DOC Buffalo Soliders in the West: A Black Soliders Anthology by Bruce A. Glasrud in History

Description

When William Temple Hornaday wrote this text for the Smithsonian Institution in 1889; the thirty million buffalo that had once roamed North America had been reduced to a few hundred. Alarmed by this decimation; Hornaday--a hunter; zoologist; writer; and the Smithsonian's chief taxidermist--set out for Montana to collect specimens for preservation at the Smithsonian. One of the main results of his trip was The Extermination of the American Bison; a timely recounting of the history and destruction of the buffalo; and a landmark work in early conservation advocacy. Hornaday paints a vivid portrait of the buffalo's natural history; describing its distribution; habits; character; and "mental capacity;" as well as the history of recorded encounters with buffalo since the sixteenth century. He then provides a haunting account of the animals' slaughter; lamenting the horrific destruction of almost the entire species. His final section describes the planning; construction; and reception of the Buffalo Group; his innovative museum display of six taxidermied buffalo that was intended to serve as both a scientific record of and a national monument to a nearly lost species. Hanna Rose Shell's insightful introduction emphasizes how Hornaday's appeal for wildlife conservation continues to resonate today. It also provides a unique window into a forgotten network of taxidermists; hunters; and animal preservationists that shaped contemporary conservation movements.