Martha, a Passenger Pigeon
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Download IIIF ManifestRequest permissionsDownload image PrintID: SIA2010-0612 and MNH-917
Creator: Unknown
Form/Genre: Photographic print
Date: 1967
Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 416, Box 1, Folder 4
A passenger pigeon Martha (named after Martha Washington), the last survivor of an American species that numbered in the millions prior to the 1880's, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Her body was donated to the Smithsonian Institution and brought to the United States National Museum, now the National Museum of Natural History, for permanent preservation. Mounted in a display case with this notation: "MARTHA, last of her species, died at 1 p.m., 1 September 1914, age 29, in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. EXTINCT", this bird documents an unhappy chapter in the conservation of wildlife.
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Martha is no longer on exhibit. See also MNH-917 close-up for a closer view.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 416, Box 1, Folder 4
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
1967
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North America
SIA2010-0612 and MNH-917
Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Animal, Exhibit; Medium: Photographic print