Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
In the now-deserted halls of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University<\/a>, three majestic gorillas quietly await their fate. <\/p>\n More than a century ago, the primates were prized scientific specimens captured by George Vanderbilt III \u2014 then a 19-year-old scion of the revered Vanderbilt family \u2014 on his 1934 African expedition for the Academy. Their carefully preserved pelts traveled some 6,000 miles from the Central African Republic to Philadelphia, where taxidermists prepared them for a new home in Logan Square: a habitat diorama.<\/p>\n The painstaking process required an artist to sculpt an anatomically accurate clay replica of each gorilla in a realistic pose, then create a plaster mold of the bodies, from which a hollow papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 model was cast. The skins were then fitted, stitched, and glued onto the gorilla sculptures \u2014 but that was just one step of the diorama production. Other artist teams painted the curved background wall and made 6,000 wax and paper leaves by hand over the course of many months. <\/p>\n Each element was meticulously measured, studied, and imitated to recreate the lifelike scene as exactly as possible so the diorama, which opened in 1938, could transport viewers to the heart of the rainforest. <\/p>\n Today, in the wake of the 198-year-old museum\u2019s abrupt closure due to financial hardships last month<\/a>, the future of the gorillas \u2014 along with the tiger, polar bear, zebra, moose, and other taxidermied animals on view \u2014 remains uncertain. Reports that Drexel and Academy leaders are considering selling the building<\/a> and moving its vast collections elsewhere<\/a> have alarmed diorama specialists who worry the priceless treasures are endangered. <\/p>\n Unlike other parts of the Academy\u2019s collection, the 32 dioramas currently on view are near-immovable historic artifacts. Any attempt to preserve them through potential relocation would require significant time and labor with a price tag in the millions. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they were going to be moved and preserved, and kept viable, that would be a good thing. Of course, it still would be the terrible loss of the building itself to the city and the presence of the very first natural history museum,\u201d said Stephen Quinn, an expert diorama artist who spent decades creating and restoring exhibits at New York\u2019s American Museum of Natural History. The expense to move and restore the dioramas would be high, but to Quinn, the alternative would be a greater loss. <\/p>\n \u201cBy losing the dioramas, you are abandoning what is really great historical and meaningful art.\u201d<\/p>\n There has not been official word of what might happen next, but the museum has closed to the public<\/a> during this period of limbo as leaders seek possible solutions<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe building will continue to house the Academy\u2019s collections, research activities and exhibit materials while Drexel and Academy leadership consider potential pathways forward,\u201d Drexel spokesperson Britt Faulstick said in an email.<\/p>\n Window to the world<\/p>\n In the 1930s, the gorilla diorama was part of a wave of new installations at the Academy meant to revitalize its museum with new, cutting-edge taxidermy practices that provided a window into distant parts of the natural world. <\/p>\n It was a winning approach under Academy president Charles Cadwalader, whose diorama efforts boosted attendance numbers exponentially. Between 1929 and 1935, the number of annual visitors jumped from 40,000 to 181,000, according to A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science by Robert McCracken Peck and Patricia Tyson Stroud.<\/p>\n Primarily made between the 1930s to 1960s, many of the Academy\u2019s diorama scenes could not be readily replicated today (the western lowland gorillas, for example, are now a critically endangered species) and the cost to fund an expedition and create new ones from scratch would be exorbitant.<\/p>\n \u201cYou might think of the dioramas as art in the service of science. They\u2019re so accurate and grounded in science that when people visit the museum, they feel as though they are encountering a real place with real creatures at a real location, [like] one of the earliest forms of virtual reality,\u201d said Quinn, who lives in Ridgefield Park, N.J.<\/p>\n The retired artist, whom the New York Times once called<\/a> \u201cthe da Vinci of dioramas,\u201d cites the Academy as one of the early inspirations for his museum career. As a teen in the 1960s, he spent summers volunteering in their exhibits department, where his older brother, John Quinn, worked on developing dioramas, and he never forgot the \u201cmagical\u201d experience collecting bamboo for the tiger display. He calls the current predicament at the Academy \u201ca great tragedy\u201d that could imperil the virtually irreplaceable dioramas \u2014 and deprive Philadelphians and tourists alike of the powerful opportunity to see wildlife up close. <\/p>\n \u201cAnyone can sit with a laptop, press buttons, and encounter photographs of wildlife in their own home, but actually encountering an Alaskan moose, or a polar bear, or an African lion \u2014 that conveys so much more,\u201d he said. \u201cMuseums that have maintained their dioramas have found that they do have a unique appeal and convey unique information to museum visitors \u2026 and, possibly, [a diorama] influences their views about nature and its importance.\u201d<\/p>\n Preserving history<\/p>\n Restoration work is key to maintaining the Academy\u2019s historical dioramas, most of which have remained untouched since they were unveiled. George Dante, a taxidermist who runs an eponymous studio in Woodland Park, N.J., says he has seen a \u201chuge movement lately\u201d with museums restoring and preserving their dioramas. <\/p>\n One notable example is the American Museum of Natural History\u2019s $2.5 million restoration<\/a> of its Hall of North American Mammals in 2011. <\/p>\n George Dante Studios (which counts Quinn as a trustee) led the 2018 restoration effort<\/a> of the Academy\u2019s gorilla and takin dioramas, which had become discolored and dusty over several decades behind the glass. The 18-month-long project involved updating the lights, deep cleaning every element inside, refreshing peeling background paint, reviving sagging branches, and recoloring faded taxidermy, which had to be transported off-site. <\/p>\n To restore both dioramas, the Academy\u2019s bill was upward of $97,500 for labor, materials, transportation, and protective equipment, Dante said. The museum received external funding to cover the costs: The takin renovation was covered by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, while that of the gorilla was funded by Lucille Vanderbilt Pate (George Vanderbilt III\u2019s daughter) and the Vandy Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n At the time, the restoration was celebrated by museum leaders, who expressed the desire to fundraise<\/a> so they could freshen up several more. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Academy\u2019s dioramas are well known to generations of visitors,\u201d then-president and CEO Scott Cooper said. \u201cThey are engrained in the fabric of Philadelphia, and they represent our rich history of scientific exploration and discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n (He resigned when the closure was announced.) <\/p>\n A risky restoration<\/p>\n Given the hazardous chemicals inside the dioramas \u2014 arsenic was traditionally used on pelts as a pesticide \u2014 any handling of the taxidermy requires extensive protective gear, like Tyvek suits<\/a>. (In 2023, the Delbridge Museum of Natural History in South Dakota closed<\/a> because of concerns that its unsealed dioramas potentially exposed staff and visitors to arsenic.) <\/p>\n That is one of the primary complicating factors in the conversation about possibly relocating the diorama collection, as it would prove labor-intensive, expensive, and risky. <\/p>\n Still, that does not mean it\u2019s an impossible task: In 2017, the Bell Museum in St. Paul, Minn., moved to a new building and relocated 10 dioramas in a major effort that involved cutting the exhibit walls to preserve the canvas paintings, which had been stuck to the walls with lead glue. The museum\u2019s budget for the diorama move alone was reportedly $3 million<\/a>. <\/p>\n If the Academy and Drexel move forward with a deal to sell the building, the intractable dioramas could be at risk. One source familiar with these conversations who requested anonymity because they were unauthorized to speak to the media told The Inquirer\u2019s Peter Dobrin<\/a> this month that a possible scenario could see the Academy split up and distributed in parts to other institutions. <\/p>\n