29 Facts About Martha Maxwell

Martha Ann Maxwell was an American naturalist, artist and taxidermist.

Martha Maxwell was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.

Martha Maxwell's father died in 1833 and her mother remarried in 1841 to Josiah Dartt, Spencer's first cousin.

In 1851 Martha Maxwell left for Oberlin College in Ohio with plans to become a teacher.

Martha Maxwell had to drop out in 1852 due to her family being unable to afford the tuition.

Martha Maxwell returned to her parents, who were then living in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Martha Maxwell was teaching at a local school when James Martha Maxwell, a Baraboo businessman, hired her in 1853 to chaperone two of his children at Lawrence College in Wisconsin.

Martha Maxwell had been there less than a year when James proposed to her.

The Martha Maxwell family was hit with financial ruin in the panic of 1857.

Martha Maxwell made her own investments, and bought an interest in a boarding house, some mining claims, and she purchased a one-room log cabin on the plains east of Denver.

The plan was to move to the cabin that Martha Maxwell had bought but when they got there, they found that a claim jumper had moved into the cabin.

Martha Maxwell waited for the man to leave the cabin on an errand.

Martha Maxwell removed the door from the frame and she entered the cabin and found amongst the man's possessions perfectly preserved stuffed birds and animals.

Martha Maxwell proceeded to put everything out on the prairie and reclaim her property.

In 1862 Martha Maxwell returned to Baraboo, where she studied taxidermy, taught by a local man named Ogden.

Martha Maxwell made trips into the Rockies where she gathered chipmunks, various species of squirrels and birds.

Martha Maxwell was asked to display her work at the Colorado Agricultural Society exhibition.

Attendees particularly admired that Martha Maxwell created an entire natural habitat for each species, making it appear as if they were still alive.

Martha Maxwell's work was acknowledged with a $50 prize and a diploma.

Martha Maxwell sent him two bird specimens in 1874 and he in turn supplied her with catalogs of birds and mammals.

Martha Maxwell developed her own way of preserving the animals by molding them in plaster and then covering these molds with the animals' skins, which she had preserved.

Martha Maxwell later used iron frames over which to stretch the skins, rather than sewing the skins together and stuffing them, as most other taxidermists did.

Martha Maxwell insisted that replica backgrounds portraying the animals' natural habitat were used.

In 1876 Martha Maxwell was asked to produce an exhibit for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, the first official World's Fair.

Martha Maxwell created a complex habitat diorama that included taxidermy animals, running water, and some live prairie dogs.

When Martha Maxwell had photographic copies of their images made and began selling them officials forced her to stop.

Martha Maxwell had arranged mammals and birds from both the plains and mountain regions into a realistic natural setting.

Martha Maxwell died in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York on 31 May 1881 of an ovarian tumor.

Some animal specimens Martha Maxwell collected still exist in the collections of scientific institutions, including the Bell Museum.