Charles F Lummis

The Land of Poco Tiempo . by Charles F Lummis

Charles Fletcher Lummis (March 1, 1859, in Lynn, Massachusetts - November 24, 1928, in Los Angeles, California) was a United States journalist and an activist for Indian rights and historic preservation. A traveler in the American Southwest, he settled in Los Angeles, California, where he also became known as a historian, photographer, ethnographer, archaeologist, poet and librarian. Charles Fletcher Lummis was born in 1859 in Lynn, Massachusetts. He lost his mother at age 2 and was homeschooled by his father, who was a schoolmaster. Lummis enrolled in Harvard for college and was a classmate of Theodore Roosevelt, but dropped out during his senior year. While at Harvard he worked during the summer as a printer and published his first work, Birch Bark Poems. This small volume was printed on paper-thin sheets of birch bark; he won acclaim from Life magazine and recognition from some of the day's leading poets. He sold the books by subscription and used the money to pay for college. His best poem from the work, "My Cigarette," highlighted tobacco as one of his life's obsessions.