When I first started working at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, online museum care guides for taxidermy were few and far between. Two of us working in collections dubbed ourselves “Team Taxidermy” and started reaching out to anyone we could find from taxidermists to museum folks, to taxidermy bird cleaning seminar hosts, trying to learn as much as we could about the care and feeding of the “silent zoo”. Tim Bovard, taxidermist at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, was one of the people we were thrilled to hear back from. We fell down a deep rabbit hole, learning about the father of modern taxidermy and creator of the Field Museum’s dramatic dioramas, Carl Akeley, who famously killed a leopard “with his bare hands” while in the field in Somalia in 1896. The Field still exhibits the Akeley dioramas to this day.
Today, there are far more free online resources on taxidermy care available. Here are some of our favorites:
Connecting To Collections Care: Troublesome Trophies and Fragile Feathered Friends: Intro to the Care of Historic Taxidermy webinar and the associated Taxidermy Online Resource & Bibliography
London Natural History Museum’s Conservation Centre: Standards in the care of skins and taxidermy collections
Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA): Care and Conservation of Natural History Collections – Vertebrates pdf (reproduced from Carter, D. & Walker, A. K. (1999). Care and Conservation of Natural History Collections. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. with permission from publishers, editors, and all contributors)
Taxidermy mounts are complex artifacts that can be damaged by various environmental and biological factors. Whether you have a single trophy mount displayed in your home, several mounts forming a diorama in a museum or a collection of natural science specimens, it is essential to understand how these mounts and skins are made, how they deteriorate, and how to care for them to ensure their preservation.
We’ve developed an in-state network of taxidermy professionals who can assist with taxidermy needs in private and public collections. From cleaning to pest mitigation, don’t hesitate to contact us if your mounts need attention and care.