Nature’s Mirror: How Taxidermists Shaped America’s Natural History Museums and Saved Endangered Species by Mary Anne Andrei

Reviewed by: Nature’s Mirror: How Taxidermists Shaped America’s Natural History Museums and Saved Endangered Species by Mary Anne Andrei Joel W. Helmer Nature’s Mirror: How Taxidermists Shaped America’s Natural History Museums and Saved Endangered Species. By Mary Anne Andrei. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020. 245 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $35.00 cloth. A ubiquitous element of Americana, taxidermy hangs above our bars, fills our home trophy rooms, attracts visitors to our sporting goods stores, and educates us in our natural history museums. In Nature’s Mirror Mary Andrei not only describes in detail the development and evolution of scientific taxidermy but also tells a thorough and compelling story of how the work of early taxidermists shaped America’s perceptions and understanding of nature, ultimately leading to the protection of numerous endangered species. The book begins by laying the historical foundation of scientific taxidermy, driven especially by the [End Page 180] establishment in Rochester, New York, of Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in 1862 by Henry A. Ward. Although founded to supply natural resource materials, which it still does today, its “greatest legacy” is the role it played in training the “most influential taxidermists, museum builders, and early conservationists in American history (11).” Foremost among these was William T. Hornaday, Carl E. Akeley, Frederic A. Lucas, Charles H. Townsend, and Frederic S. Webster. The author focuses mainly on these “men of Ward’s,” naturalist-taxidermists who from the late 19th century and into the first decades of the 20th century led research expeditions, created increasingly lifelike museum displays, undertook wildlife protection lobbying campaigns, and wrote extensively about the need to save threatened species. Of course, to create their displays, they needed specimens. And this is where this book really shines, describing these sensational and lengthy collecting expeditions in vivid detail. Whether describing Akeley’s bringing “Africa to America,” Townsend’s voyages to determine if elephant seals were indeed extinct, or Lucas’s incredible trip to Newfoundland to find and preserve a blue whale, the author does a commendable job linking these events to improvements in scientific taxidermy and to broader global conservation efforts. For those interested in the Great Plains, the author provides an intriguing account of William Hornaday’s “race against the hide hunters,” where he leads expeditions for the National Museum to collect American bison hides and skulls. In hindsight these events are quite startling, as they kill and skin some of the few remaining bison. Nevertheless, it was the capture of a bison calf during Hornaday’s 1886 expedition that assisted in saving the species. The large crowds that later gathered on the lawn of the National Museum in Washington, DC, to see Sandy the copper-hued calf, led to the creation of the Department of Living Animals, later the National Zoo. In 1888 a Nebraska Sandhills rancher donated six bison, which became so popular with the public that it inspired Hornaday to successfully lobby for a Smithsonian-funded captive breeding program. Extensively researched and well written, Nature’s Mirror is a distinctive and much-needed addition to the story of early American conservation. Although narrowly focused on the work of a handful of prominent taxidermists, the author makes a strong case for the importance of their work. As she notes, it is “impossible to visit America’s major metropolitan natural history museums without seeing their work—and the work of those they trained—on prominent display” (199). Joel W. Helmer Department of History, Geography, Intercultural Studies and Modern Languages Concordia University, Nebraska Copyright © 2023 Center for Great Plains Studies

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