Exhibiting extinction: Martha and the monument, two modes of remembering nature

Abstract

Through examination of memorials to passenger pigeons in American zoos, museums, and parks, this essay analyzes the rhetoric and imagery of historical extinctions as seen in these memorials to understand the ways people have contextualized the loss of species. Exhibits and memorials to extinct animals are timestamps representing human-animal relationships at particular moments in time. They also reflect national and local narratives that reveal differing stories and contexts relevant for understanding the cultural impacts of extinction. The human spaces and modes of representation that the passenger pigeon has inhabited present only a slice of the story; the memories they create and reinforce become part of the cultural modes of dealing with extinction that is often more popular and more poignant than historical narratives documenting their declines. This research adds to the literature on constructions of Nature in American culture by connecting 19th-century declension narratives with 20th-century extinctions, and problematizes the American ideology of abundance.