Review of Brinkman, Paul D., Now Is the Time to Collect: Daniel Giraud Elliot, Carl Akeley, and the Field Museum African Expedition of 1896. H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews. August, 2025

Alberti, S J M M

Review of Brinkman, Paul D., Now Is the Time to Collect: Daniel Giraud Elliot, Carl Akeley, and the Field Museum African Expedition of 1896. H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews. August, 2025

Resource type

Book review

Creator (person)

Alberti, S J M M

ORCID

Date published

August 2025

Abstract

The Colonial Culture of Natural History Collecting In January 2016, the Field Museum in Chicago unveiled an exhibit featuring four striped hyenas. The display was the first new habitat diorama in over sixty years, and was funded by subscribers to the museum’s groundbreaking YouTube channel, The Brain Scoop (2013-21). The diorama and its fundraising method may have been new; the taxidermized skins were not. They had already inhabited various parts the museum for 120 years, having derived from animals that spent their lives in what is now Somalia. These natural specimens are also cultural texts, rich with meanings. They bear with them not only the complex history of the museum, but also the colonial roots of, and routes taken by, these and many items within the collection.