Nationalism, Nostalgia, and the Campaign to Save the Bison
Nationalism, Nostalgia, and the Campaign to Save the Bison
In early 1886, William Temple Hornaday, the chief taxidermist at the U.S. National Museum, had bison on the brain. A decade before, the species that had come to symbolize the Great Plains had been all but obliterated from the southern portion of its once extensive range. Now increasingly frequent predictions about its extinction in the north seemed to be coming to pass. After several months of correspondence about the status of the species, Hornaday reached a grim conclusion: fewer than 300 bison remained throughout the entire United States. He issued a call for a Smithsonian-affiliated zoo that would shelter the breeding stock of endangered species and help educate the public about their plight. In December 1905, the American Bison Society was founded, with Theodore Roosevelt as honorary president, Hornaday as president, and Ernest H. Baynes as secretary. In addition to nationalism and nostalgia, biology may have also played a role in the success of the conservation campaign to save the bison. The success of the bison restoration efforts contrasted greatly with the story of the passenger pigeon.
Keywords: William Temple Hornaday, bison, zoo, endangered species, American Bison Society, Ernest H. Baynes, passenger pigeon, conservation, extinction, nationalism
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
