Somewhere in between the madness of graduation, alumni reunions and the start of sophomore summer, a number of large and mysterious packages found their way into the basement of Robinson Hall. Addressed to the College in care of the now-obsolete Dartmouth Museum, an alumnus from the Class of 1942 donated a priceless and intriguing collection of busts, skins and fully-stuffed bodies of twenty-four wild animals.
On Monday, June 13, Brian Kunz of the Outdoor Programs office received a phone call from a strange man who said, "Be ready for the heads!"
"They came in this big trailer," Kunz recalled. "Some of the boxes even had wheels on them."
Outdoor Programs is chiefly in possession of the collection, which was donated by an alumnus who has yet to confirm whether he wishes to make his identity public.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Dartmouth Outing Club president Whitney MacFadyen '07 recalled the unexpected arrival.
"I came back at the beginning of the term, and Brian Kunz said, 'Hey! I've got to show you something,'" MacFadyen said.
MacFadyen estimates that one-third to one-half of the specimens are African animals, and that about two-thirds are busts or stuffed heads. The collection includes a fully-stuffed leopard, cougar, and the skins of a polar bear and a grizzly bear.
"It's a pretty amazing collection," MacFadyen said. "There are some pretty fine specimens in there."
The bequest has been complicated by issues of legality. According to Andrew Harvard, director of Outdoor Programs, while there is reason to believe that the specimens in the collection were all legally obtained, many of the animals are now endangered and their trade may be prohibited.
According to Harvard, the College will take possession of some of the heads and relegate others for Dartmouth Outing Club facilities. They will most likely be displayed in Robinson Hall, Moosilauke Ravine Lodge and the DOC House by Occum Pond.
The remainder of the collection will be made available for educational programs. The collection, estimated to be more than 50 years old, is of significant academic interest. The Environmental Studies department has become involved in cataloguing the specimens, determining their potential research value and contacting others in the scientific community who might find the collection of interest, Harvard said.
Parts of the collection may actually leave Dartmouth. When the Dartmouth Museum in Wilson Hall closed, MacFadyen recounted, a majority of its collection was transferred to the Montshire Museum in Norwich, Vt. Consequently, the Montshire Museum may receive some animals native to the area to bolster its collection.
"Right now we are analyzing what we've got," Harvard said. "We are also identifying which other institutions might be interested in the collection, [so] this process might take a couple months to sort out.
"The College's assumption is that this guy knew that these would be of interest for people to study, and I'm pretty sure [he] made this decision to donate them to an educational institution so that there wouldn't be any question," Harvard said.
The exact storage location of the specimens is currently being concealed for security reasons. MacFadyen expressed concern with potential use of the collection for DOC trip "raids" and fraternity rituals.
"There is a rhino in there; I don't know if the horn is real, but it's there on his head," MacFadyen said.
In reference to the massive, chest-high caribou bust that now lives in his office, Kunz commented that though he is not bothered by the collection, "it's still unusual."
"The thing's staring at you in the eyes when you look over from your desk," Kunz chuckled.
