Conservator Catharine Hawkes works on an elk trophy. (Above) Moving even the smallest trophy was a big job. (Below) CONTINUED...Page 2 of STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME Because of their fragile condition, the trophies couldn’t be packed and shipped so we transformed the Gallery of Coe Hall into an on-site lab for natural specimens conservator Catherine Hawkes. Treatment of all four trophies took two weeks, during which time house tours continued and visitors caught a rare glimpse of how these objects are cared for. The unsung heroes of this project were the fine arts movers, who carefully planned how each trophy would be removed, hung for treatment and replaced. The smallest, a gemsbok, weighed nearly 60 lbs. and required four men, two ladders and a hand winch to safely move. Label on the back of the elk mount that hangs in Coe Hall. Clark’s NYC studio mounted three of the four trophies in the collection. Exhibiting A Mounting Interest: James L. Clark & The American Museum of Natural History It’s one thing to skin something, but it’s quite another thing to make it look like an animal again. Accomplishing this task took skilled artists and taxidermists like James Lippitt Clark. Clark was a noted sculptor and became a student of Carl Akeley, legendary explorer and conservationist who hunted with Teddy Roosevelt. Akeley was best known for his revolutionary work in museum exhibits, where he insisted that natural specimens be displayed in their natural settings and he pioneered the use of large scale and elaborately detailed dioramas. In 1936, the Akeley Hall of African Mammals opened at the American Museum of Natural History in New York under the direction of Dr. James L. Clark, the museum’s Vice Director of Exhibits. Clark’s career at the AMNH spanned from 1923-1949 and allowed him to make over 20 expeditions to places like Africa and Southeast Asia to study and collect specimens. During this time he also managed his New York City taxidermy studio that catered to prominent sportsmen who would send trophies from all over the world to be mounted by the best. In the early twenties, young Billy Coe sent a gemsbok to Clark’s studio from his hunting trip in Africa to be mounted as a present for his parents.Click Here to read more about AMNH.