This Belongs in a Museum
Bringing you museum-approved grammatical errors and typos since 2010.
Oh, and sorry - I DO NOT FOLLOW BACK!
If Ted Nugent ever opens up a museum, expect it to look exactly like the Mann Wildlife Learning Museum. Purchased in 2003 by the Montgomery Zoo, the collection of 70 life-size taxidermied animals were trophy kills by world-record-holding bow and arrow hunter George Mann, who sometimes carried them on his back for miles out in the wilderness. Who knows why the hell a zoo would want dead (and probably threatened) animal species killed by a hunter displayed next to the live versions? The two don’t really go together. But this is Alabama we’re talking about (no offense), which also happens to be the home of the Spear Hunting Museum. So that probably explains it. Anyway, the Mann Museum rationalizes hunting by depicting carnivorous animals and their prey in threatening and somewhat ridiculous poses. Amongst the stuffed bears, wolves, and mountain lions are displays like “A Hare Raisin Experience” where a lynx attempts to kills it food of choice, the horseshoe hare, and “Smart as a Fox” where a willow ptarmigan is attacked by…you guessed it…a fox. The exhibit labels tend to emphasize that hunting and killing are natural behaviors, which I agree with completely. But I do have a problem when the killing of animals is assorted with entertainment or blood sport instead of, say, survival and food. I don’t understand how a hunter who spends half the year killing all kinds of creatures, like George Mann, is considered to be a dedicated wildlife conservationist who has been awarded by the State Governor for his efforts. Maybe conservation has a different meaning down in Alabama???
*A follower has told me hunting is a huge part of conservation in that is helps prevent starvation, disease and to control population levels. That makes sense, but I still don’t understand hunters who kill endangered species in (usually) canned hunts just for a freakin’ trophy. I will never get that.*
In America, today is the deadline for filing your taxes with the IRS. I don’t know if there is a tax museum, but trust me, even an accountant doesn’t want to go to that shit. So the next best thing is a taxidermy museum. We’ve covered it here before many, many times…you might remember this (squirrel dioramas) or maybe that (the world’s largest collection of stuffed dogs). Well, apparently there is a dead frog circus at the Wistariahurst Museum, a historic house museum once owned by a prominent silk manufacturer and his family, in Holyoke. Over the years the museum’s most popular object has been moved around quite a bit, from prominent rooms to tucked away corners of the house…and even hidden away in storage until the public demanded it be put back on public display where it currently sits in the visitors’ center. A dead frog circus is exactly what it sounds like: a diorama of four dozen taxidermic frogs posed in a circus scene. Some drive chariots pulled by mice and rats (and some even ride an endangered spotted turtle), while others trapeze above and play music. It dates back to 1927 when it was created by naturalist Burlingham Schurr, though no one is sure why, which makes it even more intriguing. According to the curator, most visitors convince themselves that they are not real frogs, but they are real, more real than a freakin’ reality show.
As a semi-vegetarian who tears up after seeing roadkill and would rather starve than hunt animals, I don’t know why I am posting these photos, but maybe it’s because I can’t believe such a place exists. Above La Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa in Baños, Ecuador is a weird, little museum. Its collection consists of poorly kept taxidermy posed somewhat ridiculously, religious paintings, church vestments, military attire and toy trucks. Yes, you read that last part correctly. Toy trucks. This isn’t supposed to make any sense. Religion rarely does. Most of the items on display were donated by pilgrims visiting the church. So if weird animal dioramas covered in fake blood (PLUS TOY TRUCKS) is totally your thing, then I suggest you catch the next plane to South America. Send me a postcard!
(Source)
American Stuffers, a reality show about “pet preservation” set at Xtreme Taxidermy (they put the X in taxidermy) in Arkansas, would have loved Baron George Haas. The guy loved dead animals, specifically the stuffed dog kind. If you ever find yourself in Southern Moravia in the Czech Republic, stop at Bítov Castle (Haas owned the place) to see the Guinness World Record’s largest collection of stuffed dogs. Even though he was an antifascist, Haas was ethnically German, which caused some problems during World War II. He committed suicide in 1945 before deportation to Austria. Survived by thousands of animals, including 200 dogs, 51 of his precious pets were stuffed after their deaths and put on display in the castle. His son, also named George, is an animal lover too and has turned the castle into one of the largest private zoos in the country. Oh, and in case you were wondering, all the unstuffed pooches are buried in several cemeteries around the castle grounds, some with wooden crosses and metal plates carved with their names. Didn’t know dogs had a particular religious affiliation? Interesting.
Usually I’m telling you about some strange museum that no one ever visits. But this time I thought I’d turn things around and share a picture with you that belongs in its own museum. As you try to think of a name for our new museum, let me get busy writing the label. Here’s a rough draft.
Robert Miller (Flickr Photographer/Attorney)
San Antonio Taxidermy Museum, 5 July 2005
Fujifilm FinePix S3000 Photograph
Gift of Tumblr, Inc.
2011.01.1
“An exploration of the circle of life, Teddie Nugent Jr. symbolizes the birth of a new narrative juxtaposed with dead animal flesh. The warthog, deer and impala are not creatures at random, but connected through a relationship with concrete properties. The animal horns suggest physical pleasures of sexuality, aiding in the possibilities of existence, of a new synthesis. An indeterminate allusion, the father depicts the need for a parenting license, inevitably returning one to nature’s realism, like the hunting license that terminates all of God’s creatures.”
Since I started this tumblr I’ve written a lot about taxidermy. But I can’t believe I haven’t written specifically about Russian taxidermy before. What’s wrong me? The Museum of the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg is one of the largest of its kind in the world and Russia’s most popular museum. The museum has been in its current location since 1898 and has a collection that consists of over 17 million species, though only 500 thousand can be displayed at one time. This means there are 16,500,000 dead animals boxed and stuffed in a warehouse somewhere. How cool! Once during my museology student days I got a private, behind-the-scenes tour. The curator proudly showed me shelves upon shelves of dead birds, including the famous Darwin finch. Sometimes it’s amazing to think what’s NOT on display. Think about that next time you visit one of the big museums.
One wouldn’t expect to visit a 125 year old abbey/monastery and find a museum full of random things. Besides the largest pig hairball and assortment of half deformed cows (including one with 8 legs!) in the taxidermy room, the St. Benedict Abbey Museum in Mount Angel, Oregon also has a Russian exhibit in the far east end of the basement. There are old icons and treasures of the area’s past because a few miles away are three Russian Orthodox churches, whose locations are mentioned on the museum’s walls. And let’s not forget other random things like rocks and minerals and Civil War memorabilia.
The place is unique in other ways: it has its own zip code, they make their own soap and candles (but maybe all monks do?), there’s an extremely rare book collection and the library was designed by famous architect Alvar Aalto.
January 21st is officially Squirrel Appreciation Day. In the basement of the Cress Funeral Home in Madison, Wisconsin, owner Sam Sanfillippo has a collection of taxidermy, specifically squirrel dioramas. We’ve seen this before on the blog. Dead animals arranged in ridiculous situations, like drinking at a bar or visiting a topless girlie show. I say do what makes you happy. I mean a funeral home is already full of dead things, so why not include a bit more?
There are also hundreds of other taxidermy including fish, raccoons, and at least a couple of badgers at Sam’s place. If you’d like to visit, just contact Cress Funeral home at 608-238-8406 to make an appointment (as long as there isn’t a funeral going on, Sam loves visitors).
It’s time for some more exploration into new countries with the August von Spiess Museum of Hunting. The museum is named after the well-known figure Colonel August von Spiess, who was the Keeper of Royal Hunting under King Ferdinand I of Romania. The museum has a whole room dedicated to this royal hunter, mostly dead animals and trophies. I guess Romania is the country that hunts, because they have a long history of doing just that…they even have a wikipedia entry. Anyway, the museum has foxes hanging upside down, rows of horns, vulture heads, various Carpathian game, etc. etc. I have a good friend who has a thing for Victorian taxidermy, so this would be his go-to place. No, seriously. And he’s an animal-loving vegan.
This place reminds of the time I had to go into a creepy house as part of my museum job, which was hosting a historic housewalk. I walked into a two-story living room full of literally hundreds of taxidermy pieces, including some kind of animal leaping down from the balcony. And I found out the guy wasn’t even a hunter, he just liked to collect “dead animals” from museum’s taxidermy collections. OKAY!
I should remember to tell my second cousin who likes to shoot deer on weekends that he’s got a new destination to add to his ever-busy “using my gun” schedule. Also, take note that the bear killed the dog and the dog’s owner killed the bear.
How nice!
