The exact origins of when taxidermy took off are not known, but historians have traced the beginning of the art form to an 1851 exhibition in London.
Queen Victoria eventually coming to own a taxidermy bird collection. President Theodore Roosevelt was an avid naturalist from a very young age. He was studying taxidermy at the age of 12 years old.
In 1876 at the age of 17 years old, Roosevelt shot an owl and mounted it himself. He later donated the owl in 1911 to a museum near his family’s summer home in Oyster Bay, New York.
This Victorian hobby came to the Clearfield County region eventually. These animals and birds were caught or shot by G. Hugh Leavy or his son, Edward A. Leavy in the Clearfield County area sometime before 1886.
This mounted display had been in possession of the Leavy and Don Gingery family until 1982. It was then presented to the Clearfield County Historical Society by Mrs. Edward T. Bartlett II, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gingery.
Animals displayed were a wildcat, fox, grouse, cardinal, blue jay, catbird and two butterflies.
This taxidermy case recently traveled to the 2023 Clearfield County Fair and was displayed under the Old Town Sportsmen’s Club pavilion.
Many people admired how intact the case and animals have remained in the past at least 137 years.