[NHCOLL-L:2116] early 19th-century specimen mounting

[Elizabeth Chew]

Dear List Members:

I hope that someone can  help with this question.

At Monticello, we have a set of elk antlers (cervus elaphus canadensis) sent
to Thomas Jefferson by Lewis and Clark in 1805.  The right has 7 points and
the left 6 and a portion of the skull cap remains.  They are currently
mounted on a shield-shaped wooden plaque that we believe dates to the 1870s
when the antlers were exhibited in the Lewis Brooks Museum of Natural
History at the University of Virginia.  

We would like to know how the antlers may have been mounted and displayed
between their arrival at Monticello in 1806 and Jefferson's death in 1826.
Does anyone have information on early 19th-century mounting and display
techniques for antlers?

With many thanks,
Elizabeth Chew
_____________________________
Elizabeth Chew, Ph.D.
Associate Curator of Collections
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
P.O. Box 316
Charlottesville, VA 22902
tel. 434.984.9831
fax. 434.977.7757
www.monticello.org