Whenever people think of taxidermy, the art of preserving
and displaying the skins of dead animals, there are likely a few consistent thoughts
that come to mind. People may think of an old hunting lodge in the forest, or a
scary mansion in a horror movie, filled with stuffed animals. Often times
people think it’s pretty gross, so they assume that it isn’t done as much any
more. The truth is that taxidermy is actually still done by many different
people, even by animal lovers who see it as a way of properly remembering them.
Today taxidermists rake in $600 million a year in the United States from a
number of different clients such as hunters and museums.
In the Farm House Museum we have two taxidermy display cases.
Both were created and sold by Lucy B. Kimball in the 1870’s. The first one is
in the library on the first floor and is filled with various Iowa animals such
as birds, squirrels, turtles, and a small fish. This case is bigger than the
other one, which is on the second floor in the north bedroom. This second floor
case has only birds and butterflies in it. The Farm House also has another
taxidermy figure. In the kitchen there are two deer hooves that are holding up
the gun hanging on the wall. They are hung up to reflect the spirit of hunting
and to show oftentimes how taxidermy was used by hunters.
Taxidermy was more popular back in Victorian times but this
wasn’t when it first started. The first instances of animal preservation in
history comes from the Egyptians. The Egyptians often mummified their cats and
dogs with them in the grave, which could be considered an early form of
taxidermy. During the middle ages hunters often would want to show off the
animals they hunted so different forms of taxidermy appeared. During the 16th
century a mounted rhinoceros was even put in a museum in Italy.
Where modern day taxidermy first materialized was in England
in the 19th century. During this time there was an increased demand
for leather as a fashion statement. This led to the development of tanning,
which is turning animal skin into preserved leather. Tanning became so
commonplace that it allowed naturalists to preserve species that they had
cataloged. The first person to use the word taxidermy was Louis Dufresne who
wrote about it in his 1803 reference book for the Museum national d’Histoire
naturalle in Paris. Taxidermy comes from the Greek words taxis or “arrangement” and derma
or “skin” which is why Dufresne used the term. Two early proponents of
taxidermy were James Cook and Charles Darwin who sought to preserve the species
they found while travelling.
These early attempts to do taxidermy were a bit crude and
done poorly. Animal hides would first be gutted then stuffed with cotton, sawdust
and rags, which caused the anatomical structure to become very disfigured.
Because of this, animals often weren’t properly preserved causing some portions,
like the nose and teeth, to rot. This all changed when the use of arsenic was
introduced, allowing the industry to boom. Taxidermy became a staple of the
Victorian period as it became a symbol of artistic skill and natural aesthetic
in the household. Victorian culture celebrated presenting a worldly and
cultured look achieved through the collection and display of mementos from
around the world. Presenting taxidermy animals in their house was a way of
doing this as it showcased wealth and prestige. Due to its popularity, a new
form of taxidermy appeared during this time, anthropomorphic taxidermy. This
form of taxidermy used animals posed like humans. Such examples include kittens
at a tea party or squirrels studying in a class. Some of these designs were
very humorous but for some people they were a little creepy.
In 1880, the United States held its first taxidermy
competition in which the winner was a display of two male orangutans fighting
over a female. This display changed taxidermy going into the 20th
century as stuffed animals began to fall out of favor. Taxidermists instead
started posing animals, as they would appear in real life. These designs were
more anatomically accurate and would incorporate specific details right down to
every muscle. They even created separate words to distinguish the new style.
“Specimens” were defined as exact replicas of the animal in the wild, while a
“trophy” was a deer head mounted on the wall.
Taxidermists also began using a new style of taxidermy
called mounting. Mounting involved having a wooden skeleton made and then
draping the animal skin over the skeleton. This process was more sophisticated
and looked a lot better then stuffing. Taxidermists today even demand that
people call their work mounting and not stuffing as they consider stuffing to
be crude. Mounting also made taxidermy a more respected art form as museums began
using taxidermy in their display cases like at the Smithsonian Natural History
Museum. Taxidermy continued to be popular until the 1970s when it began to
decline.
Today it is still popular among many and is still considered
a sophisticated art. Some taxidermists even do recreations in which they try
and recreate extinct species based on scientific data. Lots of taxidermist
usually only work with non-hunted animals or will work exclusively with museums
and educational institutions. Even though many practice it, taxidermy is
usually under the radar for most people. That is why we show off our two
taxidermy cases and deer hooves, as the Farm House is designed in the Victorian
style and taxidermy was a big part of Victorian times. We also show them off
because taxidermy was also used to provide an educational display of local
ecology. Taxidermy animals were a good teaching method of animal anatomy so it
makes sense that we have these two cases at Iowa State University. In the end, whether
taxidermy is considered creepy or an art form, it is still an interesting part
of history.
