This post was written by Kimio Honda, Studio Manager in WCS’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. This is part 1 of 2 posts on eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo and beyond.
Lions and eagles, as kings of beasts and birds, may be among the most common subjects of sculptures in public spaces. It is no surprise then that we find several eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo. Let’s take a look at them, starting with the oldest one.
Graphical renderings of the “Ocean Wonders” exhibit and features at the NY Aquarium. Image courtesy of Naomi Pearson, EGAD at WCS.
WCS’s National Digital Stewardship Resident, Genevieve Havemeyer-King, has written a post about our digital archives pilot project on the NDSR-NY Program blog:
http://ndsr.nycdigital.org/the-digital-ecosystem-at-the-wildlife-conservation-society/
In the post she “introduce[s] a few complex and exciting digital preservation challenges [she’s] encountered in each department” that she is surveying for the project.
Check it out!
The WCS Archives is thrilled to announce that we’ve been awarded a Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections Planning Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant will allow us to develop the WCS Archives Conceptual Preservation Design Plan. Founded upon preservation strategies that balance effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact, the plan will serve as a crucial first step in the Archives’ development of a new space to preserve our unique historical collections. Continue reading
The Bronx Zoo itself is a nostalgic place for many people (myself included), where lifelong memories are made from childhood onward, and close-up animal experiences make nature come alive. It may sound like a cliché, but then again who among us can recall their favorite part of the zoo and not be overwhelmed by affection for the animals found there? My own longtime favorite part of the zoo as a kid was the (now closed) World of Darkness. So, as you can see here, the zoo and I go back quite a ways. Continue reading
The WCS Archives is very pleased to participate in I ♥ NY’s Path through History Weekend showcasing New York State’s rich history. Come join us on Saturday, June 20, at the Bronx Zoo’s Zoo Center, where we’ll be displaying historical treasures related to the art and architecture of the Bronx Zoo.
This week, we’re celebrating yet another anniversary here on Wild Things: the 30th anniversary of the opening of the new Animal Health Center, which was dedicated on April 30, 1985. Continue reading
This Sunday, April 26, marks a momentous date in our history: the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Wildlife Conservation Society, then known as the New York Zoological Society. Continue reading
This post was written by Kimio Honda, Studio Manager in WCS’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. This is the third part of a three-part series on the Bronx Zoo’s Rainey Gates; for part 1, on Paul J. Rainey, see here, and for part 2, on the development of the Gates, see here.
While working on the Rainey Gates, Paul Manship was able to sculpt from the animals at the Bronx Zoo, as they were brought into a special studio—likely the artists’ studio that sat at the northeastern corner of the Lion House. (See our previous post on the studio.) The animals featured in the gates were chosen from the actual zoo collection. Some of them were well-known characters. Continue reading
This post was written by Kimio Honda, Studio Manager in WCS’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. This is the second part of a three-part series on the Bronx Zoo’s Rainey Gates; for part 1, on Paul J. Rainey, see here.
Paul Manship, creator of the Rainey Gates, is a well-known American sculptor. Even if you haven’t heard his name, you may know one of his most prominent works: the bright gold Prometheus at the Rockefeller Center. His works are at the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Manship served as chairman of the board at what is known today as the the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which also holds dozens of Manship works. Continue reading
Today, if you want information on an animal, you might turn to the internet, and look it up on Google or Wikipedia. If you want information on the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Bronx Zoo, or one of the other wildlife parks, you might go to their website, read their FAQs, or go to the “contact us” page for email information. In 1965, however, such information was not a just a click away. If you had a school project, or needed animal information for another reason, you might write to the zoo. And if you were Assistant Curator of Birds and Mammals Grace Davall, part of your job would be responding to these inquiries. Continue reading