Not quite the way you may think, though: They were likely stuffed.
The baboons, monkeys, and lizards? Stuffed too.
That’s because, according to an Aug. 26, 1789 article in the Connecticut Journal, this “Collection of Natural Curiosities” was on display in City Hall for all of New Haven to marvel at. There would be no museums as we know them for another century, and these traveling “cabinets” of curiosities were the way Elm Citizens young and old often learned about other parts of the world. To hear more about “the city assembly room” — the location of very special entertainment being offered in our town — click on the audio above or find the episode in iTunes or any podcast app.
Those of you up on your American history will also note the 1789 date. That’s the year our constitution was ratified and George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the great new experiment in democracy. That news might be the biggest of that moment in time to us, looking back with history’s hindsight. Yet life goes on, and folks on that day might indeed have been far more interested in having a look at the “monkey, porcupine, ant-bear, crocadile, lizard, tame tygar, and buffalo.”
