Martha
Maxwell 1831-1881
Naturalist
Taxidermist Artist
Martha Maxwell traveled to
Colorado Territory with the first wave of the
Pike's
Peak Gold
Rush in 1860. A self-educated naturalist
and artist, she found her passion and life's
work quite by accident and contributed to the
development of taxidermy and museum display
with techniques that are still
used today. Listen to Martha's
stories of her nearly eight
continuous years in
the field in the Rocky Mountains, and her
discovery of the subspecies - otus asio
maxwelliae - that today bears her name -
Maxwell's Owl. Hear about
the obstacles and challenges facing this
early woman of science, a woman clearly ahead of
her time.
This is a 45
minute - 1 hour program presented in first
person with time for questions and
discussion.
"To a
naturalist intent upon knowing the secrets of
the natural world, the capture of the smallest bud
or insect gives as much pleasure as to have
outwitted the fiercest grizzly in the
mountains or the largest buffalo on the
plains."
Martha Maxwell, 1878
Peak Gold
Rush in 1860. A self-educated naturalist
and artist, she found her passion and life's
work quite by accident and contributed to the
development of taxidermy and museum display
with techniques that are sti
ll
used today. Listen to Martha's
stories of her nearly eight