ABSTRACT
This chapter examines sites and spaces where stuffed birds might be seen: the millinery shops and department stores where these staples of turn-of-the-century fashion were shown for purchase, and the museums where ornithological specimens were arrayed. Building upon recent studies of the intersection between museums and commercial enterprises, it argues for further affiliations between seemingly disparate institutional aims that arose from interrelated strategies of display. As conservation-minded bird lovers courted the attention of the public through museum displays of "real" creatures in action, so did representatives of the booming millinery industry, while retail establishments expanded their strategies of visual enticement alongside museums. When tantalizingly exhibited in museum cases, stuffed birds and plumed hats still possess strong imaginative appeal, and attest to the efficacy of vitalized display. Arrested in time behind glass, these material artifacts of nature and culture combined rehabilitate vanished species and reanimate lost historical sensibilities.
