Martha Maxwell
Inductee Name
Martha Maxwell
Place of Birth
Pennsylvania
Date of Birth
1831 – 1881
Year Inducted
1985
Category
STEM / Aviation
Sponsor
Linda Weiss
Impact
International
In 1868 she opened a museum in Boulder and later showed her stuffed mammals and birds at the Colorado Agricultural Society Fair in Denver and the American Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. Helen Hunt Jackson, also an Inductee of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, visited the museum and was impressed by the life-like poses of the stuffed animals. Both displays were a huge success and became predecessors of today’s dioramas that depict animals in their natural habitat. Martha was the first woman to have a subspecies named after her.
Martha and her husband James eventually drifted apart, he no longer approved of her work. She became involved with the women’s movement and studied biology and chemistry. She wrote a book titled On the Plains and Among the Peaks or How Mrs. Maxwell Made Her Natural History Collection. Martha died in 1881.
Books with reference to Martha Dart Maxwell:
Women of Consequence by Jeanne Varnell
