Museology Communications and Marketing Assistant Xavier Lucas-Cooper (’27) spoke with Marnie Hill-Woodworth (’26) about her museum experiences with taxidermy.
How has researching taxidermy as a student changed your understanding of the labor, craftsmanship, and care involved in museum collections work?
Researching taxidermy as a student has made me realize how old of a practice it really is and how many different cultures and uses it has been a part of. It hasn’t always been used in museums or for collections but will always be a way to preserve something which is what I think I like about it. Like the way Egyptians mummified animals which led to many preservation techniques that we still use today, and each tell their own unique story. Without these forms of preservation, we wouldn’t have ways to study animals or know what things looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago if it weren’t for collections.
What misconceptions do people often have about taxidermy work in museums, and how has your thesis and internship challenged those assumptions?
I think people often associate taxidermy with the macabre (which it can be), but when it comes to museum practices it is all incredibly based in science and education. The early collection of animals did not have the greatest start, with many expeditions trying to find rare and new specimens to kill them for trophies and show. But today’s collections practices involve a lot of balance and trade within institutions to fill gaps in collections that may be missing. The majority of museums are also not fully preparing specimens in the way that we traditionally think of them and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County actually has one of the last full-time taxidermists, Tim Bovard. So, it is really a dying art form when it comes to making full dioramas, rather than making study specimens which is what I have been doing in my internship and thesis at the Burke.
How do you see volunteer engagement contributing to the sustainability of natural history collections and specimen preparation practices in museums?
Volunteer engagement is incredibly important when it comes to sustaining natural history collections and preparation practices. The heart of my thesis is volunteer engagement and trying to give access to people who are interested in learning specimen preparation or have taxidermy experience and want to flex those muscles in a different way. In my internship at the Burke prepping birds, I learned that birds die a lot and tend to hit windows which is a problem within itself. But if an institution has a capacity to collect and prepare those specimens for future generations to study from, then a lot of people learn from that animal’s death and research can continue to be done after its passing. It also gives people volunteer experience while helping the collection!
Do you think graduate students and emerging museum professionals have a unique role in helping preserve specialized practices like taxidermy? Why or why not?
Absolutely! This all started because of a hobby and my interest in wanting to learn taxidermy, which then led to me trying to find ways to connect it to my museum practices. I think if you have a hobby, especially as an adult, it is important to nurture it, and you might be surprised to see the ways in which it can manifest in other parts of your life. As emerging museum professionals and as we continue to grow in our careers, we are definitely in unique positions to share our passions and help preserve them. Since we often start out with a deep care for these topics, I think that is what puts us in a good position to tell their stories and keep their practices alive.