Back
PHOTO: MINDY MCNAUGHER
In 1859, Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species
sent shockwaves rippling through the
scientific community and piqued people’s interest
in the natural world like never before. The world’s
museums took notice, and the late 19th century became high
season for collection building. Andrew Carnegie’s
young Pittsburgh museum was no exception. In 1897, a committee
of men from Carnegie Museum of Natural History was given
a budget of $12,000 (a princely sum at the time) to acquire
specimens and artifacts for display for the curious Pittsburgh
public. Among the items accessioned into the museum’s
collection that year were 16 dissected skulls.
“
It was the peak of industrialization, and yet people had
a tremendous curiousity about the natural world,” says
Suzanne McLaren, collection manager for the Section of
Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. “Carnegie
Museum of Natural History, like many other young museums
at the time, was focusing on building its collections by
purchasing, borrowing, or collecting local as well as rare
or exotic plants, animals, fossils, and man-made objects
and artifacts from all over the world, many of which would
be seen by the general public for the very first time.”
The
dissected skulls are from various domestic animals including
a horse, sheep, rabbit, dog, and cat, as well
as more exotic mammals such as an ape and a dolphin. The
set also includes a human skull. Each is an actual skull
that was dissected at every suture point and then wired
together and mounted so viewers could see how the individual
pieces fit together.
The entire collection of skulls was
purchased from Ward’s
Natural Science Establishment, a taxidermy firm run by
Henry Augustus Ward, a famous naturalist from Rochester,
New York. One of the largest and most successful taxidermists
at the time, Ward’s offered a wide range of products
to museums and universities, including plaster casts of
fossils and skeletons; the famous Blaschkas (glass models
of invertebrates and plants made by the Czech artisans
Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka); relief maps; prepared microscopic
slides; and anatomical models. Interestingly, Ward’s
is still in business today, and its entire product catalog
is available online at www.wardsci.com.
For decades, the
dissected skulls were prominently displayed side-by-side
so visitors could compare the different species
and easily see how they are related in terms of bone
structure. Although the skulls were moved behind the scenes
to the
Section of Mammals in 2002 to make room for new exhibits,
eight of the original 16 will be on view in the exhibition
Fierce Friends: Artists and Animals, 1750 to 1900 at
Carnegie Museum of Art as examples of models that may have
been
used by 19th-century artists.
“
Prior to the major medical advances of the 20th century,
the human body, as well as the anatomy of animals in general,
were very much a mystery, which made the museum’s
collection of skulls and other limbs very popular,” says
McLaren. “They were—and still are—widely
used by art students learning to draw living figures as
well as by college students taking comparative anatomy
classes.”
This year, visit the Neapolitan Presepio in its new location
in the Hall of Sculpture at Carnegie Museum of Art. It
will be on view through January 8. Guided tours of the
Presepio will be offered Tuesdays through Sundays, November
25 through December 31, from 12:30-1 p.m.
Back
| Top |
Copyright (c)
2006 CARNEGIE Magazine. All rights reserved.