Baby Bear

Museum Practicum: Objective Blog, The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia

Oktavia LaBarge, October 17, 2013

Title: Black Bear, Euarctos americanus

Year: 1880  

Material: Taxidermy

Creator: Unknown

Collection: The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia

Taxidermy baby bear
Not actual bear at Wagner
Found from google

The Wagner Institute of Science was opened in 1865 by William Wagner who throughout his life collected a wide range of objects.  Joseph Leidy, a well-known Philadelphia scientist, became the President of the Wagner after William

Dr. Joseph Leidy
Wagner Free Institute

Wagner passed away.  Under the supervision of Leidy, the Wagner Free Institute expanded the collections and rearranged the objects to support the Charles Darwin’s, theory of evolution.  Since the opening of the museum little has changed.  

This object is a taxidermy baby bear from the Wagner museum.  At the time, the museum was building its collection, it was legal to kill animals and stuff them. However, now there are many laws and regulations that manage these actions.  The Wagner is a very important historic site, because it allows visitors to step back in time and consider how people in the 1880’s thought about science.  In addition, by having a wide variety of taxidermy animals from all over the world allows visitors of the museum to see many different wildlife specimens that they may not be able to see on a normal bases. 

To enter the Wagner, visitors must first ring a door bell, where a staff member comes to open the door.  Next visitors are told to walk up a staircase and at the top is the museum space.  The museum is composed of what seems like hundreds of glass cases that hold different animals, birds, fossils, rocks and minerals.  In the middle of the space are large cases which hold the majority of mammals.  The baby bear is on display in one of these large cases and is in the middle of the museum.  The bear is placed with other four legged mammals from North America and supports the ideology

Exhibition Hall
Wagner Free Institute

of Leidy and Wagner and how they believed animals should be classified.  The labels that are placed throughout the museum space are very minimal and do not give in depth information about where this animal is from and how it came to be a part of the collection. 

However, if a visitor would like to learn more about the baby bear, they could research information about bears.  In addition, one might consider visiting a zoo that has bears.  To learn more about how the bear was perceived during the 1880’s they could consider visiting the Wagner Free Institute’s library and search their collections, which dates back to the late 17th century (http://www.wagnerfreeinstitute.org/library.shtml)!  If someone was interested in learning more about the history of the museum, they may also want to visit the Wagner’s library and museum and consider researching William Wagner and Joseph Leidy.

Someone who might not be interested in the bear at the Wagner Institute of Science would be an animal activist, such as PETA.  They may consider the taxidermy at the museum unethical as well as the wrongful treatment of animals. Also, people who are uninterested in science or history would probably not be interested in visiting the museum, and may find it boring. 

To further engage visitors with the bear at the Wagner Free Institute of Science, I would create a text label which tells general background information about bears and this particular type of bear, while still maintaining the Wagners 19th century aesthetic.  In addition, the museum could create an audio tour which visitors could type in the case number and it could tell the visitor information about the different animals in the cases.