Ernest W. Smith: In Memoriam* 



A hoVKIi ANlt ACCIK'ATK nl'.SKin'Kl^ OK N ATl'in:. WITH U.WiK I'oWKIv' 



T(» .MOlNT HIK'DS SO THAT THKV HAh A SK.M liLAN'CK OF l.N-'K. A N D 



TO K'KI'K'ODl'CK KLoWKIv'S Willi WAX ANl)OOl>oK S()TliATTllK^ 



||AI> Till". DI'.I.KATI'. I'.IIAI'T^' < >!•" TIIK IJN'INC oK'lOlNAhS 



CIMM'AIN WDiils arc lacking; from tii.' 

 I'.ii<i;lish languayo, iiiiu)ii>,' tlnMii tliosc 

 that, mijfht differciitiati' botwctMi 

 various jjrades of taxidermists and servo to 

 distinj;juish betwoen Ainerioan artists like 

 Akolfv. and those well defined as "bird stutV 

 CIS." 80 we can only say of the late Krncst 

 W. Smith that he was 

 an unusually excellent 

 and artistic taxidermist, 

 with a keen eye for 

 noting the facts of na 

 ture and skilled hands 

 for embodying what lie 

 saw in pose or form 

 in permanent materials, 

 lie rarely dealt with the 

 larger mammals, an<l in 

 the early years when he 

 did work with them 

 methods now employed 

 were unknown, but the 

 stately Alaskan moose 

 that confronts the visi- 

 tor at the entrance to 

 the North American hall 

 in the American Mu- 

 seum shows what he 

 might have done. 



His work was directed 

 especially to birds and 



to wax reproductions of plants and How- 

 ers, and was characterized by accuracy 

 and finish. This made his aid invalualtlc 

 in such pieces of work as the New England 

 spring group and the great Florida grou]), 

 on the latter of which he was engaged just 

 prior to his death.' 



Mr. Smith was always pleasantly free 

 from "artistic temperament" or professional 

 jealousy, and this made it possible for him 

 to work in harmony with other taxidermists 

 and to accept and carry out suggestions— 

 and there are times when this is quite as 

 important as purely original work. 



' In conjunction with Mr. Frederick H. StoU, 

 who lias continued the work to its completion. 



" Mr. Smith stopped work on the Florida group 

 threatening inroads of the tuberculosis he had fou 

 New Jersey, October 5, 1917. 



.Mr. Siiiitli rami' to tlic .Vmcticaii .Museum 

 of Natural History in JMHI ;iiid was there 

 until litiiH. wiicn on account of failing health 

 lie was foiced to seek conditions under 

 whicli he could devote much time to out-of- 

 iloor life, aii<i work when best he eould. 

 During these later- years he mounted in the 

 Brooklyn Museum the 

 gr(Mi|) of I'ribilof sea 

 birds, ill wlii<di the indi- 

 \idual birds for cor- 

 rectness of form, pose, 

 and expression are un- 

 e(|naled. He also pre- 

 ]iai(<l the seasonal 

 groups of wild flowers 

 that form one of the 

 attractions of the Crane 

 Museum at Pittsfield, 

 .Massachusetts, and some 

 of the bird groups for 

 the collection of Mr. 

 .John F. Thayer in 

 Lancaster, Massachu- 

 setts. 



The foliage and flow- 

 ers in the New England 

 spring group in the 

 American Museum tes- 

 tify to his dexterity and 

 power for accurate de- 

 tail and delicacy of finish. Mr. Smith was one 

 of several who obtained their first knowledge 

 of the technical methods of reproducing fo- 

 liage from Mrs. E. S. Mogridge who, with her 

 brother Mr. H. Mintorn, prepared the leaves 

 and flowers for the small habitat groups of 

 British birds that were installed long ago in 

 the British Museum, and were the genesis of 

 tlie large groups of today, but he, like others 

 of Mrs. Mogridge 's pupils, improved greatly 

 uj)on her knowledge and technique. 



Mr. Smith will long be missed by those 

 with whom and for whom he worked, as his 

 cheerful, kindly disposition and his deep in- 

 terest in whatever he undertook made friends 

 of all who knew him. — F. A. Luc.vs. 



at the American Museum in May, 1917, because of 

 ght so many years, and died at his home in Dover, 



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