, a national conservation group, and joined its efforts to save the wild elk at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from extinction.

As she wrote in an essay, "All Together, Heave," for Outdoor America in 1922, "If we do not want our land to dry up and blow away, we must replace at least part of our trees" and urged conservation of American waterways.

With increased business dealings and enjoying the company of many writers, artists, sculptors, and musicians, Stratton-Porter decided to establish her permanent residence in southern California.

In addition, four of her books were published posthumously: two novels, The Keeper of the Bees (1925) and The Magic Garden (1927), and two collections of her articles and essays, Tales you Won't Believe (1925) and Let Us Highly Resolve (1927).

Stratton-Porter supported efforts to preserve wetlands, such as the Limberlost Swamp, and saving the wild elk at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from extinction.

[94] A Song in the Wilderness, a one-woman show written by Larry Gard and first performed in 1993, offers a dramatic exploration of Stratton-Porter's life and experiences.

[122] A spring 2017 performance of the play had been scheduled in the Rhoda B. Thalhimer Theater at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, but Quick died December 16, 2016.