Andrei, Mary Anne (Author)
In the late nineteenth century, Ward's Natural Science Establishment---the largest museum supplier of its day---became an unofficial training ground for American taxidermists. The establishment's proprietor, Henry A. Ward, hired men with a demonstrated talent in taxidermy and osteology---men like Frederic A. Lucas, William T. Hornaday, Frederic S. Webster, and Carl E. Akeley---to mount specimens that Ward then sold to the nation's leading scientific museums. Yet, these men were more than mere taxidermists; they were also experienced field collectors who studied wildlife in the field, recorded the habitats and behavior of their subjects, took precise measurements of their specimens, and prepared comparative anatomical data. Such care not only led to the so-called "new taxidermy," but also contributed directly to growing public awareness of how careless human interaction with the natural world could have devastating effects on wildlife. As such, this group's work laid the foundation for the early conservation movement in America and around the world. This study traces the growth of American museum taxidermy by following the remarkable careers of this cohort. Men who trained at Ward's in the 1870s and '80s went on to become the first chief taxidermists at nearly all of America's leading metropolitan natural history museums, including: the American Museum, the U.S. National Museum, the Field Museum, the Carnegie Museum, and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Several other Ward's taxidermists also went on to assume directorships at the American Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and to become assistant superintendent of the National Zoo. They founded one of the first wildlife conservation societies, initiated the first captivity breeding program, published bestselling books on the need to protect endangered species, authored some of the first protective legislation for wildlife, and founded the first wildlife refuge outside the United States. By the turn of the twentieth century, through the efforts of this group, taxidermy was the primary educational tool by which museums transmitted new scientific ideas to the public and in turn shaped public perceptions of nature, extinction, and the pressing need for wildlife conservation.
...MoreDescription On the largest museum supplier of the late 19th century. Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 67/06 (2006). UMI pub. no. 3219971.
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