Carl Cotton

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Short description|African American taxidermist}} {{Infobox person | name = Carl Cotton | image = Carl Cotton.jpg | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = April 10, 1918 | birth_place = South Side, Chicago | death_date = July 5, 1971 | death_place = | nationality =  | other_names = | occupation = Taxidermist | years_active = 1947–1971 | known_for = Field Museum taxidermy exhibitions | notable_works = ''Marsh Birds of the Upper Nile'' }} '''Carl Cotton''' (1918–1971<ref name="Lee">{{cite web |url=https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/finding-carl-cotton |title=Finding Carl Cotton |last=Lee |first=Tori |date=January 29, 2020 |website=fieldmuseum.org |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |access-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref>) was an American taxidermist known for his work on exhibition development at the Field Museum of Natural History from 1947 to 1971. He was the first African American taxidermist at the Field Museum and, as noted by museum staff, likely the first professional black taxidermist in all of Chicago.<ref name="Lee"/>

==Early life and education== Born in 1918, Cotton spent his childhood in South Side, Chicago, in the area around Washington Park. He grew up around other children that would go on to have creative histories related to the art mecca they lived in, including local historian Timuel Black, poet and author Gwendolyn Brooks, and artist Charles White.<ref name="Myers">{{cite news |last=Myers |first=Quinn |date=March 4, 2020 |title=Field Museum Exhibit Honors First African American Taxidermist |url=https://news.wttw.com/2020/02/10/field-museum-exhibit-honors-first-african-american-taxidermist |work=WTTW |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref> Black discussed how he was childhood friends with Cotton and that, because of his young interest in the field of taxidermy, “cats and rats ran when they saw Carl.”<ref name="Lee"/> He had already been practicing on the methods of stuffing and mounting already deceased small animals he found and, once his skills had improved enough, neighbors would bring their pets that had died to be stuffed as well. Cotton was noted by Black to have the desire to "preserve the image of other life besides human life".<ref name="Posner">{{cite news |last=Posner |first=Emeline |date=February 12, 2020 |title=The Lost Legacy of Carl Cotton, the Field’s First Black Taxidermist |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/february-2020/carl-cotton-field-museum-taxidermist/ |work=Chicago |access-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref> A school field trip to the Field Museum as a child was likely the inspiration for his desire to have a position there.<ref name="Imbler">{{cite news |last=Imbler |first=Sabrina |date=February 27, 2020 |title=The Black Taxidermist Who Made History at Chicago’s Field Museum |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/field-museum-taxidermy-carl-cotton |work=Atlas Obscura |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref>

==Career== Cotton first wrote a letter to the Field Museum's director in 1940 to request a taxidermy job, saying that he was an amateur taxidermist that had an interest in working on reptiles and that he already had a personal collection of 30 live snakes he could use for the museum.<ref name="Machemer">{{cite news |last=Machemer |first=Theresa |date=March 4, 2020 |title=The Chicago Field Museum Celebrates the Work of African American Taxidermist Carl Cotton |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicago-field-museum-celebrates-work-african-american-taxidermist-carl-cotton-180974320/ |work=Smithsonian |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref> His request was refused however, with the director noting that they had no openings in the department and that they usually required their taxidermists to have a graduate degree in the practice or existing professional experience and notoriety.<ref name="Posner"/> During WWII, Cotton was involved in the naval service as a stenographer<ref name="Imbler"/> and, after returning, wrote another letter to the Field Museum in 1947, this time requesting to showcase his abilities as a volunteer. That was enough for him to be hired as a temporary assistant for the vertebrate anatomy department and after a month of presenting his skills, he became a full-time employee of the museum.<ref name="Imbler"/> His chosen specialty at the time was avians, with over a fourth of all the birds in the museum being prepared by Cotton.<ref name="Posner"/>

He helped to create an adaptive coloring exhibit on birds,<ref name="Imbler"/> but Cotton also branched out into other organisms, working on mammals, reptiles, and eventually insects and the salmon display. In 1966, the museum opened its new official exhibitions department and made Cotton the first staff member, giving him the responsibility for preparing exhibits that represented the other departments individually and in collages.<ref name="Posner"/> Some of the techniques he developed for taxidermy include how to replicate animals that have no hair on their skin, particularly reptiles, with one example being making a snapping turtle out of the bioplastic cellulose acetate. His skills also included an adept hand at mimicking plants out of other materials.<ref name="Imbler"/> His most famous full work was the ''Marsh Birds of the Upper Nile'' exhibit featuring several bird species from Uganda including the shoebill stork and a variety of marshy plants which were constructed out of wax along with the muddy terrain.<ref name="Myers"/> This exhibition has remained on permanent display ever since it was first opened.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wang |first=Aaron |date=February 6, 2020 |title=Field Museum showcases work by its first African American taxidermist |url=https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/02/06/ae/field-museum-showcases-work-by-its-first-african-american-taxidermist/ |work=The Daily Northwestern |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life== It was common for Cotton to practice taxidermy at home even throughout his museum career, working on outside commissions and other projects. While initially living in Gary, Indiana, during the 1950's and 60's with his family, he did move back into the city of Chicago proper in the years just before his death. An expansion of their garage in Gary was used as his personal home lab, with it being usual for large animals to be preserved there while being worked on. Cotton died of cancer in 1971.<ref name="Posner"/>

==Legacy== An exhibition of Cotton's life and work was started in the summer of 2019 and unveiled in early 2020 under the title ''A Natural Talent: The Taxidermy of Carl Cotton'' to present his work throughout the years at the Field Museum, particularly the bird and reptile exhibits.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibitions/natural-talent-taxidermy-carl-cotton |title=A Natural Talent: The Taxidermy of Carl Cotton |author= |date=2019 |website=fieldmuseum.org |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |access-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref> A part of this exhibit included adding labels to all of his works throughout the museum, as it had been uncommon for taxidermists to have their names included on their works, which had contributed to records of Cotton's involvement having been previously lost in the museum's archives. It was only after several staff members, Reda Brooks and Tori Lee, had found photographical evidence of Cotton while looking for material to exhibit for Black History Month that the new exhibition was decided upon, unearthing the letters, reports, photos, and other pieces of Cotton's history at the museum that had been in the records.<ref name="Machemer"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Paige |date=February 19, 2020 |title=Field Museum honors museum’s first African American taxidermist Carl Cotton |url=https://columbiachronicle.com/field-museum-honors-museums-first-african-american-taxidermist-carl-cotton |work=Columbia Chronicle |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Carl}} Category:Taxidermists Category:1918 births Category:1971 deaths Category:People associated with the Field Museum of Natural History Category:People from Cook County, Illinois Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:African Americans in World War II Category:Stenographers Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois Category:African-American United States Navy personnel