Letter from the Founder

History, both in written and archeological formats, demonstrates that people have long held a fascination with animals; one that has expressed itself in many ways over the centuries. As early as 17,000 years ago, we studied and memorialized equines, bulls and stags in the Paleolithic cave paintings of Lascaux, France. Through settlement and domestication, we cultivated a relationship with animals, bringing them from the wilderness into our homes, turning wolves into lapdogs and predatory cats into purring, loveable felines. And as civilization and modernization took root in our day-to-day lives, animals assumed both a behind-the-scenes and a front row view to all that transpired and continues to take place in shaping society.

While many two-, four- or no-legged, furred, feathery or scaly creatures may be out of sight, they’re very much a part of our social fabric, living on farms, city parks, laboratories, zoological attractions, and sanctuaries. Others gift us with their presence at nursing homes, the workplace, autistic programs, and the like, and bring people comfort in times of need and times of joy. In virtually every facet of society’s development, animals have played a significant role, from the gruesome (service animals in times of war) to the superfluous (as pelts and fiber in fashion and commerce) to the artistic (sources of inspiration) to the spiritual (sacrificial offerings or subjects of sermons?). Of course our influence on the animals’ social order cannot go without acknowledgement: our (un)intentional alteration of ecosystems, selective animal husbandry and conservation efforts, to name a few. The National Museum of Animals & Society (NMAS) is dedicated to exploring this shared experience, a cultural narrative that has remained largely unexamined and untold and one that continues to unravel at a rapid pace.

There can be little contestation that animals have received the short end of the stick far more often than humans in this collective exchange. But through the experience has also come a natural bond or connection between kindred spirits. Prominent historical figures that we credit for some of society’s most noteworthy achievements – Harriet Beecher Stowe (Abolitionism), Pythagoras (Mathematics), Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Novelist), and Albert Einstein (Physics) – go relatively unnoticed for their warmth, empathy and influential advocacy efforts for non-human animals. NMAS seeks to remember and honor their legacies, as part of the larger Animal Protection Movement, and inspire others to widen their circle of compassion so that the future is a brighter one for all Earth’s inhabitants.

I hope you’ll join us in our work to enrich the lives of both people and animals through the establishment of the National Museum of Animals & Society. It’s an institution whose day has come.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Merino Mullin

Founder and Executive Director

National Museum of Animals & Society

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