File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17972800778).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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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,' 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, 139
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