William Temple Hornaday was a hunter, taxidermist, zoo director, and a founder of the American conservation movement. He served as Chief Taxidermist of the United States National Museum from 1882, Curator of the
Department of Living Animals, and the first Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. Hornaday acquired live bison during a trip to Montana, which he
displayed with other animal exhibits behind the Smithsonian Castle in 1886. The successful expedition produced the most complete scientific series, and an artistic grouping of taxidermied specimens of the American bison displayed for 70 years in the Smithsonian.