The Specimen Dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History

[Jommayca]

While researching the early years (in my case 1900-1930's) I've been digging for info on the names I find on various Riker Mount labels and of course Ward's is ever present but other names not so much and finding info was/is slow/difficult even with the magic of the internet.

Names like Angell & Cash, American Entomological Co., General Biological Supply House, Braun-Knecht-Heimann, Central Scientific Co. and Kny-Scheerer Dept. of Natural Science

In my looking about there was one paper/article constantly mentioned,,,,

MARK V. BARROW, JR. Author 

Department of History .... Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

This link does take you to where you can view/read the paper/article for free...you can view it in the style used on the site or download it as a pdf file which can be opened with your browser  

The Specimen Dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History in America's Gilded Age

Here is the Abstract.

"The post-Civil War American natural history craze spawned a new institution – the natural history dealer – that has failed to receive the historical attention it deserves.

The individuals who created these enterprises simultaneously helped to promote and hoped to profit from the burgeoning interest in both scientific and popular specimen collecting. At a time when other employment and educational prospects in natural history were severely limited, hundreds of dealers across the nation provided encouragement, specimens, publication outlets, training opportunities, and jobs for naturalists of all motivations and levels of expertise. This paper explores the crucial role that specimen dealers played in the larger natural history community. After briefly examining the development of local taxidermy shops in the mid-nineteenth century, it then traces the history of four large natural history dealerships established in the United States during the latter half of the century: Ward’s Natural History Establishment,Frank Blake Webster’s Naturalists’ Supply Depot, Southwick & Jencks’ Natural History Store,and Frank H. Lattin & Co. By the early twentieth century, changing tastes in interior design,the growth of the Audubon movement, and the dramatic expansion of alternate training and job opportunities for naturalists led many specimen dealers either to shift their emphasis or to shut their doors."

I hope some may find it as interesting as I did

The Riker Labels I mentioned:

[Jommayca]

Figured I'd provide the bit of history I've learned about the Labels/companies pictured above...

Angell & Cash:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Southwick & Jencks' Natural History Store began in 1876 and sold minerals, eggs, bird skins, tools and supplies for taxidermists and naturalists. That store was sold to Walter A. Angell and Harry A. Cash in 1894.

Angell & Cash did sell Riker Displays and Mounts to Collectors/Museums ect. but based on correspondence/bills of sale/mentions during the early 1900's they seemed to mainly deal in birds/minerals. The last mention I've seen of Angell & Cash was in a book with illustrations published in 1925 called "Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states"

The timeline I've seen most used for their existence is 1894 to 1930's?

American Entomological Company:

The first mention I found of this Company that established a beginning date was in a 1974 article/paper "The Father Of The Schmitt Box" by Walter R Suter & the Rev. Jerome Rupprecht

"His original design for dermestid resistant boxes was turned over to the American Entomological Company of Brooklyn, probably about 1890. This company sold out to Ward's in 1913.

Ward's not only purchased the business from Mr. George Franck, but hired Frank Rogowitz from the Brooklyn's company's woodworking department so that they could truly claim to have "The Original Schmitt Box""

An ad run by the American Entomological Company early 1900's

The ad run by Ward's when they bought the American Entomological Company in 1913