top of page

Beyond the Muskrat: Our Museum’s Story Is Bigger Than a Sixth-Grade Worksheet

ree

Carl Akeley’s famous muskrat diorama is moving to the new museum. But what the public doesn’t realize is that Akeley’s legacy in Milwaukee goes far beyond one case of muskrats.

Three orangutans, prepared by renowned taxidermist Carl Akeley during his tenure at the Milwaukee Public Museum (1886–1892), still greet visitors today. They remain a centerpiece of the museum’s Borneo rainforest exhibit on the third floor, dramatically poised above a massive python. Milwaukee was where Carl Akeley became not just a taxidermist but a pioneer of modern museum practice, a legacy later carried to the Field Museum and the American Museum of Natural History.

What the Public Sees vs. What We Own

Despite this incredible history, when museum leaders talk about the collections today, the story is reduced to snapshots and vague categories:

  • 1M+ insects and invertebrates

  • 800K fossils

  • 800K birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles

  • 500K ancient history objects (mostly pot shards)

  • 300K plants

  • 280K history objects (clothing, furniture, toys, decorative arts)

  • 220K cultural objects from across the world

That’s a surface-level inventory — a fly, a lion, a pot shard, a chair — but it tells us almost nothing about the specific treasures we own, their condition, or their fate in the move.


More Than a Pot Shard: Why We Deserve the Full Story on Our Museum’s Collections

Here is the graphic that was presented by MPM to explain what is happening at our public museum collections:

ree

Photo courtesy of MPM at Milwaukee County Board of Supervisor Meeting: September 2, 2025: https://milwaukeecounty.granicus.com/player/clip/4428?view_id=2&redirect=true

Why Transparency Matters

Milwaukee County owns over 4 million artifacts and specimens on behalf of the public. County policies state that accessioned collections — which include the Four Seasons of the Deer — cannot be sold or discarded without Board approval.

But when the only information provided is a broad infographic, the public has no way to tell what is safe, what is moving, and what might be lost. For a collection that includes WPA-era murals, world cultural artifacts, and Carl Akeley’s groundbreaking dioramas, this lack of detail falls short.

A Legacy Worth Protecting

The Milwaukee Public Museum is not just another regional institution. It is the place where Carl Akeley transformed taxidermy into an art form, where modern dioramas were born, and where conservation entered the museum gallery for the first time.

To reduce this legacy to “collections” and “non-collections” or to pot-shard counts is to erase the extraordinary role Milwaukee has played in shaping museum history.

The public deserves better. We deserve transparency, accountability, and a full accounting of what our museum holds — not just what will fit in an infographic.


Milwaukee is more than muskrats. It is the birthplace of innovation that shaped the museum world, and that legacy is too important to risk being lost.

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page