Article ID: CBB576491408

William Smyth (1838–1913), A Commercial Taxidermist of Dunedin, New Zealand (2018)

unapi

William Smyth, unable to get work in a New Zealand museum, ran a commercial taxidermy business at Caversham, Dunedin, from about 1873 to 1911 or 1912. His two decades of correspondence with Thomas Frederic Cheeseman at the Auckland Museum provide a case study of Smyth's professional interaction with one of New Zealand's main museums. We have used this and other sources to paint a picture of Smyth's activities and achievements during a time when there was great interest in New Zealand birds but few local taxidermists to preserve their bodies. Besides the Auckland Museum, Smyth supplied specimens to various people with museum connections, including Georg Thilenius (Germany) and Walter Lawry Buller (New Zealand). Smyth was probably self-taught, and his standards of preparation and labelling were variable, but he left a legacy for the historical documentation of New Zealand ornithology by the large number of his bird specimens that now reside in public museum collections in New Zealand and elsewhere.

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Authors & Contributors
Gill, B. J.
Morris, Pat A.
Kate Hunter
Larsson, Eleanor
Li-chuan Tai
Thompson, J. E.
Concepts
Birds
Taxidermy
Ornithology
Natural history
Hunting; trapping
Collectors and collecting
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Places
New Zealand
Africa
Lisbon (Portugal)
Belfast, Ireland
Queensland (Australia)
England
Institutions
Auckland Institute and Musem
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
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