The Museum Trademark' 



i^ 



by Patricia M. Williams, Field Museum Press 



Steve Kovar, on this month's cover, has been with the Museum maintenance staff 

 for nearly forty years. Twice a year or so, he has vacuumed the elephants in Stanley 

 Field Hall. Mr. Kovar and the elephants are going strong, but the Museum buys 

 a new vacuum cleaner every four or five years. In the following story, Patricia 

 Williams tells the story of the elephants and the man who produced Field Museum's 

 most familiar exhibit. 



Engaged in mortal combat, they loom in massive majesty 

 over awestruck children, footsore parents and clusters of 

 toursts happily posing for snapshots. The African elephants 

 dominating Stanley Field Hall serve as an unmistakable 

 "trademark"' of the Museum and have appeared on Mu- 

 seum stationery and checks, publications, postcards, souve- 

 nirs and paper bags. 



This "trademark" is largely the product of the talents of 

 Carl .\keley, both as a hunter and a taxidermist. In 1896 

 Akeley joined the Museum staff as Taxidermist and in Feb- 

 ruary, 1905, Marshall Field approved Akeley's planned ex- 

 pedition to East Africa, providing the expense would "not 

 exceed say S5000." 



Following a physical examination at the Chicago Home 

 for Incurables, the physician deemed Akeley to be expedi- 

 tion-worthy in that he was "free from any organic trouble. 

 His lungs and heart are sound, and strong, and although he 

 is not robust nor muscular in appearance, his vitality is good. 



and his muscles are firm." The doctor went on to say that 

 he also thought that the long ocean voyage would do Ake- 

 ley's nervous temperament good. 



On August 13, 1905 Akeley's British East African Expedi- 

 tion left Chicago. In addition to Akeley, the party included 

 Vernon Shaw-Kennedy, Edmund Heller and Mrs. Akeley. 

 They arrived at the port of Mombasa on October 8, 1905, 

 and by November 7 Akeley had written to the Museum re- 

 questing an additional $5,000, stating that "something over 

 Four thousand dollars of the original appropriation has been 

 expended and your decision can scarcely reach me before 

 the entire amount (Five thousand dollars) is gone." In 

 addition to the hiring of porters, gun bearers and personal 

 servants, Akeley explained that he had "received practi- 

 cally no concessions from the government without paying 

 handsomely for them. . . ." 



The following day, November 8, Akeley wrote to the 

 President of the Museum, H. N. Higinbotham, enlarging 



Vernon Shaw- Kennedy, who accompanied the Akeleys, buying a 

 sheep from a Wakamba native. 



Akeley took nearly a thousand photos during the 1 906 expedition. 

 Many of the glass negatives remain on file in Field Museum. 



Carl Akeley in Somaliland. He was mauled by the leopard before he man- 

 aged to bring it down. 



Page 2 JANUARY 



