Feathers: and the Fight for Wildlife On View April 6 – July 15, 2018

Selected PR Images

The New-York Historical Society presents a special exhibition that melds fashion, activism, and the history of the groundbreaking Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Feathers: Fashion and the Fight for Wildlife examines the circumstances that inspired early environmental activists—many of them women and New Yorkers—to champion the protection of endangered birds. Feathers showcases bird- and plumage-embellished and accessories. It also features original watercolors by John James Audubon of birds endangered before the passing of the statute, models for The Birds of America, from the Museum’s renowned collection. Recordings of bird songs from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology—together with objects on loan from other institutions, books, ephemera, and photographs—animate the narrative.

Unidentified maker Accessory set, including muff and tippet, 1880–99 United States Herring Gulls, feathers, silk Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 2009.300.2050a-c

This unusual muff and tippet, made with four adult Herring Gulls harvested during breeding season, demonstrates how accessory manufacturers exploited these birds. Gulls are and were great scavengers, and continue to be instrumental in cleaning our shorelines. The 19th-century fashion for their feathers and bodies, however, nearly drove them into extinction.

Unidentified maker Red-Legged Honeycreeper hummingbird , ca. 1865 Probably London, England Preserved bird, gold, metal Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Z. Solomon and Janet A. Sloane Endowment Fund, 2013, 2013.143a, b

Animal parts and insects decorated late 19th- century jewelry. In 1865, London jeweler Harry Emanuel patented a method to inset hummingbird heads, skins, and feathers into gold and silver mounts. As objects of beauty as well as scientific fascination, the dazzling birds’ heads and feathers were prized as earrings, , brooches, and fans.

R. H. White & Co. (1853−1957) Evening with swans’ down accents, 1885 Boston, Massachusetts Silk satin, swans’ down, feathers Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.1803a, b

This ice-blue satin evening dress, with an elegant back and lavish paisley velvet underskirt, is adorned with the diaphanous under-feathers, or down, of a swan. Intended for formal winter events, the regal, body-hugging dress is ornamented with down accents at the neck and along the . Swans were an attribute of the Roman Goddess Venus. A dress decorated with swans’ down connoted wealth, status, and mysterious sensuality.

Mme. Fauchère, New York (dates unknown) Trade card, Mme Fauchère, Manufacturer of Ostrich & Fancy Feathers, ca. 1894 New-York Historical Society Library, Bella C. Landauer Collection

Numerous feather traders, importers, and manufacturers were located in New York City. Many of the feathers incorporated into clothing and were imported from South America, South Africa, and Africa. Game and plume hunters from Florida, Texas, and Louisiana supplied many of the domestic feathers.

J. H. Johnston & Co. (1844–ca. 1910) Aigrette hair ornament (from a Snowy or Great Egret), 1894 New York City Egret feathers, gold, gold wire, diamonds Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Mrs. Mary S. Griffin, 1961

Aigrettes (from the French aigrette, meaning egret), are the singular plumes worn as elegant hair or ornaments that became especially popular among fashionable women during the late 19th century. Mature Snowy and Great Egrets develop these wispy feathers along their breasts, heads, and tails during their breeding season. Because of this fleeting growth, these feathers were among the rarest milliners used. This delicate example, a dainty plume accented with five tiny diamonds and mounted on a gold head band, was worn by a bride on her wedding day.

Jos. W. Stern & Co., New York (1894–1919) Arthur J. Lamb (18701928) and Alfred Solman (1868– 1937) Sheet music, The Bird on Nellie’s Hat, 1906 Lithograph on paper New-York Historical Society Library, Bella C. Landauer Collection

The vogue for wearing birds, wings, or feathers— demonstrated here on the cover of sheet music from 1906—decimated many bird species and threatened them with extinction. This dire situation galvanized environmental activists, who ardently campaigned for ground-breaking federal controls.

Unidentified French or Swiss artist Greater Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisaea apoda) skin, ca. 1550 Watercolor, black ink, and gouache, with touches of white lead pigment on ivory paper, laid on paper, formerly laid on an album page Gift of Nathaniel H. Bishop, 1889.10.2.55

During the age of exploration, exotic avian species from Asia and later the New World were prestigious additions as skins or live birds to collections or aviaries. Milliners sought both the magnificent plumes and prepared skins to embellish countless hats. It is the only New World species in New-York Historical’s cache of 16th- century, cutting-edge avian watercolors.

Folding brisé fan of swirling down feathers, ca. 1910 Mother-of-pearl, feathers Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Mrs. Robert Blake, 1986, 86.101.16

Women who favored feathered hand fans during the 19th century considered them as essential as the “right” or gloves for evening wardrobes. Feathered fans, for example, were recommended when attending the opera or theater. Plumes were generally affixed to mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell, or ivory sticks, guards, and mounts. George Bird Grinnell (1849–1938) From Nathaniel Pitt Langford, Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the year 1870, n.p. St. Paul, MN: Yellowstone National Park, 1905 New-York Historical Society Library

Born in Brooklyn, Grinnell played a seminal role in American conservation. He lived as a youth in Audubon Park in upper Manhattan, previously the estate of the legendary naturalist-artist John James Audubon. There Grinnell was tutored by Lucy Bakewell Audubon, who encouraged his lifelong passion for wildlife and the natural world. After a later expedition to Yellowstone, his report included what may be the first official statement in opposition to the excessive killing of big game. In 1886, Grinnell founded the Audubon Society of New York, the forerunner of the National Audubon Society (1905). He launched it from its publication Audubon Magazine as “an association for the protection of wild birds and their eggs.”

Florence Merriam Bailey (1863–1948) From The Condor: A Magazine of Western Ornithology, volume 6, number 5 (1904), page 137 Courtesy American Museum of Natural History, Special Collections

Florence Merriam Bailey began her ornithology career while a college student. She established the Smith College Audubon Society in 1886 after becoming alarmed by the numbers of birds and feathers that adorned fellow students’ hats. Distinguished by her reverence for scientific observation, Bailey studied and wrote about bird species in numerous books and articles for The Auk, The Condor, and Bird-Lore. Many of her books, including Birds Through an Opera Glass (1889), became important field guides.

Unknown woman wearing an Audubonnet From Bird-Lore, volume 15 (1913), page 400 Courtesy American Museum of Natural History, Special Collections

The Audubon Society also addressed the feather craze by promoting “birdless hats” trimmed with a variety of ribbons, flowers, and fabric. Audubon chapters extended invitations to leading milliners to manufacture “Audubonnets,” which were often exhibited to the public. Saks & Company in New York also sold the hats.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) with George Lehman (ca. 1800–1870) Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Study for Havell pl. 291, 1831 Watercolor, graphite, pastel, black chalk, and black ink with touches of gouache, white lead pigment, and glazing on paper, laid on card Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.291

The gull accessory ensemble on view in the exhibition contains four Herring Gulls harvested near their breeding season. The Herring Gull is among the most familiar member of its family, especially in the northeast, although numbers declined sharply during the 19th century when it was hunted for its eggs and feathers. With protection, the population has increased greatly, and its breeding range has extended toward the South.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) Great Egret (Ardea alba), 1821 Watercolor, graphite, pastel, gouache, white lead pigment, black ink, and black chalk with selective glazing on paper, laid on card Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.18.30

The National Audubon Society adopted a flying Great Egret, one of the chief victims of turn-of-the century plume hunters, as its symbol in 1953. The sheer splendor of their aigrettes positioned the Great Egret on the edge of extinction by the early 20th century. In 1902 alone, about a ton and a half of Great Egret plumes were sold in London, a quantity that must have required the slaughter of around 200,000 adult birds (and the destruction of two to three times that number of eggs). With conservation laws, the species has rebounded.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), Study for Havell pl. 47, ca. 1825 Watercolor, gold- and copper-colored metallic pigments, gouache, red lead pigment, graphite, and black ink with touches of pastel and selective glazing on paper, laid on card Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.47

Unique to the New World, hummingbirds fascinated Americans and Europeans alike. Audubon’s cinematic tableau of the diminutive Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the only eastern species, contains 10 birds. In Victorian times, hummingbirds and beetles were discussed as “flying gems.”

John James Audubon (1785–1851) with Maria Martin (1796–1863) Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), Study for Havell pl. 379, 1836–37 Watercolor, graphite, black ink, and gouache with touches of pastel and selective glazing on paper, laid on card Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.379

Audubon painted three species of North American hummingbirds. He never saw the western Rufous Hummingbird alive, but painted it from specimens sent to him by the naturalist Thomas Nuttall. While naturalists always admired the hummingbirds they studied, the larger public’s appreciation of these sensationally beautiful creatures resulted from exposure in public arenas. Many pieces of hummingbird jewelry, like the Red-legged Honeycreeper earrings seen in the exhibition, were produced in England by Harry Emanuel, who in 1865 patented a process for insetting the heads in silver and gold mounts.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Study for Havell pl. 321, ca. 1831–32; 1836 Watercolor, graphite, gouache, and black ink with touches of glazing on paper, laid on Japanese paper Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.321

Audubon admired these prehistoric-looking, wading birds, the largest North American member of the ibis family. The beauty of their feathers brought the species to the brink of extinction by 1920. Plume hunters invaded colonies to slaughter the birds for fans sold in the tourist trade. They survived after the Audubon Society dispatched wardens to protect them and urged the passage of strict conservation laws. Today, the Roseate Spoonbill is one of the great success stories of the conservation movement.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus), Study for Havell pl. 411, 1838 Watercolor, graphite, oil, black ink, black chalk, and white gouache? with touches of pastel and glazing on paper, laid on card Purchased for the New-York Historical Society by public subscription from Mrs. John J. Audubon, 1863.17.411

Swans’ down, the soft, fine, under-feathers, of swans were used for trimming clothes—as in the evening dress on display—and for cosmetic powder puffs. Tundra Swans once nested over most of North America, but disappeared rapidly as civilization advanced westward. By the 1930s, fewer than 100 remained south of Canada. With protection from hunting and the disturbance of plumers, northwestern populations have rebounded. Today, their population is stable enough to sustain a limited hunting season in some areas.