William T. (William Temple) Hornaday

Born in Indiana in 1854, William Temple Hornaday built his reputation first as a skilled taxidermist and field collector. In the 1870s he joined scientific expeditions across the Americas and Asia, and in 1882 he became Chief Taxidermist at the United States National Museum at the Smithsonian, where he became known for dramatic animal displays set in natural scenes.

His place in history rests largely on conservation. After seeing how close the American bison had come to extinction, he wrote and campaigned forcefully for protection, helping make wildlife loss visible to the public. Smithsonian histories credit him with helping inspire the early National Zoo, and he later served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park from 1896 to 1926.

Hornaday was also a prolific author whose books mixed natural history, advocacy, and firsthand experience. Readers coming to his work today will meet a figure who was energetic, influential, and sometimes combative—a man from the age of collecting who became one of the early voices arguing that wild animals should be preserved, not simply displayed.