Preserving John Edmonstone
A talented Black taxidermist taught Charles Darwin how to prepare specimens.
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Show Notes
John Edmonstone was born on a timber plantation in British Guiana, and enslaved by Scotsman Charles Edmonstone. He learned taxidermy techniques by accompanying a naturalist on expeditions. In Scotland, he became a free man and began working as a taxidermist. One of his students was a teenaged Charles Darwin, who would later use the skills he learned from John to preserve and study the Galapagos birds that formed the basis of his theory of evolution.
More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.
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