Charles Willson Peale - Taxidermy Hall of Fame

Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was the first complete taxidermist-artist in the United States. While widely known as a portrait painter and founder of the first major American museum at Independence Hall, Peale established himself as a complete taxidermist who developed methods that persist in the field today.

Peale corresponded with Europe's finest taxidermists—Louis Dufresne and Thomas Hall among them—and developed his own techniques that were passed to his students and sons, creating a lineage that continued through written documentation by others.

He mounted specimens from major expeditions: - Lewis and Clark Expedition - Stephen Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains - Various smaller forays

These mounted specimens were used to illustrate Alexander Wilson's Birds of America and other scientific works.

Peale built the first larger habitat groups using trees, fake ponds, swamps, and vegetation with painted backgrounds.

He created dioramas in the Long Room of Independence Hall, often depicting the location where specimens were collected. His bald eagle display featured a Niagara Falls background and is documented in the Library of Congress.

Most of Peale's large and medium mammals were destroyed in a fire at P.T. Barnum's American Museum in New York after the collection was auctioned. Some birds survived, including a golden pheasant given to George Washington by Lafayette and specimens from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which eventually reached the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard.

• •Peale was inducted into the Taxidermy Hall of Fame as a foundational figure whose techniques shaped the entire profession.